In the past two years, with the unexpected reversal of the plot and the ups and downs of the plot, the micro-short drama has become the new favorite of online video, and many netizens have "fallen" into it and have recharged it. Is the threshold for micro-short dramas high? Is the short drama track now the stage of entering the game to make quick money? How long will the popularity of micro-short dramas last?
Recently, Wang Xiaoshu, the founder of Jiashu Technology, was a guest at the Sohu Finance Annual Forum and said in a dialogue with "Future Business Forces" that the threshold for micro-short dramas is very high now, and not everyone can get a piece of the industry, because many well-known directors have entered the micro-short drama, in this case, the micro-short drama must not be an industry where novices can make money quickly.
He pointed out that the average cost of a micro-short drama is between 300,000 and 500,000 yuan, and if the success criterion has been taken as the success criterion, the success rate of the micro-short drama is less than 10%. "Maybe you have to shoot ten films, and you can invest a few million before you can have a work that pays off, and this business is actually more difficult. ”
In Wang Xiaoshu's view, the future of micro-short dramas is promising, and it will continue to develop for a long time. He analyzed that firstly, the vertical screen form of micro-short dramas is more in line with the Xi of mobile consumers; second, the content of micro-short dramas is fragmented, and the 100-minute video is cut into 100 one-minute segments, which is also in line with the user's viewing needs.
But Wang Xiaoshu also said that micro-short dramas are not the stage to make quick money now. Nowadays, the annual output of micro-short dramas exceeds 10,000, and among the more than 10,000 micro-short dramas, there is a hit work, which is one in 10,000 lucky people.
"Content will eventually go high-quality, in the barbaric growth period of the industry, you can say that the content is shoddy or the picture is a little worse, you can also make money, frankly there is this stage, but this stage may be the first year in this industry. ”
Wang Xiaoshu said that if you want to make quick money, it is difficult to make high-quality products, because the so-called high-quality products are actually the products of time, capital and talents, and you may need to continuously improve the script and production, and fail many times before you can get a good result. "Frankly speaking, you can't make quick money anyway, so you should earn this money slowly and patiently. ”
Here's a rundown of the conversation:
Future business forces: Jiashu Technology is one of the first players to enter the micro-short drama, and Bingtian short drama is also the current head platform of micro-short drama, why did you choose to enter the micro-short drama track at that time?
Wang Xiaoshu: We were a novel company before we did micro-short dramas, and we had a lot of novel IPs in our hands, so at that time, we felt that this kind of novel IP, maybe the story was very popular, and we wondered if there was a video way to present it, and then combine it with short video vertical screen, The fragmented form, coupled with our online IP, coupled with the direct charging according to the content that we are good at, consider these elements comprehensively, I feel that entering the micro-short drama should be able to make a difference, so we started to do this relatively early in the industry, and in June and July of 2021, we started to do the business of micro-short dramas.
Future business forces: In the eyes of the outside world, micro-short dramas seem to be an industry where there is no threshold and everyone can come to get a piece of the pie, do you think the threshold for micro-short dramas is high?
Wang Xiaoshu: I think the threshold is quite high today, and now many well-known directors have entered the micro-short drama, so if they have all come in, it is conceivable that the micro-short drama must not be an industry where pure novices and pure whites can make money quickly, it should be said that its competition is now more fierce, and the threshold is relatively high.
Future business forces: Where is the threshold for micro-short dramas?
Wang Xiaoshu: The average cost of filming a micro-short drama is about 300,000 to 500,000 yuan, which doesn't sound particularly large, but the difficulty is that if the production cost of a short drama can be recovered evenly, not to mention that it makes money, if you take this flat back as a standard, the success rate of micro-short dramas is actually less than 10%. In this case, you may have to shoot ten films before there may be a work that can return to the cost, this account is actually very simple and can be calculated, maybe you have to invest at least a few million before it is possible to have a work that returns to the cost, this business is actually more difficult.
Future Business Forces: How long do you think the popularity of micro-short dramas will last?
Wang Xiaoshu: I think it should last for a long time, first of all, it is vertical, and the supply of vertical screen dramas in China is very small, because whether it is a traditional movie, including online dramas or TV series, it is horizontal, so the vertical screen is a form of entertainment that is more natural for users.
First of all, the micro-short drama is more in line with the consumer Xi of the mobile terminal, and the second is that its content is more fragmented, generally a 100-minute video, but it is cut into 100 one-minute segments, this consumption method, including the density of the entire plot, I think it is also more in line with the needs of users. Because of these two points, the competitiveness of micro-short dramas has been very unique for a long time, so I think its future is quite long-term.
Future Business Forces: Is it really so easy to make money from micro-short dramas? Is the short drama track still at the stage of entering the game to make quick money?
Wang Xiaoshu: First of all, it is not now the stage of making quick money, and secondly, it is not something that can make money quickly, I think this is very similar to the lottery, we can see that there is no simple idea that the lottery is a very good business, everyone should enter the game, because everyone knows that buying a lottery ticket in 5 million, may be 1 in 100,000 or 1 in a million probability.
So the micro-short drama is the same today, our annual output of micro-short dramas should be more than 10,000 pieces, so among the more than 10,000 films, you say that if there is a work like this, it can reach a particularly high popularity, that is, one in 10,000 lucky people.
Future business forces: The purpose of making profits in micro-short dramas is very strong, and many entrants think that it is good to make money, do we need to pursue the high-quality of micro-short dramas?
Wang Xiaoshu: First of all, the content will eventually go to high-quality, in the barbaric growth period of the industry, you can say that the content is shoddy or the picture is a little worse, you can also make money, frankly speaking, there is this stage, this stage may be the first year in the industry, maybe the year before or last year.
But after such a long period of development, for practitioners, the core now is to give up the idea of making quick money, if you want to make quick money, then maybe you don't have a long-term plan, all your things are just looking at the present, it is actually difficult to make a high-quality product, because the so-called high-quality is actually the product of time accumulation, maybe you continue to improve your script, your production, the first part is not good, the second part is not good, the third part is not good, and you may eventually get a good result.
Therefore, boutique itself requires time, patience, and capital injection, especially the need for more excellent talents, so in my opinion, boutique is actually the product of time, capital and talent, and players who want to do it for a long time should do so. And frankly, you can't make quick money anyway, so you should earn it slowly and patiently.
Produced by | Sohu Think Tank
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