Micro -short drama counterattack: Youteng mango roll production, quick roll story story

Picking / He Xijin

Edit / Wang Hongxia

Two years ago, the "Crooked Mouth Dragon King" series of short dramas was ridiculed by the entire network, but this year's micro -short drama has counterattacked and has become a new outlet.

"Micro -short dramas are getting more and more, good works have not lost the A -level online drama." Xiaohongshu blogger Changan started watching short dramas two years ago, and deeply felt the changes in the wind direction of the short drama track.

Since 2019, players from all walks of life have entered the game: short video platforms such as fast hands, Douyin, long video platforms such as Youku and Tencent, MCN institutions, and happy twists, Huayi Brothers and other film and television companies on the same track.

This year's short dramas have finally entered a preliminary maturity period, and the works have sprung up. According to Detawen data, in the first half of this year, the planned micro -short drama was planned in 1789, an increase of 511%over the same period last year.

There are no shortage of high -quality works in the short dramas that have been broadcast. The mango TV short drama "Nian Nian Nian" launched in April, under the condition of basic zero announcement, as of now, the cumulative playback volume is nearly 600 million, Douban score 7.0; "Upon", the cumulative playback volume exceeded 360 million times, the Douban score was 6.8, and the fans urged online. "Since the entry of the large platform, the production of short dramas is becoming more and more professional, and it is no longer the ethical and embarrassing bully."

But behind the explosive growth, the story of the short drama track is not easy to tell.

How to continuously output fine content and explore healthy monetization models are the two mountains facing the entry.

Based on the logic of different platform ecology and content production, each platform gives this differential resolution.

(Stills of "Princess Being above")

Horizontal VS vertical screen, different ways in the same direction

After nearly three years of development, the micro -short drama track has formed two camps: horizontal screen short drama and vertical screen short drama. The video platform is represented.

There are certain differences in duration, content characteristics and monetization methods.

The horizontal screen short drama is generally 7 ~ 15 minutes, which is more like the miniization of online dramas. It is filmed by a professional film and television team. The actors are more professional, the plot is coherent, and the horizons are more comfortable to see the horizons sideways. The experience is more friendly.

The vertical screen short drama is generally about 3 minutes, similar to the extension of short videos, mostly produced by MCN institutions and Internet celebrities. Because users usually enter the short video stream, they will generally weaken the coherent nature of the drama and strengthen the independence and topical nature of each episode to adapt to the viewing of the user's browsing Habit.

In addition, based on the size characteristics of the vertical screen, the composition of the vertical screen short drama tends to binary opposition, weakens background information, highlights the character's appearance and body language, and pays more attention to the irritation of people and stories.

In terms of monetization, there are more diversified monetization channels for vertical screen short dramas: platform division, product implantation, program customization, live broadcast and goods. Dipping, investment advertisements and paid on -demand.

The horizontal and vertical screens have their own strengths, but they also face many challenges.

First, in terms of content production, the horizontal screen short drama should balance the fragmentation and narrative integrity of the content. It must be clearly converged in 7-15 minutes. challenge.

Director Qing also told "Financial Story" that "because the horizontal screen short drama does not have detailed pavement, it can only rely on the superb bridge to show the completeness and credibility of the story, so that users have a sense of substitution. This is difficult."

There are also two problems with the content of the vertical screen short drama: on the one hand, many short dramas are produced by the MCN institution, and their lens language is mobilized by the horizontal screen short drama. On the other hand, because of too much emphasis on impact, it is more exaggerated to stimulate users with exaggerated performances and sensational background music. The emotional output is lightened and lacks the aftertaste.

Second, in terms of business models, most of the producers of the horizontal screens are subsidized by the platform. At present, the market has not approved its platform accounts, investment advertisements and paid -on -demand models, and investment promotion is not easy.

Faced with the above predicament, major platforms are seeking their own solutions.

Youku Video: Content creation Guangsha.com, customized advertisements to realize monetization

Youku uses the strategy of "borrowing forces" in the creation of Hengping Short Drama. It does not first dig out the content of the content like Tencent Video and Mango TV. Therefore, the characteristics of "wide spreading and not focusing" are present in the subject matter.

First, encourage IP adaptation. In September last year, Youku released the "Fuyao Plan" to cooperate with IP platforms such as comics, book flag novels, Mi Reading novels, Zhihu and other IP platforms to introduce mature IPs and encourage creators to adapt. It can reduce its creative cost and attract the natural traffic of the original IP fans.

At the same time, Youku and IP platforms will provide support for creators.

Second, the originality is encouraged, and the "good story plan" is supplemented by the "Fuyao Plan", encourages original script, taps excellent script talents, and solves the problem of story creation.

Third, increase the profitability of the creators' accounts.

The Youku Hengping Short Show upgraded the account division mode in August 2021, doubled the unit price of the S -class project to 6 yuan, and doubled the unit price of all the projects in the traffic split mode, which was effectively played for 60 yuan per 1,000 times. In this way, the creation of top -top boutique content is encouraged.

This series of measures greatly increased the number of creations of Youku short dramas. According to the "2022 Short Drama Insight Report" of the Cat Eye Research Institute, as of June this year, 171 independent micro -broadcast on the three major platforms of the three major platforms of Tencent Video, Mango TV, and Youku. In short dramas, Youku has 111 units, accounting for 65%. In terms of commercial monetization, Youku relying on the brand cooperation advantage of Ali e -commerce to match the production of short dramas and implant the e -commerce brand advertisement to achieve realization.

For example, in the fantasy sweet pet "Personal Takeaway Store", I plant the beauty brand Amore. According to the characteristics of the audience characteristics of Amore and the plot of "Personal Takeaway Store", the Youku team designed a naturally not implanted implanted plan. Let Amore products be a key prop to promote the plot, which not only shows the brand characteristics, but does not affect the rhythm of the plot.

In this regard, Youku's commercialization attempt is a rare breakthrough in long video platforms.

(Youku fantasy short drama "Heartbeat Love", two -dimensional little princess vs genius science and engineering man)

Tencent Video: Opening a new subject of suspense science fiction, exploring the new mode of interactive short drama

Unlike Youku's "reinstallation" and "Guang Sa.com", Tencent Video chose to end in person, and there is a tendency to tap the diversified theme space of horizontal screen short dramas to build unique content.

In fact, sweet pet drama has always been the main theme of Tencent video, which meets the needs of female users on the platform. According to the data of the Yunhe Four Elephant Analysis System (EVA), in July this year, the top ten of the micro -short drama positive film on the entire network this year In the works, Tencent Video occupied most of the mountains and rivers with eight sweet pets.

But the benign ecology of a content platform must be diversified, and Tencent has realized this problem.

At the Tencent Video Annual Conference in June last year, Han Zhijie, vice president of Tencent Online Video, said, "We have had a low fault tolerance rate for innovative content before, more attention to the financial performance of the project, and the diversified content is insufficient."

Tencent, who is eager to tear off the "Sweet Pet King" label, strives to innovate on the short drama track, its exertion point revolves around two aspects: exploring new themes and interactive short dramas and new models.

For example, to explore the humanistic value of drama, Tencent tried to combine popular themes with folk traditional skills such as puppet shows, sumo, and ancient color dramas to develop the "Washer Trilogy".

Among them, "Vegetarian Vegetarian Dance" has been launched in April this year. Although there are no shortage of "cheap and poor acting skills", netizens have also expressed their recognition of the novel sumo themes.

For example, exploring light comedy, suspense, science fiction and other themes, not only pay attention to female users, but also try to impress male users. Among the 28 works of the summer stalls, Tencent videos accounted for four, including "Brand Bureau", "Strange Notes", "Wira Store" and "Hush!" Seeing the mobile phone "Suspense and science fiction micro -drama, although it has not yet been launched, some netizens have expressed expectations.

In terms of interactive short dramas, Tencent Video and Cultural Unit cooperated with "Gongwangfu". Users can participate in the plot promotion and determine the story direction. This can not only provide the immersion experience lacking in other short dramas, but also guide users to pay and increase the possibility of monetization.

This short drama innovation mode may be able to carry the expectations of Tencent video.

However, this model also faces a lot of challenges. The interactive short drama means that the story branch line is complicated and the narrative is difficult. In the early stage of development, it requires a higher cost and longer. Before the explosion appears, how long the money of Tencent video can be burned is unknown, it is unknown. Essence

(Tencent Video Exploring Interactive Short Drama)

Mango TV: vertical+theaterization+series

The layout of Mango TV uses three combinations of vertical, theatrification, and seriesization in the layout of the horizontal screen.

The vertical expression is always created to the core user base of young women.

According to Tianfeng Securities data, the proportion of female users in Mango TV accounts for nearly 70%, and users under 35 years old account for more than 90%.

Therefore, the creation of mango TV short dramas is mainly based on women's subject matter. Sweet pet dramas occupy the mainstream, and introduce fresh elements such as script killing, infinite streaming, and fast -wearing to avoid the homogeneity of similar themes.

For example, add suspense elements in "Woman Unable to Raiders" to strengthen the story; adding fantasy settings in "Attack Queen", and telling new ideas for the routine of the cremation field of his wife.

However, unlike Tencent sweet pets, mango mostly customized, the platform's opinion weight is very high, and professional producers will screen the story based on the novelty of the story and the scarcity of themes. The purpose is strict control. This has also achieved good results.

For example, this year's small explosive "Nian Nian Nian Nu" launched by Mango TV, Douban scored as high as 7 points, which is higher than Tencent's "Night" 6.3 points and Youku's "Heartbeat Love" 5.8 points.

Theatricalization is shown in the content of short dramas according to the user's interest. This summer, the mango TV this summer will divide the "this summer" into the three theaters: healing, national style, and mystery. And the suspense thriller theme, to attract users to stay in a segment theater, and continue to browse more content of the same theme, which helps improve user stickiness.

At this point, Youku and Tencent's theaters were not realized.

In addition, in terms of series, Mango TV adopts a similar American drama model. On the one hand, an open ending is used in short dramas, and the selection of whether to continue to develop according to user feedback can reduce invalid creative costs. On the other hand, for popularity Continuous development of the drama can attract fixed user bases and help build IP.

Relying on this set of combination, Mango TV has an overtaking trend in the short drama track. According to data from the Yunhe Four Elephant Analysis System (EVA), the Mango TV's new short drama last year was effective. The growth rate of up to 335%higher than other platforms, ranking first in the industry. With the advantages of production of the above content, Mango TV will be promising in the field of short dramas.

(Today's Summer Stadium)

Quick hand: Left -handed IP story, digging the real subject with right hand

Youteng's horizontal screen short drama is getting more and more refined, but the fast hands are not panic. After all, the fast hand has the first advantage of the short drama track. This is its confidence.

Since 2019, the fast -moving of the "Kuaishou Small Theater" layout of vertical screens has formed an industrial ecosystem. A large number of boutique IP and head creative agencies have been gathered, and the content of rich episodes has attracted massive and sticky. Short -drama users with high sex.

According to the "Quick Short Show Data Value Report" released by the Magnetic Engine Marketing Strategy Center and the Kuaishou Short Drama, in 2021, there were over 1 billion users watching too fast -handed short dramas. As of February 2022, the number of fast -handed and short drama users who watched 10 episodes of 10 episodes exceeded 61.6 million, an increase of 61.6%over the same period last year.

In terms of episodes, fast hands are also very eye -catching. As of the end of 2021, in the 240+ fast -moving star Mang short drama, more than 100 playback volume exceeded 100 million, and there were 350 million+"Princess Princess on the top" and 4.2 4.2 100 million+"Thousand Scum Chao Phoenix" and other head content.

Relying on these advantages, Kuaishou continued to upgrade and put his attention on the story of the story. Yu Yan, the person in charge of the fast -handed short drama operation, insisted on "short dramas should roll the story instead of the production of the roll".

In order to find a good story, on the one hand, Kuaishou and Mi Reading, Seven Cats, Tencent Anime, and Railway Deepen cooperation to find IPs suitable for adaptation. On the other hand, reduce the threshold for S+experts. Give it more than 150,000 production fees and 20 million traffic support to encourage more innovative content.

In addition, Kuaishou also worked hard on the subject matter of the content, trying to break through in the youth inspirational, the ancient style of the country, the urban workplace, the family empathy, and the main theme of the times to avoid homogeneity.

For example, the "Family Complex Circuit" is the focus of fast -handed short dramas this year. The 4 summer files, "Niangyu", "Chengfeng", "Hutong Children", and "The Bowl Water of the Elapse" are all grounded Real themes are easier to get closer to the lives of users.

Perhaps the real explosion of the short drama track will be born on a more grounded fast -moving platform.

In

Douyin: Improve the subsidy subsidy to promote originals, introduce film and television companies to make boutiques

On the short drama track, Douyin started later than the fast hand, but it was very determined.

On the one hand, through the realization of creators' 0 thresholds and enhanced creative accounts to attract originality.

In June of this year, Douyin launched a new new plan for "Drama with Gravity". According to the different types of creators, the three tracks of DOU+, division, and drama star were created.

Among them, the DOU+track participates in the 0 threshold, unlimited creators' fan volume, unlimited short drama creation form, as long as the creator released short drama works from June to December, he can get creative inspiration.

The accounting channel is mainly for film and television companies, encouraging professional producers to participate in short drama creation. On the one hand, the threshold for sub -lending is reduced, and the effective playback of the single -broadcast short drama participating in the division is reduced from 5 million to 2 million. On the other hand, increase the income of the creator, increase the price of the division from 5 yuan to 6 yuan, and increase the upper limit of the accounts to 150 Ten thousand.

The drama star track is aimed at the MCN institution, and the Internet celebrities are made into "drama stars" to increase exposure and influence. Therefore, the number of account fans is greater than 1 million. The unit price is 8 yuan, the upper limit is 3 million, and the subsidy is quite considerable.

On the other hand, Douyin introduced mature film and television companies to participate in production to enhance the professionalism and quality of short dramas.

For example, the summer stall "Goddess Hotel" exclusively launched by Douyin is created by the original team of "Soul Ferry". It can be called a large production of vertical screens, which has attracted many fans of "Soul Ferry" to the support of Douyin.

However, for the first time, the main creative team came into contact with the vertical screen short drama, and it was inevitable that the soil and water was not convinced. It applies the slow-paced story of the traditional film and television drama "30-40 minutes per episode" in the form of "3 minutes per episode of 3 minutes, 15 episodes of one season", which makes it difficult to meet the needs of user needs. Many people leave a message. "It's too short, not enough to watch."

Moreover, the story of the "Goddess Hotel" is similar to "No. 8 Positive Stod" and is no longer fresh. Therefore, "Goddess Hotel" has not achieved the expected effect.

In addition, in addition to "Goddess Hotel", Douyin also launched a light comedy drama "Ace Special Mother" with Xingxin Mahua, which was launched on August 9. The upgrade sparks have to be seen.

(Douyin short drama "Goddess Hotel")

Conclusion

In general, micro -short dramas, as an emerging art form, are still in the exploration stage.

Whether it is a horizontal screen or a vertical screen, excavating content characteristics and commercial monetization are the main theme. Each platform has both stacking in play, such as introducing IPs to reduce creative costs, increasing creators' sub -account income to encourage original output, etc., such as the verticalization, series of mango TV, interactive short drama of Tencent video interactive drama Innovation, etc.

After all, the content of the micro -drama is the king. At present, the content creation is still a barbaric growth stage. For each platform, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Whoever can dig out more creative potential may grab a favorable position.It is foreseeable that with the continuous battle, major platforms will usher in the full flowers of content creation.

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