Under the wave of digitalization and informatization, the operating model of the radio and television industry is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges, on the one hand, advertising revenue continues to decline, and on the other hand, the sales revenue of radio and television programs has become a revenue growth point. At the same time, the consumption trend of radio and television audiences is also quietly changing, among which the rise of micro-short dramas has attracted much attention from the industry.
According to the data of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, in 2023, the TV advertising revenue of the national radio and television system will be 23.645 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.92%, and the sales revenue of radio and television programs will be 13.343 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.99%. According to iiMedia Research's "Research Report on the Scale of China's Online Micro Short Drama Market", the market size of micro short dramas will be 37.39 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in 2024. The micro-short drama that was not optimistic 2 years ago (the market size was 368 million yuan that year) has now become the "most profitable track".
According to the research results of an institution, the income of micro-short drama users is between 5,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan, and the main groups are students and young people who are new to the workplace, who are more sensitive to price and are more inclined to choose cost-effective entertainment consumption, and spend about 500 yuan per month on average on micro-short dramas. In terms of content, in-depth research on the preferences of user groups will be conducted to create works that meet the tastes of the target audience; in addition, after the content is launched, the operator will also strive to push streams, improve the visibility of the content through precision marketing and social media promotion, attract more users to watch, and increase the willingness of users to pay. This series of operations is actually somewhat similar to what radio and television did in the era of fierce competition among national satellite channels.
For the radio and television industry, micro-short dramas are a market that needs to be entered with a high profile. More than 10 years ago, I participated in the discussion of many domestic TV dramas. At that time, many TV stations launched influential local column dramas, many of which were good works with both ideology and marketability, in fact, these column dramas were the predecessors of today's micro-short dramas. After the new crown epidemic, I also chatted with friends in Guangdong about the overseas promotion and copyright sales of "Foreign Daughter-in-law Local Lang", and suggested that they could re-edit the show in the form of a micro-short drama and broadcast it on paid platforms, which must have a good income.
In order to guide the standardized and orderly development of online micro-short dramas, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued a series of policies in recent years: in 2020, a new "online micro-short drama" section was added to the filing system, and 2020 was also called the "first year of online micro-short dramas", and in 2022, the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Online Micro-short Dramas and Implementing the Creation Improvement Plan" was issued to promote the continuous standardization of the online micro-short drama dissemination order and the steady improvement of content quality.
At the beginning of 2024, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Creation Plan of "Traveling with Micro Short Dramas" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), proposing to create and broadcast 100 excellent micro short dramas with the theme of "Traveling with Micro Short Dramas" in 2024. From rural tourism to scenic landscapes, from archaeological projects to cultural relics, from base parks to urban pavilions, the 8 creative directions cover the main fields of the cultural tourism industry, and strive to promote a number of physical filming locations to follow the hot broadcast circle of micro-short dramas and go to sea.
After the issuance of the "Notice", radio and television stations around the country have taken action, and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio, Film and Television issued "Follow the Micro Short Drama to Travel · The "Creation Plan" of the short drama tour in Beijing proposes five creative directions: "Beijing Appearance, Infinite Vitality", "Beijing Rhyme, Infinite Value", "Beijing Creation, Boundless Innovation", "Beijing Tide, Boundless Charm", and "Beijing Fashion, Endless Vitality" 198 creative clues have been received, and 123 intending creative units have been received; Jiangsu Radio and Television Bureau and the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism have formulated a plan for the collection of theme creations, and excellent theme works will be included in the Jiangsu network audio-visual project library, giving priority to the support of the province's radio and television and cultural tourism policies; Hunan Radio and Television Bureau plans to create a series of works, launches "Follow Mango to Travel - Short Drama", and produces and broadcasts "The Secret Between Us", "I Wait for the Sea Breeze to Embrace You", "More than a Shared Relationship", "Your Island Has Arrived", "" A Dream Pillow Galaxy", "The Night of the Reunion", "Summer Escape from the Island of Love" and other works...... The integration of micro-short dramas with traditional culture, tourism resources, and offline economy is becoming an important force to promote cultural and tourism consumption.
At present, the micro-short drama market is rising together, and it is hoped that more radio and television "regular army" will enter this track to help build a good micro-short drama ecology with unified ideology and marketability. It is expected that the radio and television industry will actively adapt to market changes and innovate business models from multiple dimensions such as charging models, content production, and service optimization, and at the same time, strengthen the user feedback mechanism, adjust and optimize services in a timely manner, improve user satisfaction and loyalty, and realize the sustainable development of the micro-short drama industry.
(Fang Shitong is a British Chevening Scholar, Master of Media Management from Stirling University, and has long been committed to the development of television media research and consulting work.) ）
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