Text: Zhang Jingchao
In China, Internet companies represented by iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku, etc. have always been regarded as emerging forces in the film and television industry. In recent years, through the accumulation of traffic, content, technology, etc., these new forces have occupied a place in movies, dramas, variety shows and other fields. At the same time, the long video platform is also constantly exploring and exploring overseas markets.
The main battlefield of these new forces overseas is the Southeast Asian market. The folk culture here is close to China, and in the past few years, it has been one of the important areas for domestic film and television companies to shoot and distribute overseas. In 2023, the role of Southeast Asia as a bridgehead for China's film and television industry to go overseas will become more and more obvious.
According to the "BrandOS TOP 30 Application (Non-game) Overseas Brand Social Media Influence List" released by OneSight, in the third quarter of 2023, WeTV, iQIYI, Bilibili, and MangoTV won the top four on the list.
However, compared with the Southeast Asian market, the European and American markets, which have stronger consumption power, have always been more coveted by Chinese film and television people. However, due to the huge global influence of Hollywood and Silicon Valley tech giants, Chinese companies do not have a strong presence here.
In 2023, a new force in the film and television industry will emerge, using the characteristics of short videos, the new force will successfully "export" the new content category of micro-short dramas to many countries and regions around the world. According to incomplete statistics from the reporter of "China Business Daily", since 2023, there have been a number of domestically made micro-short drama apps such as GoodShort, a short drama application of the online text platform Xinyue Times, MoboReels of Changyue Technology, Mini Episode of the social platform Chizicheng, and 99TV and ShortTV, the domestic mini program drama platform Kyushu Culture, have been launched overseas. Among them, most of the micro-short drama platforms that go overseas take the North American market as their main position to go overseas.
Southeast Asia becomes a "bridgehead"
An important reason for the long video platform to go overseas is that the demographic dividend of the domestic mobile Internet has been greatly reduced. At the same time, the huge population flow and entertainment consumption demand in the Southeast Asian market provide unlimited possibilities.
According to the e-Conomy SEA 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by Google, Temasek and Bain&Company, the GMV of Southeast Asia's digital economy is expected to grow at a rate of 11% to US$218 billion in 2023 and to US$295 billion by 2025.
The stock and increment of the market are quite attractive to the long video platform, and at the same time, the commonality between Southeast Asia and mainland culture is strong and the barriers are low, so it has always been the main area for Chinese dramas to go overseas, and has accumulated strong influence and appeal.
Facts have also proved that it is easier for long video platforms to open the market in Southeast Asia. iQIYI revealed in its financial report for the third quarter of 2023 that the broadcast time of iQIYI's international version of Chinese dramas increased by 23% year-on-year and 33% quarter-on-quarter. "Lotus Tower" ranked first in iQiyi's international version in terms of cumulative broadcast volume and broadcast duration in the third quarter, and topped the broadcast volume list in Southeast Asia, East Asia and North America. According to the official news at the "WeTV Always More 2024" conference, WeTV (Tencent Video Overseas Version) has more than 13.5 million monthly active users and has more than 2,000 pieces of content.
However, in the Southeast Asian market, the pattern is not yet clear, there are both new and old Chinese film and television forces in the layout, as well as local media institutions, in addition, European and American companies such as Netflix and Disney also attach great importance to this.
According to Netflix's financial report released at the beginning of 2023, content investment in the Asia-Pacific region reached US$1.9 billion (about 14 billion yuan) in 2022, with a year-on-year increase of 15%. Its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 shows that whether it is the performance in the three months ended September 30, 2023, or the performance in the previous nine months, Netflix's operating data in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the number of paid members and the paid revenue per member, have achieved year-on-year growth of varying degrees.
It can be seen that although the economic growth potential of Southeast Asia and the cumulative advantages formed by the similarity with domestic culture have opened up a "shortcut" for long videos to go overseas, but if you want to gain a firm foothold in Southeast Asia, you also need to rely on the strength of content products.
A person from a long video platform summed up three experiences to reporters: first, starting from the interests and preferences of local users and movie-watching Xi, with the help of continuous optimization of translated subtitles, context conversion and localized dubbing, etc., to lower the viewing threshold and promote cultural integration, and at the same time eliminate the time difference of content through synchronous publicity and launch; second, large-scale purchase of local film and television rights in Southeast Asia; third, continuous investment in local self-made content.
"Whether it's a series exported to Southeast Asia or locally filmed content, the most important thing is to find universal values that break down geographical boundaries and add these values to the work to resonate. Jin Yan (pseudonym), who is engaged in film production, said that throughout the past few decades, works that can be popular around the world basically conform to this rule, and only in this way will the content have a more far-reaching impact.
Micro-short dramas open up the North American market
In 2023, micro-short dramas will become a track for long video platforms, short video platforms, film and television companies, and state-owned media organizations to compete for the layout in China. At the same time, there are also some Chinese companies that have made the business of micro-short dramas overseas.
Among them, ReelShort, a subsidiary of Chinese Online, has also soared in the app store rankings of many countries and regions in North America and Europe. According to the data analysis platform Appfigures, its downloads in the first 17 days of November 2023 have exceeded 1.9 million, and the cumulative number of downloads has exceeded 11 million.
A number of domestic film and television production-related practitioners told reporters that in recent times, many different types of players, including domestic small program drama distributors, long video platforms, film and television companies, and online text platforms, are actively seeking micro-short dramas to go overseas. In terms of overseas destinations, the North American market is becoming a new battleground, and Southeast Asia and the Middle East have also become hot spots for many players to try to exploit.
Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Consulting, introduced that from the end of 2022, the ReelShort team, headquartered in Silicon Valley, began to try a more localized production method, using overseas filming teams, using European and American actors, while retaining the core of China's popular short drama themes, combined with werewolves, vampires and other themes that European and American audiences are more familiar with, so as to create more localized short dramas.
The European-American "earthy" short dramas, which were packaged locally and each episode of less than 2 minutes, were promoted on social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook in the following six months, attracting more and more local users.
In Zhang Yi's view, the essence of short dramas is to meet people's spiritual and cultural needs, but to meet people's immediate and fragmented entertainment needs in a low-cost way, and it has the ability to cross social status, class and country. At the same time, with the increase of work pressure, this demand is becoming more and more prominent.
In the interview, many interviewees believe that now, Chinese short dramas have many basic conditions for going overseas.
On the one hand, although it has not been born for a long time, the domestic micro-short drama market has gradually matured. According to a report by iiMedia Consulting, the size of China's micro-short drama market is expected to reach 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 267.65% year-on-year. Zhang Yi believes that in the context of the general similarity of the spiritual life pursued by people, the supply and demand of micro-short dramas are booming in the domestic market, and there is a high probability that they can find a market in the world.
On the other hand, micro-short dramas are also called "short video version of online articles" by many people in the film and television industry, after the successful launch of Chinese online texts to the sea, laying an audience foundation for micro-short dramas, and at the same time providing a rich, market-proven IP source reserve for micro-short dramas;
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, since 2023, there have been a number of domestically made short drama apps such as GoodShort, a short drama application of the online text platform Xinyue Times, MoboReels of Changyue Technology, Mini Episode of the social platform Chizicheng, and 99TV and ShortTV, a domestic mini program drama platform Kyushu Culture, have been launched overseas. Among them, most of the micro-short drama platforms that go overseas take the North American market as their main position to go overseas.
The reporter learned that different models have been derived from the overseas of micro-short dramas. Kyushu Culture is mainly oriented to the English-speaking market ShortTV, the source of short dramas is mainly divided into two types, one is to translate and produce domestic short dramas suitable for the European and American markets through translation, re-dubbing and then launch on the platform, the other is to purchase suitable novel IP in the European and American markets, and then adapt the script by its own and cooperative screenwriter team, and contact the local team overseas to perform shooting and production after the script is finalized, which is also the more mainstream way for the short drama platform for the European and American markets to go overseas.
In terms of business model, the current micro-short drama apps that go overseas generally rely on two major revenues: payment and advertising, and there are certain degrees of difference in the proportion of the two in different countries and regions.
However, Chinese companies still face great challenges if they want to gain a foothold in the European and American markets through micro-short dramas, and the first is content supply. According to public information, at present, ReelShort updates two short dramas about a month, and there are only more than 20 short dramas on the entire platform; ShortTV currently updates 3-5 overseas shooting short dramas every month, and a total of 10 short dramas are currently updated. According to Detawen's "Micro Short Drama Market Report for the First Half of 2023", a total of 481 new short dramas will be released in China in the first half of 2023, compared with the number of short dramas going overseas at this stage.
Secondly, European and American actors only work 8-10 hours a day, and there are unions involved in interference. In contrast, domestic actors, especially those who shoot micro-short dramas, are basically not famous, have low salaries, and are acceptable to shoot for more than ten hours a day. Jin Yan told reporters that this feature also increases the cost of overseas filming and production of film and television dramas, and the production cycle is lengthened. In this case, there may still be a long way to go if micro-short dramas go overseas to create more popular content.