In 2023, the Chinese film market will recover strongly. On January 10, Maoyan Entertainment held a year-end media communication conference of "Light and Shadow, Numbers Say Burning" to review the achievements of the Chinese film market in the past year and look forward to the development of the industry in the new year.
In the past year, Maoyan has been deeply involved in the production and publicity process of many high-quality films, including the annual box office champion "Man Jianghong", the summer hit film "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Song Fengyun" and "In the Octagonal Cage", as well as the May 1st box office champion "Unfamiliar with Life", New Year's Day "Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star" and other popular films. Driven by popular schedules and films, the film market in 2023 will record a box office of 54.915 billion and 1.299 billion moviegoers, showing a strong momentum of development.
As a witness and participant in the industry, Maoyan has accompanied the Chinese film industry through a year of vitality and challenges with its deep accumulation in content promotion, data analysis and professional products. In the critical period when new opportunities and challenges coexist in the film industry, Maoyan will continue to give full play to its platform advantages, cooperate deeply with upstream and downstream partners in the industry chain, and grow together with Chinese films.
Maoyan helps high-quality content break through the circle and become popular, and the publicity and distribution methodology is mature and replicable
In 2023, the Chinese film market will turn from winter to spring, and it will be fruitful. Under the "flowers", Maoyan Film has made frequent efforts in production, publicity, distribution and other behind-the-scenes links to serve the industry and make high-quality content stand out. During the event, Zhang Bo, Vice President of Maoyan Entertainment and President of Maoyan Pictures, shared the cases and methodologies of Maoyan Film publicity in the past year.
Zhang Bo, vice president of Maoyan Entertainment and president of Maoyan Pictures
In terms of film production and publicity, many films that Maoyan has been deeply involved in the promotion and distribution have achieved outstanding box office results, such as the 2023 annual box office champion "Man Jianghong", the May 1st box office champion "Life is Unfamiliar", the New Year's Day box office champion "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", the unpopular film "Save the Suspect" in November, and the summer box office performance of "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Song Fengyun", "In the Octagonal Cage", "Dad" and so on. It is worth mentioning that among the top ten films at the Chinese box office in 2023, four will be controlled and released by Maoyan, five will be produced by Maoyan as the main producer, and Maoyan will participate in the production of as many as seven.
In the marketing and publicity, Maoyan has always maintained the sensitivity of project evaluation and the sense of innovation and change, and has formed a set of continuous iteration methodologies through the practical experience of a large number of projects, combining the types of films and their own characteristics, using online and offline channels on the whole platform, with various forms of activities such as advance screenings, premieres, roadshows, live broadcasts, and variety shows, to tailor the most suitable marketing plan for each film. During the publicity and distribution of the Spring Festival film "Man Jianghong" directed by Zhang Yimou, Maoyan created a new way of "suspenseful marketing", combined with different stage strategies before and after the screening, through innovative publicity materials such as sound trailers and interactive trailers, the development of product function role cards in Maoyan station, and the guidance of the whole people to recite "Man Jianghong" and other effective actions, helping the film to explode in popularity, successfully get out of the circle, and become popular at the box office in the long run. In the end, the box office of "Man Jianghong" reached 4.544 billion yuan, winning the Spring Festival file and the annual box office champion.
As China's first national mythological epic film directed by Wu Ershan, "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Song Fengyun" has won the box office crown for 14 consecutive days through long-term publicity and counterattack all the way to the final score of 2.634 billion. In terms of marketing, in the form of ultra-long-term landing activities, 5-city premieres and 24-city tour ceremonies were held, and at the same time, it worked closely with the movie channel to open the whole real-time roadshow live broadcast, combining the sincere expression of offline creators and online entertainment communication, and the closed-loop marketing model of multi-dimensional linkage has created countless hot topics that have broken the circle and become a classic case in the industry. After the release of the movie, the director, the starring actor and the publicity and distribution team worked closely to create "co-creative marketing", which was quite effective, and "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Song Fengyun" gained a large number of "tap water" fans, and the popularity continued to rise against the trend, forming the effect of the whole people helping to promote and feed the box office, and finally realizing the national carnival integrating popularity and word-of-mouth.
Coming to the Lunar New Year file, Maoyan has gained insight into the upper limit of the stock space of the schedule through data insight, and the real way to make good movies visible is to expand the schedule increment and pull the high-end market, so it is the first in the industry to play the "schedule marketing" strategy of comprehensive linkage of the same film: with publicity and co-creation as the core goal, through joint co-creation, platform co-creation, user co-creation, and online publicity and offline theater co-creation, 6 films are aggregated and promoted to build momentum. On the basis of "schedule marketing", Maoyan pioneered the concept of "atmosphere marketing", combining the core of cross-field marketing with film marketing, tapping the new value of offline movie-watching, and igniting the enthusiasm of young people for movie-watching. Under the combination of schedule marketing and atmosphere marketing, the box office of the New Year's Eve stalls has been effectively raised, setting off an upsurge of high-profile films continuing to dominate the list and high-reputation films being discussed by the whole people, and it is a multi-dimensional creation of "the strongest New Year's Eve file in film history".
Among them, during the publicity and distribution of the New Year's Eve comedy "Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", written and directed by Dong Runnian and starring Dapeng, Bai Ke and Zhuang Dafei, Maoyan seized the core advantage of the film's word-of-mouth to create a "beer field laughs to the top and screen it ahead of time", stimulating the fermentation of the film's word-of-mouth, relying on "Cool Films for Workers" Precise positioning, related to practical workplace social topics to enhance the popularity of the film, with multiple rounds of accurate screenings and word-of-mouth strategies after the official release, Douban scored 8.0 points and continued to grow to 8.2 points, becoming the highest-rated domestic comedy in the past five years. At the same time, directed by Chen Xiaoming and Zhang Pan, and starring Qu Chuxiao and Zhang Jianing, the tailor-made "Snow Field" screening of "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", #张万森, It's snowing# and other hot stalk topics, swiped the screen on multiple platforms to occupy the list, forming an online and offline linkage of the "Snow Battle", effectively increasing the popularity of the film and attracting potential audiences into the theater.
In the past 2023, while providing high-quality films for the market, Maoyan has also created a new trend of healthy competition and win-win cooperation in films, contributing to the common prosperity of the film market. In the future, Maoyan will maintain a rich genre, diverse themes and sufficient film content reserves. In the Maoyan Outlook film list video played at the event, more than 40 films of different genres and selling points were presented, and it is believed that they will also be released on the screen in the near future to meet the audience. Among them, the family comedy movie "Flying Life 2", which has 100% "content", relied on super IP to return to the Spring Festival file, and the return of the original cast and the joining of the surprise lineup have filled the audience's expectations! With the funny plot, new story, burning emotions, and upgraded production bonuses, "Flying Life 2" will undoubtedly become one of the popular films for the audience to watch during the Spring Festival. It is foreseeable that Maoyan's publicity and distribution capabilities will empower more films with different types of themes and promote the continuous progress of the industry.
The market performance in 2023 is outstanding, and Maoyan Research Institute uses big data to help the industry recover
For Chinese films, the year 2023 that has just passed is a year of endeavor and vitality. Liu Peng, President of Maoyan Research Institute, reviewed the performance and trends of the Chinese film market in 2023 based on data. Liu Peng pointed out, "From the data point of view, the total annual box office in 2023 will reach the peak in the past four years, although there is still a certain gap from 2019, but the overall performance of the market is remarkable, and the year-on-year increase in box office and number of people has boosted the confidence of the industry." ”
Liu Peng, president of Maoyan Research Institute
From the perspective of the box office market, in the total box office of 54.915 billion yuan, domestic films accounted for more than eighty percent of the box office, becoming the core pillar of the market, and the total number of moviegoers reached 1.299 billion times, and film consumption continued to sink. In addition, the box office contribution rate of the TOP10 films has returned to below 50%, the box office concentration has eased, and the industry structure has developed in a healthier direction. A number of market data together form a bellwether for the industry to continue to improve, boosting the confidence of the film industry.
Behind the continuous improvement of the market is the joint efforts of all parties in the industry to jointly promote the sustainable development of the film market. On the supply side, creators accurately grasped the needs of the audience, and domestic films were frequently released, and diversified genres bloomed, which effectively drove the year-on-year increase in the number of per capita movie-watching steps throughout the year.
The industry's diversified attempts are not only promoting the strong recovery of the film market, but also accelerating the iteration of the industry. In 2023, many new phenomena will emerge in the film market, which deserve the attention of the industry.
At the content level, the rise of female power has become the most significant highlight, and the audience is more concerned about the three-dimensional and diversified female roles. In the global film market, "women" and "gender issues" are also the general trend of film and television content, and "Barbie" has become the global box office champion for 23 years. In domestic films, "her story" has also become a hot topic, and the touching friendship between girlfriends in "Disappearing Her" and the duel between two mothers in "Saving the Suspect" have been hotly discussed. For the creative side, in the future creation process, it is necessary to pay more attention to whether the story content, character settings, and values are in line with the value appeal of the audience.
As interesting as the rise of women's power is the repeated outing of "topic movies", and realistic themes have become hot spots. The summer hits "All or Nothing" and "Disappearing Her", both films are based on hot social news, and the New Year's Day dark horse "Annual Meeting Can't Stop!" focuses on the working life of "big factory employees", and the themes of these films are closely related to the audience. This also puts forward higher requirements for the creation of commercial films in the future, which not only needs to inject the vitality of the times, but also needs universal value expression and sufficient commercial elements.
Whether it is the popularity of women's movies or the emergence of topical movies, it reflects that the audience cares more about the connection between movie content and self. No matter what the genre is, the "ordinary person" perspective of the character is more favored by the audience. Whether it is the historical and mythological characters in "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" and "Fengshen Part I", or the villains in "Solid as a Rock", the audience hopes to see their real joys, sorrows, and sorrows, and see their side as ordinary people.
Liu Peng said that in the face of the rapidly changing market environment, the film market should be based on the audience, bring forth the new, iterate in a timely manner, start from the needs of the audience, continue to innovate in all aspects of production, publicity and distribution, and attract more audiences with a sense of surprise. At the same time, it is also necessary to pay close attention to market changes and audience trends in the process of film production, and timely grasp the needs of the audience and make dynamic adjustments.
In the future film market, timely insight into user needs and industrial transformation trends is particularly crucial. Since its establishment, Maoyan Research Institute has formed a complete market analysis and user research system based on Maoyan's own massive user data and consulting service experience in hundreds of film projects in the past. Maoyan Research Institute is positioned as a bridge connecting filmmakers, theaters and audiences, allowing the industry to better understand the audience, reach audiences more efficiently, assist all aspects of the film to reduce risks, and optimize strategies in a timely manner.
Relying on a large amount of user data and project experience accumulation, Maoyan Research Institute provides content marketing solutions such as preview screenings, heat monitoring, and publicity suggestions for producers and distributors, bringing additional blessings to high-quality content with accurate and scientific data capabilities, helping to optimize film content, customize publicity and distribution strategies, maximize content value, and serve various film projects.
Maoyan Professional Edition product upgrades, professional tools to help high-quality development
At present, the environment of China's film market is changing rapidly, and user needs are becoming increasingly diverse and fragmented, which puts forward higher requirements for film promotion and distribution. Li Rui, the person in charge of Maoyan Professional Edition, introduced, "Maoyan Professional Edition has invested a lot in the direction of AI content production, combined with the characteristics of film and television publicity and distribution to the form of short videos, and precipitated a series of AI video content production and distribution capabilities. In 2024, we will invest in productization to better serve the industry and serve high-quality content. ”
Li Rui, the person in charge of Maoyan Professional Edition
In terms of product innovation, the "cloud charter" function helps the promotion and distribution of films through film group buying, stimulates the box office, and continues to lead the industry trend. It is worth mentioning that in addition to the top films in each schedule, more and more small and medium-sized films and fan groups began to spontaneously use the Maoyan cloud charter function to help the promotion and distribution of the project, and achieved brilliant publicity results.
In order to help the National Day film market, Maoyan Worry-free Cloud has upgraded its comprehensive service since September, and put forward the commitment of "Worry-free Refund for Charter" for the first time in the industry, providing more diverse and flexible tool options for film promotion. As of December 2023, Maoyan Worry-free Cloud has helped a total of 207 theatrical masterpieces, helping the box office to exceed 22 million, an increase of 227% year-on-year from 2022. Nowadays, Maoyan worry-free cloud charter has become a social tool, and the background of Maoyan Professional Edition found that the main body of the cloud charter field has been the most popular in recent years: because a certain movie was filmed in the store, after the film was released, the owner of the rice noodle shop "packaged" more than 20 games, and invited relatives and friends to watch the movie.
In terms of service upgrades, in order to help the smooth implementation of sub-line distribution, Maoyan Professional Edition has upgraded cinema services, promoted sub-line distribution policy education, and provided convenient services such as the competitive situation of cinemas in business districts, exclusive customer portraits of cinemas, real-time accurate competition intelligence, and one-click application for sub-line distribution, helping the two-way choice between cinemas and filmmakers and driving box office growth. At present, hundreds of theaters have tried to distribute it online through Maoyan Professional Edition.
While the product continues to innovate and iterate, Maoyan Professional Edition further increases its investment in AI and big data technology. On this basis, the AI box office prediction ability of Maoyan Professional Edition can provide strong support for the filmmaker to adjust the publicity and distribution strategy. In the summer of 2023, under the condition that all parties are not optimistic, Maoyan Professional Edition successfully predicted the box office scale of the summer dark horse movie "Disappearing Her", which caused widespread discussion in the industry. This prediction proves to the industry the accumulation of Maoyan Pro's AI prediction capabilities and big data technology, and further consolidates Maoyan's position as the industry vane of AI box office forecasting.
In the second half of 2023, Maoyan Professional Edition will launch a number of data-based products to provide industry users with more visual industry information exposure capabilities. The "Filing and Project Initiation Query", which was launched in August, presents the relevant information and progress of the industry in a more visual way, the "Box Office Map" function displays the competition situation of the film market in real time and provides support for the filmmakers to adjust their publicity and distribution strategies in a timely manner, the "Film Market Grand Slam" collects multi-dimensional box office data to motivate the top filmmakers, and the "Urban War Report" function adds more exposure to the achievements of the honor list, discovers more publicity highlights for small and medium-sized filmmakers, and helps them achieve better market performance. It can be seen that the growth and iteration of Maoyan Professional Edition in the past year has brought more possibilities for the dynamic promotion of cinema films.
In addition, in the past year, Maoyan has established in-depth data cooperation with more partners, and its service capabilities have been further improved. During the Spring Festival, Maoyan will soon launch the Spring Festival marketing crowd portrait battle report, closely observe the effective reach of the marketing actions of the schedule films on various platforms, and analyze the user portraits reached. In the near future, Maoyan Professional Edition will also launch a new function of real-time effective playback list for the drama field, and make a new revision of the episode details page, bringing more dimensional data indicators to high-quality drama content and providing reference for drama promotion.
Maoyan Pro's capabilities are based on data, but it is more than data. In 2024, Maoyan Professional Edition will continue to increase product investment, and on the basis of integrating the whole network group news and filmmaker information, it will launch an intelligent casting tool and launch new functions such as Maoyan one-click investment products, so as to better serve the whole process of film production, publicity and distribution.
Ma Yiqun, video director of Xinhuanet and director of the Convergence Media Innovation Center, said, "Maoyan Pictures took us to review the new situation of innovation in the film industry. ”
He further said: "In 2023, the Chinese film market has achieved very good results, which has boosted the confidence of the industry and made everyone look forward to the future development of the industry. It is believed that with policy guidance, data empowerment and the dedication of all practitioners, China's film industry will make greater progress and long-term development in 2024. ”
In 2024, the Chinese film market will reorganize and set sail again, Maoyan will deepen the promotion of content, gain insight into market trends, and strive to make high-quality films shine with professional tools.