Nowadays, "film and television going abroad" and "cultural export" have become high-frequency words in the entertainment industry, and with the development of the domestic film and television industry, more and more works with Chinese cultural colors and distinctive Chinese story characteristics have begun to enter the international stage. Take Q1 2023 as an example, after "The Three-Body Problem" was broadcast online on Tencent Video's overseas site WeTV, word-of-mouth popularity skyrocketed; The New York Times published an article recommending the outstanding international plays in 2023, and "Go to a Windy Place" was successfully selected and praised by UNESCO for the intangible inheritance of the work; According to recent news, iQiyi authorized Hairun Film and Japan's TEAMJOY Co., Ltd. to remake the Japanese version of "Hidden Corner" - "Bad Boy".
Earlier, in the impression of many audiences, film and television dramas went overseas mainly based on costume dramas such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan" or sweet pet dramas. At present, the overseas hits of science fiction, suspense, and urban themes have undoubtedly added new samples of Chinese dramas going overseas. So, under the strong wind of film and television going overseas, which links have an important impact on the industry? What kind of platoon layout do the major long-form video platforms have?
Costumes are no longer the sole favorite, and major platforms fancy send "good content" to the sea
On March 30, the 10th China Network Audiovisual Conference "Network Audiovisual International Communication Forum" was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and many participants said that the development momentum of online audiovisual is advancing rapidly and is becoming a new blue ocean for international communication. Looking at the recent actions of iQiyi, Tencent, Youku, Mango TV and other long-form video platforms in this regard, it can be seen that on the basis of combining their own characteristics, their layout ideas have obvious differences.
iQIYI, which opened overseas markets many years ago with "The Mystery of Makino with the Ghost Blowing Lantern", is currently establishing a comprehensive content international distribution ecosystem around dramas, variety shows, movies, anime, etc., and has distributed more than 7,000 hours of content to more than 200 countries and regions around the world. For example, the platform familiar to young audiences to broadcast the costume love drama "Qing Qing Daily" has been launched on streaming media platforms in North America, Europe, Australia and other regions; The 2022 opening drama "The World" was pre-ordered by Disney as early as the filming stage for the exclusive distribution rights overseas; The fairy tale drama "Canglan Tips" was bought the copyright by the Korean platform after becoming popular, and was launched globally through Netflix and was very popular.
Tencent Video, which launched WeTV in the first half of 2019, chose to focus on the overseas Chinese market, with more than 180 million users as of the first quarter of 2023. Relying on Tencent Video's overseas distribution network, the time loop-themed short drama "The Beginning" was purchased by overseas platforms as soon as it was broadcast; The overseas distribution of this year's sci-fi work "The Three-Body Problem" has covered Asia, America, Europe, Oceania and other regions, and on IMDB, the single episode score is as high as 9.9 points.
Youku has gradually strengthened the construction of overseas platforms since last year, and launched the international version of the APP in 9 languages. Earlier, the platform cooperated with Zhejiang Satellite TV to create the original program of youth basketball competition "This! After the fire of "Slam Dunk", the model copyright was bought by Fox Group, becoming the first domestic original online drama exported in China; The costume drama "Agarwood Crumbs" was released and broadcast in South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and other regions.
Mango TV, which also tries to promote self-made content overseas, focuses on promoting the mode output of original variety shows, and variety shows occupy an extremely important position. For example, a series of domestic original research and development programs such as "Wife's Romantic Trip" and "Riding the Wind and Waves" have been recognized by overseas audiences, and the platform has signed a contract with Singapore's Sky Vision Media on the overseas export of the program model. Today, Mango TV International APP has launched more than 1,500 audiovisual works, covering more than 195 countries and regions around the world.
From this point of view, the demand for China's domestic film and television content in overseas markets is becoming diverse, from the very beginning of costume dramas to many sweet pet dramas, which are very popular with audiences in Southeast Asia, and now they are beginning to expand in themes such as self-made variety shows, suspense, and science fiction. Then in addition to the theme, from content to model innovation, domestic film and television content going overseas, how to better adapt to overseas platforms and audience aesthetics, it is worth our further consideration.
To create "China Story +", the channels are diversified and long
At the beginning of last year, the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese TV Dramas" proposed that the pace of TV dramas going global is accelerating, and international exchanges and cooperation have moved to a higher level; Six months later, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Propaganda Department, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and other 27 departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Foreign Cultural Trade", pointing out that it is necessary to deepen the reform of examination and approval in the cultural field, encourage the export of excellent radio, film and television programs, and strengthen cooperation with overseas media platforms to expand the export channels of radio, film and television programs. In this context, how to continue and expand the good momentum of film and television content going overseas, deeply analyze the current situation of industry development, and open up overseas routes with diversified content is the common direction of content creators.
Earlier, Cheung Xin Media, a local content production company in Singapore, created the "Nanyang Trilogy" focusing on the stories of Chinese Singaporeans with "Little Nyonya", "Nanyang Daughter's Love" and "Nanyang Heroes' Tears". Due to the geographical proximity between China and Southeast Asian countries, frequent historical exchanges and common cultural foundations, it is logical that the culture of Southeast Asia going overseas is naturally welcomed by overseas audiences. In this regard, Li Yunming, director of Xinju Entertainment's content production and overseas distribution, once expressed a similar view: "In terms of culture, customs, ideas, etc., Southeast Asia is very similar to China, which also prompts them to understand Chinese domestic dramas, especially the production cost and production effect of Chinese dramas are still difficult to compare with many countries, so Chinese domestic dramas are very popular in Southeast Asia."
However, with the continuous growth of the volume of domestic film and television content going overseas, the theme continues to break through, and the industry is also facing the status quo of relatively low prices and slightly limited radiation range.
In terms of this issue, at present, video platforms and film and television companies have jointly explored models such as promoting "platform and local cooperation" according to local conditions: "Soul Ferry: The Legend of Nanyang" cooperated by Changxin Media and iQiyi, chose to shoot in Southeast Asia, and hired local actors and staff to participate in film and television performances and production; Huace Film and Television chose to deepen cooperation with YouTube, Amazon and other platforms to independently create an overseas broadcast platform for Chinese-language film and television dramas "Hua Theater", and it is understood that there are nearly 15 million overseas subscribers; In Africa, iQIYI International Edition, Tencent WeTV, etc. have entered the African market through Chinese brand mobile phones, and then promoted Chinese cultural stories, which has a certain communication power and influence.
Based on some attempts at video platforms, perhaps we can also make some more positive ideas. For example, the overseas version of the long video platform can strengthen marketing interaction with the short video platform, try to join the UGC section, and enhance social attributes. Earlier, You Xiaogang, president of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association, proposed that strengthening the promotion of content overseas can combine blockchain technology with its traceable and unchangeable characteristics to optimize the film and television market model, and replace "internal film review and selection on the platform" with "review and distribution" to seek a truly fair and transparent market pattern.
In addition, if we return to the level of emotional thinking, in addition to the story to balance the Chinese characteristic elements and the emotional needs of overseas audiences, the production team and cast are also important factors that cannot be ignored. After the initial "The Legend of Zhen Huan" became popular, it successfully landed on Netflix Pay Channel, and director Zheng Xiaolong and actor Sun Li became the guarantee of high-quality dramas in the hearts of overseas audiences for a while, so before the launch of "The Legend of Miyue" in China in 2015, its overseas copyright was successfully sold to many countries.
When the fairy tale drama "Flower Thousand Bones" was broadcast overseas, it was reported by overseas media, and the costumes in the play at that time even triggered a trend culture among Thai youth, and many young people imitated the image of the protagonist. The popularity accumulated by actor Zhao Liying also made the release of the realistic theme work "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" more guaranteed many years later, and then the hit of "Go to a Windy Place" at the beginning of this year must be inseparable from actor Liu Yifei's high overseas popularity.
Generally speaking, after years of accumulation and exploration of mainland film and television content going overseas, it has made a lot of breakthroughs in the subject matter, and has a stable cooperation channel, and has achieved a certain degree of large-scale dissemination.
The foothold of domestic drama content should still be placed on telling stories with Chinese characteristics, which is not only the basis for creation, but also to return story creation to the inexhaustible and inexhaustible theme of Chinese culture, in order to seek a broader vision and ideas. Rome was not built in a day, and domestic film and television content going overseas needs to be considered in combination with many factors such as policy orientation, platform resources, and content layout of production companies, and due consideration of overseas audiences' viewing habits and content preferences in order to achieve a more accurate landing.