China news agency, Beijing, March 25th (Reporter Gao Kai) In recent years, China’s online mini-dramas have entered the public’s field of vision in a rapid and lush state, and their unique charm such as fast pace and multiple reversals has made them gain a lot of attention and love in a short time.
According to the Research Report of China Mini-short Drama Market in 2023-2024, the domestic mini-short drama market reached 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, up 267.65% year-on-year. At the same time, the network miniseries are also popular overseas. According to the data of Sensor Tower in the United States, in 2023, an application software named ReelShort was downloaded in the United States in excess of 10 million, and it became one of the most popular applications on the list of application software entertainment. It is reported that this software is made by China Company, and it is specially aimed at the overseas mini-drama market.
The explosive growth of the domestic and international market scale and the continuous increase of the number of users have made the network micro-short drama industry move forward at a high speed, but at the same time, it has also exposed some problems and caused controversy. For example, there are vulgar, rough and anomie problems in some short plays.
In this regard, Lu Fan, deputy director of Peking University TV Research Center, said that compared with traditional TV dramas, miniseries with greatly shortened duration meet the aesthetic needs of contemporary people’s fragmentation. However, it is precisely because of their small size, short production cycle and the need to seize the audience to win traffic in a short time that some imitations and plagiarized works have appeared in the market, and they only pay attention to plot conflicts and suspense, ignoring the characterization and the depth of the story, but this is by no means "inevitable".
Lu Fan said that it is entirely possible and worth looking forward to the quality of micro-short plays. At present, most of the miniseries on the market are mainly about emotions, entertainment and other themes. In fact, there is a broader creative space and possibility. "Short" does not mean that it cannot be "refined". Within a few minutes, the creator can still tell a complete and in-depth story through careful planning and editing, which tests the master’s ability to do Dojo in the snail shell.
Lu Fan pointed out that with the rapid development of the market, micro-short plays have attracted more and more creators with stronger professional ability to "enter the market". For the sake of long-term development, some platforms are also building a quality support system for micro-short plays, which will help micro-short plays develop in the direction of quality, diversification and specialization. With the intensification of market competition and the improvement of the audience’s taste, some vulgar, rough and non-nutritious content will be gradually eliminated, and high-quality, in-depth and creative works will receive more attention and pursuit.
In fact, beyond the controversy, there have been many bright performances of micro-short plays, including rural cultural tourism themes, film and television IP derivatives, etc., which are not only well-made, but also ingenious and win traffic and reputation.
In Lu Fan’s view, miniseries, as a new form of online film and television, need time to embark on the road of quality. Just like the online drama of that year, there were some content problems such as low quality and bad customs at the beginning, but in the process of strengthening government supervision and the iterative development of the industry itself, "content is king" has become the consensus of the industry. The micro-short drama moves towards "high-quality", and it also needs the industry itself to get rid of the old and absorb the new.
In November, 2022, the official issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Network Miniature Plays and Implementing the Creation Promotion Plan, proposing to carry out special rectification of "small program" network miniseries, strengthen standardized management, implement the creation promotion plan and other management measures.
Lu Fan said that as the regulatory authorities strengthen the supervision of the micro-short drama market, the market will be further standardized. With the continuous iterative growth of micro-short dramas, I believe that the "overbearing president" story will not occupy the audience’s attention for a long time.
In view of the development of China’s miniseries overseas, Lu Fan pointed out that besides the brand-new fast-paced storytelling mode, the production mode of China’s miniseries is also brand-new for overseas. With overseas audiences getting familiar with the plot mode of China’s miniseries and overseas producers getting a deeper understanding of the production methods of miniseries, China’s miniseries will also face new market competition, and they need to constantly pursue high-quality innovation and growth if they want to "grow red" overseas. (End)
Fan Yang
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