Recently, Deepin Entertainment (ID: shenduwenyu) found that friends in the circle and even some partners outside the circle who are interested in the entertainment industry frequently mention the word "mini program drama".
This is a kind of short drama broadcast in mini programs, and the main battlefield is also available on WeChat, Jitter and other platforms. Compared with the micro-short dramas of about 5-6 minutes that we know, this kind of mini program drama is shorter, only 1-2 minutes long, and a drama is about 100 episodes.
Mini Program drama is repeatedly mentioned because it is associated with countless myths of wealth creation. Some people say that "investing hundreds of thousands can earn 100 million", while others say that "making 100 million in 8 days is not my bragging", and the words of low investment and high return continue to stir people.
Why are mini program dramas so gold-grabbing? Who is watching Mini Program dramas? What is its monetization model? Who is producing these kinds of dramas? Deep Entertainment wants to see whether this dream of becoming rich is true or false from multiple perspectives.
Focus on middle-aged men in the sinking market
Who is watching this kind of mini program drama? In fact, the answer can be derived from the content of the episode.
"Matchless" and "Oops! The queen's mother-in-law came to work" and "After the flash marriage, Mr. Fu's vest can't be hidden", which are several small program dramas that have been repeatedly mentioned as "very profitable". Their content can be summarized with the word "cool text", if you say it in detail, similar to the style of the ancient male and female frequent text, suspended, dog blood, but to the person who reads it a refreshing feeling.
People above the second-tier cities who have been educated by various entertainment product markets for many years, not to mention young people, even middle-aged and elderly groups have also begun to dislike this kind of ancient and cool text. But don't forget that the vast sinking market needs to be developed urgently, and this kind of ancient and cool style mini program drama just hit the sinking market demand.
Of course, there are also people in first-tier cities who break into the world of mini program dramas with a curious mentality, and even some people have spent money, but their repurchase rate is too low. Many people have seen it once and stop consuming, mainly because it is "too rough".
According to statistics, the consumers of Mini Program dramas are mostly from third- and fourth-tier cities and below, mainly men, and the gender ratio is about 7 men and 3 women; According to in-depth entertainment, with the growth of female frequency mini program dramas, the gender ratio of users is currently balanced. In terms of age structure, the consumer users of Mini Program dramas are over 30 years old, and middle-aged and elderly men are the most important consumer group.
"How addicted is my dad to watching this kind of drama? It took five thousand yuan in two months. ”
Don't watch the plot short, but each episode has a reversal, attracting people to continue to pay to watch. This kind of mini program drama is not high at a time, about twenty or thirty yuan, and it is just a pack of cigarettes for target users. However, the unit price is low and the quantity is large, and it is still a considerable expense over time.
Judging from the texture of the episode and the plot content, the appearance of the mini program drama is indeed a bit rough. Jitter short dramas have begun to align with the standards of long dramas, and they have a sense of stiffness in terms of makeup and plot. So, what do users continue to pay for?
First of all, there is the refreshing feeling we talked about earlier. Just like a 15-second short video sweeping the country in an instant, many people need this continuous stimulation to get happy. Each episode of the mini program drama has a reverse setting, which makes these people want to stop, "just like watching a short video, it is very cool and can't stop." ”
Secondly, it's its duration. May be for many people, 1-2 minutes can't even understand the relationship between personal characters, but the core logic of the mini program drama is "cool", short means that the stimulation point is more dense, and the character relationship construction of these long dramas is not an important thing in the eyes of users of the mini program drama.
Again, it's more fragmented. Some people jokingly said that the service objects of the mini program drama are "three guarantees", security guards, cleaning and nannies.
Although this statement is mean, there is some truth in it. The common feature of "three guarantees" is that the work content is repetitive and mechanical, and they need to get happiness through stimulation, and their free time is more fragmented, it is difficult to spare the whole time to chase the drama, this 1-2 minute small program drama, convenient for them to watch one or two episodes during the break.
Finally, there's the price. The single price is not high, it is easy to give people the illusion of "I didn't spend anything", in fact, it is still a lot of expenses to accumulate.
How was the mini program drama born?
Mini program drama is actually not a particularly new concept, and its birth is directly related to web literature.
If you are a fan of web literature, you may be familiar with this scene: click into the web novel website, suddenly automatically play a video, the content is roughly what the domineering president fell in love with me, the son-in-law revenge ten years is not too late, after the video playback, jump to the corresponding web article page.
That's right, mini program dramas were originally born to better promote web literature. This kind of moving and character video quickly accumulated its own audience, and people with a keen sense of smell found that there were business opportunities here, so the online promotion video became independent and became a mini program drama.
An advertisement on a mini program drama platform
The production process of Mini Program dramas is simple: script production - shooting and production - casting - users pay to watch. The cost is concentrated in the first three links, namely script, production and casting.
The script and production are controllable and can keep costs low. As for the streaming, we will analyze it in detail in the last part of the article.
Let's start with the script, "you don't need a screenwriter at all, you can copy and melt the stem." The content of the mini program drama is not bad, basically several elements are arranged and combined back and forth, so the cost of the script is very low.
Just like its duration, the production cycle of mini program dramas is also very short. Some industry insiders revealed that it only takes two months from project approval to launch, and shooting is mostly concentrated in about a week or half a month, and everyone is like a screw on the assembly line, mechanically playing their role.
Mini program dramas sell emotions, and they don't need how well-known the actors are, and even "just look passable, it doesn't matter if they are from a professional class", of course, if this assembly line is done, everyone gets a high salary.
"It's just that I'm so short of money to earn some living expenses, and this experience I won't reflect in my resume." Others probably think the same way as I do, and everyone is here to make money. ”
It is reported that the price of actors in mini program dramas can be pressed to several hundred yuan a day, and other photography, makeup, etc. are similar. However, with the intensification of competition in the market, the production cost of small program dramas with about 100 episodes has increased from 10-150,000 yuan to 30-500,000 yuan.
At present, there are two ways to monetize Mini Program dramas, one is brand implantation, and the other is user payment. At present, there are too few mini program dramas on the market that can get brand green eyes, so they basically rely on users to pay.
As we analyzed earlier, the users of Mini Program dramas are "silent users", and although they do not speak much, they are not soft when spending money. It is reported that the ROI (return on investment) of mini program dramas can be about 1.2, which is already a very good data in the film and television industry. What is this concept? That is, if the film party spends 1 yuan to invest in the cost of streaming, it can receive 1.2 yuan of user payment.
As for the team that does the mini program drama, it is even more varied. There are web literary companies doing it, small MCN institutions doing it, and film and television companies. Even some people, because they are itching to see other people's stories of sudden wealth, immediately form a team to devote themselves to this nugget dream.
It is precisely because of this that although "mini program drama" is a new term for many people, this track is already very rolled, and about three or four thousand can be launched in a month.
Of course, this track also ran out some head players, such as Kyushu, Capacity, Dianzhong, Xi'an Fengxing, Hangzhou Harakami Twilight, etc. And their stories are attracting many newcomers who want to get a piece of the pie.
Is getting rich a myth or a dream?
It is not difficult to find from the production link that the production process of the mini program drama is almost unrelated to the word "quality", everyone is in a hurry to catch up with the schedule, and the things made are similar. So three or four thousand mini program dramas a month, what are the factors that determine who is seen by the audience?
Cast streams.
"If you don't cast streaming, no one will watch it", unlike other content, casting flow can be said to be the lifeblood of Mini Program dramas, and it is said that eighty percent or even ninety percent of the income of mini program dramas must be used for streaming.
The success of the casting stream is also related to the material, the ability of the trader and even luck. But overall, the more material is cast, the more likely it is to be seen by users, and the more likely users are to spend money on the show. Therefore, some insiders said, "It is not false to tell you to earn 100 million in 8 days, but he did not say the second half of the sentence, 90% of these 100 million have to be taken to invest."
After clarifying this key point, it is not difficult to find that the so-called myth of sudden wealth is actually half-true. Because after attracting people to the Mini Program platform through casting, there is also a follow-up sharing problem.
In the Mini Program rivers and lakes, the head players are often those who build the Mini Program platform. They have traffic ports, they have their own streaming team, and there are no middlemen to make the difference. The producer also has to share with the platform in different ways, and the mini program drama itself does not have a high technical threshold, and the platform has a relatively high say in it.
Compared with long and short dramas with richer business models, mini program dramas are riskier because their treasures are all bet on users.
Casting is the lifeblood of Mini Program dramas, and spending a lot of money to do streaming can be pushed to users. But users are attracted to click on the link to enter the mini program, and whether to spend money on dramas is not something that can be decided by the stream.
Compared with other entertainment products that can still play against the wind in the later stage, mini program dramas are more cruel, and if the amount does not rise on the first day of launch, it is likely to be eliminated.
What's more stringent is that the business logic of mini program dramas follows the "law of 19", and most people can't make money if they rush into this industry, and because its business model currently seems too single, the capital market is not very interested in it. According to Deepin Entertainment, in the second half of this year, the "Law of One Nine" has become 3%-5% of producers can earn money, and about 95% cannot make money. But why do you still attract many producers to enter the game and flock to it?
This is the core business logic of Mini Program drama - small and broad.
As a producer, if you lose money, you will generally lose up to 3.5 million in production costs. Once you make money, it is at least hundreds of thousands to millions, or even tens of millions, coupled with a short production cycle and low investment costs for a single film, so most producers are willing to fight this probability. This is the biggest charm of mini program dramas, as long as a drama is successful, the cost previously invested will all come back. As reported by the media before the consumption of 100 million "Wushuang" in 8 days, it is understood that the total consumption of "Wushuang" in the past 2 months has reached 300 million, according to the producer's 10% share ratio, which is equivalent to making a profit of 30 million with a production cost of about 500,000, and it is still continuing to make profits, which is quite amazing.
In addition, there are many people who try to earn IQ taxes to enter the industry to "fish in troubled waters", such as holding training courses, teaching how to shoot small program dramas, how to produce investment streams, etc., trying to get a piece of the industrial chain.
After the barbaric growth, where will the mini program drama go? Deepin Entertainment believes that perhaps mini program dramas will still have some deep integration with online literature in the future.
It itself was born from the web literary platform, so there is an innate combination between the two, and the web novel platform holds a large number of content IP, so you don't have to copy me and I copy you. Moreover, a large platform like Literature has a certain integration and appeal ability, which can rely on the advantages of the platform to guide the audience to consume new themes, which in turn can reverse stimulate the inspiration of creators.
Another direction of integration is the MCN agency. Mini Program drama is not the traditional star-making logic of "going outside", but the logic of "staying inside" that binds users into the private domain. This point can be combined with MCN institutions, and even MCN institutions can pick one shoulder and make stars on both sides.
In addition, Mini Program dramas must also find a new business model as soon as possible, instead of the current crude business logic of "spending money to invest and users to buy dramas". In fact, many experiences of short dramas can be learned, such as doing brand customized content and so on. But the premise that brands are willing to spend money must be to see the user's spending power; Or brand implantation, but how to carry brand content with a volume of 1-2 minutes, these need to be further explored and optimized by practitioners of mini program dramas.