Author | Tea Xiaobai
2022 is an extremely difficult year for platforms and variety artists.
Today, the situation is changing - the first quarter of 2023 is nearing the end, looking at major platforms and provincial satellite TV, the number of variety shows to be broadcast has steadily rebounded, the performance of new variety shows has risen, and the brand's confidence in the commercial value of variety show content has risen, which is the most appropriate to describe it as the "first warm spring" after the cold winter.
Xiaoyu was deeply touched by this, and on March 25, Xiaoyu was invited to watch Youku's "Infinite Beyond the Stars Concert" live. This is the content derived from Youku on the basis of the variety show "Infinite Beyond Class", when Yang Qianwei's familiar voice sounded, when Norma Lin and Chen Huishan and other classic combinations were in the same frame again, the shouts of offline audiences and the barrage of online audiences converged into the shouts of "Ye Qinghui" in the variety show market. According to the data, "Infinity Beyond the Stars Concert" hit the highest attendance rate in Macao in the past three years, and the number of paid live concert viewers on the online Youku website also topped the TOP1.
"The reason why I chose the concert to end is that the show uses the pictures in the play, classic bridges and OST, etc., which can be combined with the music scene. Another reason is that our other show "Drama Good Song" focuses on OST, which is officially announced at the concert, which can play a role in carrying forward the past and the future. Shen Yan, vice president of Youku, introduced.
In Youku, Shen Yan is in charge of variety shows, commercialization, live broadcast and other businesses, and the industry evaluates him as decisive and decisive and has strong learning ability. "He is a practitioner of the 10,000-hour theory and believes in the explosion of potential energy brought about by accumulation." A partner laughed that Shen Yan worked more than 16 hours a day, and his professional work made him friends with many content people and customers.
In Xiaoyu's view, in addition to the concert's "inheritance of the past and the future", Youku Variety Show's layout strategy this year is enough to let people see more thinking on the platform side for refined operation, model innovation, and content value. It can be said that based on years of iteration, Youku has significantly upgraded its content layout, talent cooperation, IP management, industrialization management, etc., and has a new look.
First of all, in terms of content layout, Youku Variety Show takes "happiness", "curiosity" and "harvest" as the keywords, through classics and inheritance, growth and dreaming, challenge and exploration, brain power and physical strength and other perspectives, truly pays attention to user needs, and obtains emotional resonance with the younger generation through quality content.
Corresponding to the specific content track, trend culture is still the focus of Youku variety show's advantageous layout this year. In addition to the ace IP "This! Youku will also focus on street basketball, street skateboarding and even graffiti, and actively respond to young people's emotional value and content demands for "trends".
Youku variety shows also recognize the investment value and content potential of the N generation, closely following the second season of "Xingdian Music" and "Thrilling 20 Years Old 3" and "Amazing! Dance Club 2" is in preparation, and continues to respond to audience expectations in terms of program quality and market reputation. Youku variety show takes "audience acceptance and love" as the standard for launching a sequel. For example, "Infinite Beyond Class" will also have a second season. According to Shen Yan, this IP will not always rely on feelings, and may focus on the growth of artists in the future, hoping to give newcomers more space to show.
Second, the platform should make itself, customize, and co-produce the "troika" to carry out multi-level cooperation with excellent content people.
At the beginning of this year, Youku introduced Zhang Hongyan and his team, who have created phenomenal programs such as "Do Not Disturb", "The Strongest Brain" and "Let's Fall in Love". "We have cooperated for a long time, Zhang Hongyan still has an advantage in the track of love variety shows, and we invited this team to join because love shows are also in the track and theme of Youku's comparative advantage," Shen Yan said.
In his opinion, good content is inseparable from a perfect production mechanism, and the consistent attitude of Youku Variety Show is to find reliable people and teams to do reliable projects, continue to absorb excellent talents in the industry, and escort good content production.
External cooperation is equally important, since the second half of last year, the Youku variety show team has visited large and small production forces in the industry, listened to each other, exchanged opinions, and used actions to give partners confidence - as long as it is a program that has passed the internal proposal, Youku will give the upfront cost, even if it is not broadcast in the end, which can be said to be the first in the industry.
Third. "The province, the flower", Shen Yan introduced, for the identified content track, Youku will firmly invest and increase efforts.
An example is the "20 Years Old 3" that is being recorded, in the case that the total title company has not yet been completely finalized, Youku because of its value, normal boot as planned, and finally the platform's firmness in content investment and high requirements for program quality have also infected customers, and now the overall investment of the project is very good.
"As a platform, the richness of content and layout is a must, and investment should not be the only indicator of whether to start or not," Shen Yan said. On the other hand, Youku previously focused on the industrialized system of refined operation, and in addition to supplying dramas, it will also join the ranks of supporting variety shows. "We have a complete set of supply chain management system, the selection of the following secondary suppliers and third-level suppliers, these financial entry requirements, precipitated by a set of relatively scientific methodologies."
Fourth. For the in-depth operation of IP, Youku also has a lot of pioneering experience in drama linkage and content derivation. The platform is committed to normalizing the variety show derivative model, as long as the opportunity is appropriate, it will plan an offline concert ceremony or event for the variety show itself as much as possible. This "Infinite Beyond Class" sent a signal that TVB and Youku deeply cooperated, extending from the field of dramas to the field of variety shows, and this "extension" is far more than that.
In the near future, in terms of quantity and quality, Xiaoyu has seen the confidence of Youku Variety Show to continue to create content that meets the minds of users. For example, "Hi, City Hunter", which is a social sentiment in which young people care about employment, opens up workplace variety shows from a new headhunting perspective; "Exclamation Club" focuses on northeast style comedy + simple reasoning mode, and the audience is "too funny, can you quickly broadcast it" and "will be laughed to death" as soon as it is launched.
It is worth looking forward to the "Drama Good Song" officially announced at the concert. It is said that it will use OST as the starting point to explore a new paradigm of music ensemble and awaken the audience's drama-chasing "empathy" through acoustic singers.
On the whole, the beginning of spring is approaching, and the inspiration for focusing on young people and content production is playing a positive role. Creating high-quality variety show IP and innovative models to further explore more commercial space may become a weapon for platforms to take advantage of the situation and "grab the run".
"My feeling is that the overall market is recovering so far this year, and all the shows we've released so far today have titles, and next year will be even better. Long video brand launch is not a red ocean, policy support, commercial prosperity will make brand investment more powerful, in the face of this unprecedented blue ocean, Youku will continue to carry out content and commercialization innovation. Shen Yan said.