Author|Fu Mengzhen
At the Chengdu Network Audiovisual Conference in early April, Chen Ruiqing, the founder of Dianzhong Technology, made a loud voice at the "Micro Short Drama Mini Program Healthy Development Forum": "Micro short dramas need to transform from traffic products to content works, explore different business models, and find a new way to spread Chinese culture." ”
In the rapidly exploding micro-short drama industry, Dianzhong Technology ranks at the forefront of the industry with a number of popular models and the business layout of the whole industry chain.
started with online literature, is good at streaming, and Dianzhong Technology has inherent advantages in doing micro-short dramas. With frequent explosions and mature platforms, Dianzhong Technology has explored and moved forward in multiple categories such as free, paid, brand, and cultural tourism, leading the new trend of the development of the micro-short drama industry, and accumulating exclusive methodologies and practices. When we approach Dianzhong Technology, we can find that this cutting-edge Internet leading enterprise has always implemented an almost old-school corporate culture: professional and pragmatic, innovative and forward.
One afternoon in early April, the climate in Chengdu was mild and humid, and in the warm sun and breeze, Entertainment Capital interviewed Chen Ruiqing, the founder of Dianzhong Technology. He is dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, full of business style, but when you see the four corners of his mobile phone and the raw edges at the collar, you can also see that he is low-key and introverted, steady and down-to-earth style of life.
The involution of micro-short dramas is serious, and the industry is in the era of "low profits".
"Transformation and renewal", optimize supply, break through bottlenecks, and explore new business models such as micro-short drama content upgrades, cultural tourism brand micro-short dramas, and free paid micro-short dramas in the new era. Dianzhong Technology, under the leadership of Chen Ruiqing, is setting sail with actions, handing over works and giving answers.
Don't forget the original intention, grasp the pulse of the times in the "small profit".
"In 2023, the micro-short drama market will be about 37.4 billion, and I predict that it will reach 100 billion in 2027. Under such a market scale, on the one hand, we need to supervise and keep the lower limit, and on the other hand, we need to solve problems in the process of development, and constantly make breakthroughs for the good to create high-quality products. On the huge stage, Chen Ruiqing firmly and confidently shared his views on the general trend of the micro-short drama industry.
When talking about the original intention of making micro-short dramas, Chen Ruiqing said frankly, "It is influenced by others. ”
For a long time, focus is one of the rules of Chen Ruiqing's entrepreneurship, three years ago when the development of online literature was still booming, Chen Ruiqing did not think about making micro-short dramas, "At that time, there were only 50,000 micro-short dramas, and there was a lot of room to be improved in terms of production and copyright, which was not suitable for us." But in 2022, almost all of our distribution and streaming partners are doing micro-short dramas. I also slowly realized that micro-short dramas are the videoization of novels, just like the development of Toutiao to Douyin, which is the trend of content dissemination in the vertical screen era. ”
In the past two years, the micro-short drama has become more and more popular. Since the beginning of this year, a number of micro-short dramas have repeatedly appeared at the top of the hot search lists of public media such as Douyin and Weibo, and micro-short dramas have been spread one after another.
During the Spring Festival, when Chen Ruiqing was celebrating the New Year in his hometown, his uncle and cousin at home also asked Chen Ruiqing Amway, "This micro-short drama is really good, you hurry up and take a look." ”
Chen Ruiqing pointed out with this as an example, "Today's young people will spend three or four hours on their mobile phones every day, and they have developed a fragmented movie-watching habit. In the past, young people watched UGC short video content, and the sense of story, substitution, and expectation were lacking, and micro-short dramas solved this problem and were the choice of the times. ”
Behind the formation of user habits is a large amount of content supply. Since the second half of last year, more and more content creators, producers, investors, brands, etc. have rushed in, and countless gold diggers have followed, which has also led to the emergence of homogeneous content and squeezed profit margins.
The micro-short drama industry mainly includes copyright, production, production, and streaming. Excluding costs, the four companies need to share 17% of the gross profit margin equally, with an average profit of less than 4% per company. In other words, a micro-short drama with a recharge of 5 million can only be regarded as a return to cost.
"Some people think that turnover is profit, but in fact, the two are not the same thing, and the profit of short dramas is very low. Now that the scale of micro-short dramas has become larger, and the number has increased, the gross profit of each micro-short drama has actually become lower, and the industry is becoming more and more volatile. ”
Chen Ruiqing calculated an account for Entertainment Capital, "Now in the micro-short dramas produced by Dianzhong Technology, half of them can return to their original costs, 30% of them can be lost, and 20% of them can make money." Overall, we are still in the investment phase. ”
Under such a situation, Dianzhong Technology has also opened a new way to break the situation.
Content is the weapon for transformation and upgrading
"Micro-short dramas are the trend and trend, but you must find your own advantages. If you want to kill it, you have to have good content. ”
Regarding the next development direction of micro-short dramas, Chen Ruiqing gave a clear methodology: volume content.
Doing a good job of content is the vision of almost all practitioners, but how to go about it has become a difficult point. Dianzhong Technology has begun the transformation from the content mode, IP, type, talent supply and other aspects of micro-short dramas.
Everyone has expectations, dreams, regrets, and wants to make their dreams come true in the story. This determines that the story is at the heart of the cultural product.
Chen Ruiqing looked back on the past and pointed out that the content of the drama should be used to make micro-short dramas, "Now micro-short dramas are mostly video presentations of text, and the paradigm of starting and turning can be further improved." Theater has developed a successful methodology in this regard, such as the classic films produced by movies that follow the creative method of theater, which are still favored by audiences for many years. In the future, micro-short dramas can also find creative inspiration from dramas and make micro-short dramas in the way of making movies. ”
Chen Ruiqing also gave a commercial blueprint for the content of new micro-short dramas from the perspective of the market, "If a micro-short drama is dramatic, it will be literary and ideological, and the content will grow together with the commercial potential." Since the second half of the previous year, the market revenue of overseas micro-short dramas has only reached 170 million US dollars, and now more than 40 companies have gone overseas, increasing by more than 10 times every day, and I predict that it will reach 10 billion US dollars after the year. At that time, Chinese micro-short dramas will definitely surpass Hollywood. ”
"Online texts are a major source of content supply for micro-short dramas, but now only 10% of online text categories have been developed into micro-short dramas, and there is a lot of room for the future. ”
In addition, Dianzhong Technology is also exploring new sources of micro-short drama stories, such as film and television dramas, folklore, Hong Kong films, legends, etc.
In the past three years, the production cost of micro-short dramas has risen from 50,000 to 1 million now. In this regard, Chen Ruiqing pointed out that "the micro-short drama industry can not get to this day by volume production, and neither will it be in the future." Rather, it is the volume IP, the volume content. The rise in production costs actually means that the cultivation of certain IPs is also a good thing for the development of the industry. ”
One of the major drawbacks of the development of the content industry lies in its uncertainty and high risk, and IP solves this difficulty, "Like a micro-short drama actor who was 2,000 a day before, he will ask for 20,000 after he becomes popular." Although the cost is higher, it is also a good thing that the actor has fans and the recycling is more stable. ”
Taking this as an example, in the future, micro-short dramas can not only develop existing IPs, but also empower IPs and create IPs, represented by brand micro-short dramas and cultural tourism micro-short dramas.
"More than 50% elimination rate, hundreds of micro-short dramas, more than 100 teams. ”
Chen Ruiqing quantitatively summarized the reasons why Dianzhong Technology continues to launch popular micro-short dramas, "Dianzhong Technology's micro-short drama scripts implement a horse racing mechanism, which will allow different people to make a content, and the bad ones will be eliminated directly, and the elimination rate of the script alone exceeds 50%. ”
In terms of production, Dianzhong Technology also practices the characteristics of innovation and cooperation, letting the team and partners try new content, "We have invested a lot of manpower, material resources and funds in innovation, sometimes partners have to shoot a new content, and we can't convince him, so we can only let him shoot and try together." The only convincing thing in this world is the south wall. ”
At present, Dianzhong has cooperated with more than 200 external production companies to set up a professional post-production team and a review team of more than 60 people to control the whole chain in order to produce high-quality content.
In addition, Dianzhong has the largest micro-short drama distribution platform in the country, has built a distribution team of more than 50 people, and cooperated with more than 300 active investment companies, and the material of a single micro-short drama can be more than 10 times that of its peers, and quickly occupy the market with volume, which ensures that this year's content is so "involuted", and the overall hit rate of Dianzhong can reach 10%.
The three axes of the new model of micro-short dramas: cultural tourism, branding, and promoting culture
"The regulatory policy is very clear, and the governance is being standardized, and practitioners also feel the confidence in the development of the industry and are actively exploring new directions. At this year's online audiovisual conference, many practitioners said to Xiaoyu.
At the same time, Dianzhong Technology is also exploring how to transform and upgrade, exploring various development models such as micro-short dramas + cultural tourism, micro-short dramas + brands, free micro-short dramas, and paid micro-short dramas.
In terms of cultural tourism micro-short dramas, the micro-short drama production team of Dianzhong Technology is dividing into multiple ways to start production. Last year, Dianzhong Technology cooperated with the Linping District Government of Hangzhou to launch the micro-short drama "Linping, Set Off to Happiness".
"This year, we are developing cultural tourism micro-short drama projects in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, exploring how to turn local IP into a serialization. A content method that can not only meet the needs of users, but also disseminate local characteristics, hopes to achieve a balance between the marketization and quality of cultural tourism micro-short dramas. ”
As one of the "media" for promoting online texts, micro-short dramas have strong commercial attributes when they were born. The characteristics of user payment make micro-short dramas like movies to C, with a high degree of dissemination. Chen Ruiqing pointed out, "The development potential of brand micro-short dramas is unlimited, and we are seeking cooperation with brands in various categories such as automobiles. ”
In addition, Dianzhong Technology is also actively promoting Chinese culture, "micro-short dramas are part of China's cultural undertakings, and will become an important part of the cultural industry, on the one hand, we are promoting traditional Chinese culture through micro-short dramas + education, bringing excellent content to more students, and on the other hand, we are doing micro-short dramas to go to sea." I believe that micro-short dramas going overseas will surpass games in terms of industry scale and revenue, which is a blue ocean. ”
In February this year, DramaBox, a micro-short drama platform under Dianzhong Technology, topped the entertainment list of the Apple Store in Taiwan, China for 7 consecutive days, and the micro-short drama "Returning Home in the Year of the Dragon", which tells the story of the Chinese New Year, became a hit after it was launched, "These are all new directions for spreading Chinese culture." ”
Provide users with good dramas and cooperate with outstanding talents
Chen Ruiqing predicts that when the micro-short drama market reaches 100 billion. At that time, the market share will be equally divided between free and paid micro-short dramas. Now, Dianzhong Technology has created a free micro-short drama app "Hippo Theater" and a paid fast app "Flower Theater". At present, there are more than 100 million users watching the drama on Fanhua, and the Hippo Theater has also precipitated more than 40 million users.
Now, Dianzhong Technology invests more than 40 million yuan every month to supply content for the Hippo Theater, including the introduction of popular micro-short dramas such as "Provocation". Chen Ruiqing hopes, "In principle, the Hippo Theater only launches the top content. We are also reducing the cost of watching dramas for users through free forms, so that more users can see good dramas. ”
"Micro-short dramas are not an infinite supply of polar costs, but are becoming more and more volatile, and there will definitely be film-level head works in the future. ”
Born in the communications industry, he has been in business for more than ten years, and has gained a foothold in the online literature circle with "quick novels", looking back on the key to entrepreneurial success along the way, Chen Ruiqing pointed out, "It is a talent." The fundamental reason why China's communications industry and the Internet can quickly move to the forefront of society is the thickness and density of talents. If the micro-short drama industry wants to develop well, it must also attract talents. ”
The production cycle of micro-short dramas is short and the iteration is fast. In terms of talent cultivation, it takes three or five years for traditional film and television drama screenwriters to produce a work, while micro-short dramas only need three to five months to have several works, which greatly improves the talent density and follow-up of creators in China's content field. Dianzhong Technology has recruited a large number of college graduates to cultivate professional talents.
In addition to the company, Dianzhong Technology is also actively cooperating with outstanding talents in other industries.
"Now many traditional MCNs, film and television companies, and TV stations have entered the game, and everyone cooperates to make micro-short dramas. They have the advantage of producing content, and after mastering the narrative logic of micro-short dramas, they will produce a lot of high-quality content. It's equivalent to them going down, we are going up, looking for a point of cooperation. I believe it won't be long before they produce blockbuster works. ”
As AI will reduce the cost of content supply for micro-short dramas, the production and dissemination of micro-short dramas will usher in a new development trend. Chen Ruiqing pointed out, "Interactive micro-short dramas and immersive micro-short dramas wearing VR glasses are imaginable futures. Dianzhong Technology is actively paying attention to new technologies and empowering business development with technology. ”
"Pragmatic and win-win. When asked why he could be the head of the industry, Chen Ruiqing said gently and firmly after drinking a cup of tea.
"What you're seeing is survivorship bias, and Dianzhong Technology also has a lot of failed projects. But these are also our treasures. Only with failure can we summarize and review our experience and find new methods. We love to learn, and we often study what is good about others, think about what we should do in the future, and recognize ourselves from our works, so that we can do a good job in content. ”
At the end of the interview, Chen Ruiqing once again emphasized the importance of content and the necessity of transformation and upgrading, and he also said frankly, "This is not the business of Dianzhong Technology, but all partners need to work together to raise the ceiling of industry development." I've always believed that if our partners are good, we're not bad. I hope to move forward with the big guys and step out of the new world of micro-short dramas. ”