Capital, talent, and strategy are the three most important elements of domestic long video competition. Under the condition that the funds are not dominant, it is not easy for Mango TV dramas to achieve today's results, which is commendable, which does reveal the pragmatic spirit of the "TV Hunan Army", the courage to fight and the ability to work professionally.
From 2016 to 2019, it is a stage when the content cost of the entire industry (actors' salaries, directors' and screenwriters' salaries, IP copyright fees, and content broadcast copyright fees) is high. This style of play is subject to the limitation of cost input (just like the limited ammunition in a war, which can only be fought in key local wars and not in all-out wars), although it is difficult, Mango TV still survives this cycle strongly.
After 2019, the content cost of the entire industry fell rapidly, and iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku have implemented strategies to reduce costs and increase efficiency. For example, some projects that once appeared in Youku, iQiyi, and Tencent Video film lists ended up running to Mango, which shows that Mango TV's current drama procurement budget level is not particularly far from Aitengyou, and the purchase price of the same level of content on the four platforms is roughly maintained at the same level.
Specifically, what kind of precise play has the Mango drama used to get to where it is today?
Resource integration
In 2014, the comprehensive information website "Golden Eagle Network" under Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group (Hunan Radio and Television Station) was changed to "Mango TV".
In 2018, Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group (Hunan Radio and Television Station)'s family shopping channel "Happy Shopping" was restructured, and five companies, including Mango TV, Mango Interactive Entertainment, Tianyu Media, Mango Film and Television, and Mango Entertainment, were jointly packaged and listed, and renamed "Mango Supermedia".
Over the years, Mango Supermedia's subsidiaries have delivered many mango-based self-made dramas to Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV.
For example, "Meteor Garden", "Chronicles of the Song Dynasty", "Romance of the Gods", etc., which were broadcast on the theater and Mango TV, and "Tempered into Steel", "Chronicles of the Song Dynasty 2", "When the Stars Shine", etc., which were broadcast on the Golden Eagle Theater and Mango TV, were all controlled by Mango Film and Television (formerly Hunan Economic Television).
"There are so many delicate rivers and mountains", "The Snail and the Oriole Bird" broadcast on Golden Eagle Theater and Mango TV, and "Love from Marriage" broadcast on Mango TV, etc., are all controlled by Tianyu Media.
"Born to the Sun" broadcast on Golden Eagle Theater and Mango TV, and "Ancient Secret Covenant" broadcast on Youth Theater and Mango TV, etc., are all produced by Mango Entertainment.
In addition, the subsidiaries of Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group (Hunan Radio and Television Station) have also exported many main theme dramas for Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV, such as "Ask the Boundless", "The Bottom Line", "Ideal Shines on China" and other dramas produced by Xiaoxiang Film Group.
Another example is the newly established subsidiary Golden Light (He Jin, the former general manager of Mango Film and Television, serves as the executive director and general manager of Golden Light, and the current general manager of Mango Film and Television is concurrently served by Tang Fan, general manager of Mango TV Film and Television Center), which has produced major dramas with main themes such as "Hundred Tempered into Steel" and "Song of the Foothills" in recent years.
Through the integration of the group's resources, Mango dramas have taken a differentiated route, such as Mango's main theme drama, which has formed an obvious recognition.
Strengthen self-control
Original self-production is the most direct way for the platform to reduce the cost of content.
Self-made content is an important force in the growth cycle of Mango TV dramas.
After several years of development, Mango TV's own self-made drama capabilities have become more mature, "Growing Up with You", "Happy Duet", "Apocalypse", "When the Stars Shine", "Another Blue", etc., are all pure self-made projects of Mango TV.
The Mango TV Creation Center has launched self-made dramas such as "Rational Life", "Forgotten Time" and "Time Difference of 10,000 Kilometers".
And the way to strengthen self-control: on the one hand, the platform strengthens the construction of the internal producer team, and the platform producer studio system is very mature in Mango's variety show business, and this experience can be replicated in the talent management and training of the drama business, such as "Another Blue" is produced by Mango TV's full studio.
On the other hand, it is to attract outstanding external directors and screenwriters into Mango's talent pool, such as after "I'm Good in Another Country", Mango signed a contract with cutting-edge talent director Li Mo to create another high-quality word-of-mouth drama "Apocalypse"; Another example is Wang Chenggang, a screenwriter signed by Hunan Radio and Television, who has successively written excellent main theme dramas such as "The Mountains Are So Beautiful", "Tempered into Steel", and "Song of the Foothills"; For example, Mango and director Li Ang have successively cooperated in dramas such as "Mother-in-law's Bracelet" and "Another Blue", which are also self-made dramas controlled by Mango TV.
Blood transfusions to each other
Copyright is a core asset in the content creative industry.
In the early days of the development of long video on the Internet, the ability of long video platforms to make their own content could not keep up, and the development mainly relied on the procurement of copyrighted content.
LeTV got the exclusive network copyright of "I Am a Singer 2" at a price of more than 100 million yuan, and iQiyi once purchased the network copyright of variety shows such as Hunan Satellite TV's "Where Are You Going Dad 2", "Happy Camp", "Everyday Upward" and so on for 200 million yuan. After iQiyi got a number of exclusive resources from Hunan Satellite TV, it carried out online investment, and only the naming rights of "Where Are You Going, Dad 2" got 66 million yuan that year. This move made Hunan Radio and Television deeply aware of the importance of building its own new media channels.
The early development of Mango TV mainly relied on Hunan Satellite TV to "transfuse" for it, and this "blood transfusion" was obtained at the cost of losing high copyright fees.
In terms of dramas, dramas such as "Waves Blooming", "Beautiful Li Huizhen", "Negotiator", "If, Love" and other dramas broadcast on Mango TV in the early years were all delivered by Hunan Satellite TV.
In recent years, the strength and status between video websites and TV stations have been "exchanged", and Mango TV has begun to "repay the favor" to Hunan Satellite TV, and many dramas in which Mango TV holds the copyright have been sent to Hunan Satellite TV for broadcast.
For example, in recent years, dramas such as "The Long River under Heaven", "Lady's Character", "White Castle", "Da Song Boys' Chronicles 2", "Daydream Me", "Speed Paradox", "When the Stars Shine", "Another Blue" and other dramas are all "reverse delivery" from Mango TV to Hunan Satellite TV.
Another example is the Monsoon Theater, which is a theater that integrates the dual platforms of TV stations and video websites, and the production team behind the theater broadcast project is from Mango TV.
Bind the head
In terms of the output of head drama projects, Mango dramas are mainly achieved by binding head resources.
One is to lock the head actors. Such as: Zhao Liying, Song Qian, Tan Songyun, Yang Zi, Zhang Jiayi, Huang Lei, Li Xian, Luo Jin, Wang Hedi, Zhou Yutong, Yang Yang, Tong Liya, Jin Dong, Cheng Yi, Bai Ke, Cai Wenjing, Peng Guanying and other popular actors have starred in many mango dramas. For example, "Golden Eagle Goddess" Zhao Liying recently starred in "Walking with the Phoenix" on the Golden Eagle Theater and Mango TV, which achieved high ratings and network popularity, and Zhao Liying's previous starring "The Legend of Chu Qiao", "Do You Know If You Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin", "Flower Thousand Bone" and "The Legend of Lu Zhen" were all broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV; Another example is the "Golden Eagle Goddess" Song Qian, who successively starred in mango hot dramas such as "The Next Stop is Happiness", "Warm and Sweet", "Our Translator", "Another Blue"; Tan Songyun successively starred in mango dramas such as "Under the Brocade", "In the Name of Family", "Homecoming", "You Are More Beautiful than Starlight"; Li Xian starred in dramas such as "Going to a Windy Place", "When the Stars Shine", "If Life Is Like First Seen", "National Beauty" and other dramas, all of which were also broadcast in Mango.
The second is to bind the head drama company. In recent years, leading drama companies such as Great Aim Group, Erling Yilu Film and Television, Haoku Film and Television, Huanyu Film and Television, Quantum Fan Entertainment, Baina Qiancheng, Tangren Film and Television, Noon Sunshine, and Ningmeng Film and Television have delivered many leading projects to Mango. For example, Great Aim Group has delivered mango hot dramas such as "The Next Stop is Happiness", "In the Name of Family", "To a Windy Place", "Perfect Relationship", "Negotiator", "Our Translator", "Sleeping Garden", "National Beauty", "8090", "A Storm Rises by the Railing", etc., and "Youth Pi", "Youth Pi 2", "Love for You is Beautiful", "Installation", "Happy Parents Group", "Hutong" and other mango hot dramas, and Haoku Film and Television delivered "Nezha Demon Descending", "Daming Fenghua", "The Long River of the World" and "The River is Sunrise" In recent years, Huanyu Film and Television has delivered mango dramas such as "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix", "Shangshi" and "Five Blessings", and in the early years, Huanyu Film and Television's "Palace" series, "The Legend of Lu Zhen", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Smiling Proud Jianghu" have all achieved high ratings on Hunan Satellite TV.
The third is to lock the head creator. In recent years, Mango has maintained close project cooperation with head directors such as Fu Dongyu, Mao Weining, Li Lu, An Jian, Ding Ziguang, Li Ang, and head screenwriters such as Zhang Ting, Liang Zhenhua, Huang Lei, and Wang Ti. For example, Zhang Ting has successively cooperated with Mango in dramas such as "Daming Fenghua", "The Long River of the World", "The River is on the Sun"; Fu Dongyu has successively cooperated with Mango in dramas such as "Ideal Shines on China" and "Ice, Rain and Fire"; Liang Zhenhua has successively cooperated with Mango in dramas such as "Ideal Shines on China" and "Ask the Boundless"; Mao Weining has successively cooperated with Mango in dramas such as "Tempered into Steel", "Song of the Foothills", "Our Translator", "Hidden Abyss" and so on; "Xiaomin's Family" and "Zhang Weiguo's Summer" written by Huang Lei were also broadcast on Mango.
The subject matter is broadened
In the early days of Mango TV's growth, its members were mainly young female users at a young age, and during this period, Mango TV mainly produced "sweet pet dramas" that fit their tastes for core users, and there was no shortage of small dark horses such as "One Night Bride", "Too Strong", and "Love from Marriage".
By the end of 2023, the number of effective members of Mango TV has reached 66.53 million, and the user structure of Mango TV has also become rich and perfect.
For example, Mango TV and external production companies cooperated with "Installation", "Happy Parents Group", "The Long River of the World", "The River is Rising" and other dramas, as well as "Alley People", "Good Luck Home", "180-day Paternity Plan", "Benevolence Club", "Family" and other dramas to be broadcast; Another example is Mango TV's self-produced dramas such as "Growing Up with You", "Happy Duet", "Time Difference of 10,000 Kilometers" and so on.
On the one hand, after Mango TV's user structure becomes richer, the platform needs to provide mature audiences with mature works that are more in line with their appreciation tastes.
On the other hand, in the process of the integration of Mango TV and Hunan Satellite TV on the dual platform, Mango TV mainly controls the production of drama content, and it is necessary to take care of the tonality of Hunan Satellite TV's content, so Mango TV has produced a lot of "Taiwan network dramas".
Competitor simulcast
Long video has developed to the current stage,The importance of profit is greater than the importance of market size,Each platform no longer uses exclusive broadcast copyright to stick to"Moat",But together with competing products, adopt a more cost-effective "integration strategy",Finally"Win-win"The situation is achieved。
Not only has such a phenomenon occurred in China, but Hollywood, which attaches great importance to "exclusive copyright", has also begun to open up the copyright to competing products to obtain profits. For example, Hollywood's Universal, Paramount and other traditional film studios have licensed their own theatrical movie network broadcast rights to streaming media platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+. Another example is NBCUniversal's USA TV station licensing its old ace drama "Suits" to competitor Netflix, which was eventually broadcast on Netflix and Peacock (NBCUniversal's streaming), breaking the streaming platform watch record of 26.5 billion minutes in just 8 weeks.
In recent years, competing products such as Mango and iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku have opened the "drama change" and "broadcast" mode, and have achieved cost-effective returns in a flexible and accurate way. In addition to "Walking with the Phoenix", dramas such as "Homecoming", "Shen Yin", "Riding the Wind and Waves", "Young Babylon" and other dramas that have been broadcast in the past two years are all Mango's choices under this "spelling" strategy.
Theater play
In the golden age of TV stations, Hunan Satellite TV took the lead in starting to play theater with characteristics and tricks.
In the era of "one drama with four stars" and "one drama with two stars", Hunan Satellite TV took the lead in opening the "solo broadcast" style in the prime time theater in 2003, and launched the trump card column "Golden Eagle Solo Theater", which has been running smoothly so far.
In 2011, Hunan Satellite TV opened the "Mango Weekly Theater" for the first time, taking the lead in testing the water TV weekly drama, creating a domestic precedent, and since 2012, it has successively launched the weekly theater "First Weekly Theater", "Youth Sunday" and "Diamond Solo Theater".
In 2015, "Whirlwind Girl", which premiered in the weekly theater, set a record of 2.82% of the national network rating and 2.15% of the CSM52 city network rating.
In 2017, Hunan Satellite TV's two weekly theaters merged into "Youth in Progress".
In 2021, Hunan Satellite TV will transform and upgrade the "Youth in Progress" theater to the "Mango Monsoon" weekly theater, focusing on the production of movie-level short dramas.
In the view of New Drama Observation (ID: xinjuguancha), "Youth in Progress" and "Mango Monsoon" are drama production and broadcast strategies based on two completely different underlying logics:
"Youth in progress" is more inclined to the concept of "unity of content tonality", and "Golden Eagle Theater", the content is more "youthful", which is equivalent to Hunan Satellite TV opening up a separate content community for younger users internally. For example, "Whirlwind Girl", "Beautiful Li Huizhen", "Chosen Heaven", "Waves", "Meteor Garden", "Struggle, Boy!" "Nezha Demon Descending" and other popular dramas are all in line with this "youthful" tone.
The "Monsoon Theater" is no longer a single concept of "genre theater in the station", whether in terms of broadcast channels or in the content and form of the project.
First of all, the project of "Monsoon Theater" emphasizes the upgrading of content quality in the form of high-quality short dramas, and most of the projects have a single episode length of 70 minutes and a total of 12-14 episodes.
Secondly, "Monsoon Theater" is a dual-platform theater, rather than a single "station theater", and the "Monsoon Theater" project should assume the responsibility of "Taiwan-network integration", which should not only take care of the characteristics of Mango TV users, but also take care of the tastes of Hunan Satellite TV audiences. At the same time, continuous scheduling also puts forward higher requirements for production capacity. This is not an easy task, and the exploration of "Monsoon Theater", although there have been successes and twists and turns, it has provided a lot of experimental experience for platform integration.
At present,Mango TV has grown into a video platform with 66 million users,iQiyi、Tencent Video、Youku are still continuing to tell stories related to "theater",New Drama Observation (ID: xinjuguancha) predicts that Mango TV will not give up this opportunity to tell stories,We look forward to the follow-up Mango playing in the theater to play with new ideas。
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