Source | Deep sound
Author | Zuyang
Overnight, the short play pressed the "double speed button".
On the other hand, the cost of short plays began to surge, and the homogenization of content became more and more serious. Less than a month after the explosion, the "same paragraph" was everywhere. Some entrants began to realize that,If you want to "win", you can’t "roll" in the Red Sea market-going overseas has become a new choice for many practitioners.
"From the end of this year to the beginning of next year, there will be big variables in the overseas short drama market." Leon said.
Three months ago, Leon was an advertising director in Australia. He shuttled around the studio every day and filmed all kinds of advertising blockbusters. After the wind of vertical screen short plays blew overseas, he also transformed into a "middleman" to connect domestic short play platforms with overseas contractors, so that "money" and "people" could be quickly matched. According to his memory, in the middle of this year, the vertical screen short play was really popular overseas, attracting a wave of loyal fans who paid for their emotions.
And this fire, it is China manufacturers "put".
In August 2022, Crazy Maple Studio, a subsidiary of Chinese Online,(Maple Leaf Interactive)ReelShort, a short drama platform, was launched overseas. After more than half a year on the line, it gradually opened the volume and ran through the business model. Since the beginning of this year, domestic online platforms have intensively launched vertical screen short drama apps overseas, including DramaBox of Dianzhong Technology, GoodShort of the new reading era, Flex TV of Anyue Network, 99TV of Kyushu Platform, and some game manufacturers are also in preparation.
Nowadays, ReelShort ranks all the way up in the best-selling list in Europe and America, and the story of getting rich with a monthly income of one million is staged overseas. Short plays are expected to become another emerging category after short videos and e-commerce, and "big variables" seem to be close at hand. However, it can’t be ignored that localization is a hurdle faced by all products going to sea. The differences in user preferences, production habits, and the scale of explosion are all reefs and storms in the process of short plays going to sea.
At present, the main overseas consumption areas of short plays are Europe, America, Australia and Southeast Asia. TikTok’s report "TikTok Short Play Marketing Strategy for Going to Sea" also mentioned that among the Top5 short plays, the United States is the first choice for short plays to go to sea, and Thailand is the most concentrated area in Southeast Asia.
The differentiation of the sea area corresponds to the logic of short play going to sea:Europe and the United States have high production costs, but strong ability to pay, and have a stronger willingness to pay for good content; Although the willingness to pay in Southeast Asia market is not as good as that in Europe and America, the production cost is lower and the cold start period can be quickly passed.
Marketing strategy of TikTok short play going to sea
For manufacturers with strength, content IP and not bad money, Europe, America and Australia with more traffic value will naturally be the first choice when going out to sea, and most of them are original short plays with local actors.
For example, ReelShort, which focuses on the North American market, has launched the interactive visual novel platform Chapters since 2017, covering 21 languages including English, German and Spanish, basically covering major countries and regions in the world. The experience of going out to sea with net text also helps the short play to avoid the situation of "unfamiliar places", on the one hand, it has a basic understanding of local users’ habits and preferences; On the other hand, the content of short plays is basically adapted from the local verified web IP, which reduces the cost of trial and error.
ReelShort has been launched for more than a year now, and there are more than 15 European and American short plays on the platform. The theme types include love after marriage, sweet revenge and dating with the boss. At present, we are also trying new themes such as revenge, sadism and gangs. According to the download volume, ReelShort has reached the top position in the vertical screen short play market, with over 5 million downloads in Google Play Store and eighth place in the "highest sales" list of "entertainment" applications.
ReelShort hit short play
GoodShort’s route to the sea is similar to ReelShort’s. North America is the main offensive market, and the publisher’s new reading era is also the head enterprise of online text going to sea. It has launched many novel apps such as GoodNovel, GoodFM, BueNovela and MegaNovel overseas. In June 2023, GoodShort, a short drama platform with vertical screen, was launched in the new reading era. According to its introduction in the play store, the theme of GoodShort covers modern romance, urban romance, youth romance, billionaire, president and so on.
Although the online time is later than ReelShort, there is a gap between the download volume and the ranking of the list. However, GoodShort has made great strides in the three months since its launch, and has launched six local original dramas, all of which are produced at high cost. "GoodShort’s style is obvious, all in directly, regardless of the previous water test." Leon revealed.
DramaBox, a short drama platform under Dianzhong Technology, is a dark horse at present. It entered the market in April this year and focused on taking the quality route. Leon estimated that the input cost of the original short plays launched in the station was $150,000.
GoodShort hit short play
Users in Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have similar preferences to those in China, and creators can directly copy domestic production habits or finished products.Therefore, some China manufacturers regard these two regions as the main markets for going to sea, and make localized productions or directly launch translated dramas, among which the cost of translated dramas is lower than that of original ones.
Similar to ReelShort’s sailing time, Flex TV is also an early short drama platform. The manufacturer Anyue Wangyue went to overseas markets with entertainment apps and tool apps since 2018. In October last year, Flex TV, a short drama platform, was launched, focusing on Southeast Asia, and Thailand was the main force market. From its launch to now, the popular short plays on Flex TV include "The New Giants’ Grudges", "The boss behind the scenes is my husband" and "The Supreme Military God", etc., and their themes and styles are similar to those of domestic short plays.
More than a year after its launch, Flex TV has gradually made a sound volume in Thailand, and its ranking has basically remained at the Top 10 of Google Play Thailand’s entertainment classification. It is also attacking Europe, America and Australia, updating original short plays starring European and American faces, and further gaining higher-value paid traffic.
Flex TV hit short play
Different from the above-mentioned short drama platforms with rich online background, 99TV, which mainly focuses on the Taiwan, China market, is the head distribution platform Kyushu Culture, which has emerged in recent two years through short dramas with small programs. It is not difficult to see that Kyushu Culture’s idea of going to sea is closely based on domestic production logic and resources.
When you turn on 99TV, there are hundreds of short plays in the platform, most of which are short plays on the mainland. The subtitles are changed into traditional versions, and the theme and story logic are the same as those of the short plays of small programs that have exploded before.
Wang Jiacheng, the founder of Kyushu culture, once revealed the strategy of going to sea in the future in an interview. One is that Chinese dramas are equipped with foreign language subtitles, and subtitles are automatically generated for micro-short dramas with the help of self-created AIGC system, and mass production is carried out; The second is the overseas localization of China’s story, and the combination of domestic scripts and overseas scenes and actors creates short plays that meet the needs of overseas users.
In fact, judging from the current overseas short drama entrants, most of them have experience in online writing, or they are doing short dramas themselves, and it is relatively easy to get started.
On the one hand,There are abundant IP’s that can be adapted, and there is a rich library of online copyright, so the advantages of negotiating with online authors are obvious and the copyright cost is low.On the other hand,The traffic and experience accumulated by the net can also be applied to short plays, and it is the first to accumulate a batch of original powder."If you have your own reader base, even if it is not hot, at least there is some normal traffic." Leon said.
However, short plays and online texts are two different tracks after all, and domestic popular short plays may not adapt to foreign countries. If we just copy the experience, short plays will also be acclimatized when they go out to sea. An example that has been verified in Europe and America is that,In China, the street-saving rate of male frequent husbands is 100%.
Leon company has a special overseas movie-watching team. According to the survey, the theme of the son-in-law in Europe and America is basically "doing one thing and saving one thing". Including the husband-in-law, most men’s frequent and cool writing doesn’t seem to work in Europe and America.
"What is the popular male frequency in Europe and America? House of Cards, which talks about conspiracy theories, The Lord of the Rings, who talks about power transfer, and Star Wars, a sci-fi masterpiece, all set the standards and tastes of local male audiences very, very high. Subdivided into male frequency types,The local people don’t know the identity of the son-in-law, and when they watch it, they will wonder why the mother-in-law doesn’t respect him. Why does he keep getting beaten?Including the theme of costume crossing and urban fantasy, if the historical and cultural background is different, there is no way to start. "Leon said.
This also gave most entrants a wake-up call: before doing overseas short plays,It is more important to know who the short play is for than how to do it.
In China, the basic people who watch small programs and short plays are middle-aged and elderly people who are sinking in the market, have money and leisure, and have a low education level. In short plays, the hero’s cool feeling of opening his golden finger has attracted countless middle-aged and elderly people to pay the bill.
But the audience of overseas short plays is not like this. Taking Europe and America as an example, Leon said that there is no "sinking market" in Europe and America, and the middle class is the mainstream consumer group in Europe and America.The people who watch short plays are mostly middle class, and more subdivided, they are Baoma people aged between 25 and 45. Their time is "cut" by trivial things such as doing housework, sending children, socializing with others, and the high-energy, reverse and exciting one-minute vertical screen short play just meets their needs for fragmented viewing.
Different audiences, local conditions and customs also determine what kind of themes can be popular and what kind of themes are likely to fall on the street.
Female short plays with love as the main line are universal in all regions. Specifically, in terms of regions, the male protagonists in Europe and America are mostly CEO, heiress, powerful Alpha, werewolf and vampire, and the female protagonists are mostly independent and self-reliant women, because the female audience in Europe and America prefer this set, but the complex with crying and sadism should be deleted. The popular themes in Southeast Asia are mostly dramas such as bitter love abuse and mother-in-law wars, while South America such as Brazil prefers gangs.
Overseas vertical screen short drama shooting scene, source interviewee
When it comes to "how to make short plays", whether domestic creators go out to sea to create or invite overseas local teams to produce them, they also need to adapt to their creative habits one by one.
In Leon’s view,Overseas short plays are a circle society, and high-quality resources and contacts are more scarce than funds.At present, short plays are still a new species overseas, and the number of crews and talent resources specialized in short plays are too limited. China manufacturers go out to sea to find local teams to produce short plays, and if they don’t have familiar relationships and resources, they will easily step on the pit.
"There is a special film and television base like Hengdian in China. You have to make a drama and set up a sign in Hengdian. Wow, a bunch of people come over, but if you are overseas, if no one helps you introduce you, you will basically be unable to move."
Because of this, the cooperation between most short drama platforms and high-quality contractors is not a "one-time relationship". In order to pursue long-term stability in quantity and quality, the platform will give an extra part of dividends to deeply bind and cooperate exclusively with the contracting team. For example, the ReelShort platform, Leon said that the external contractors of its cooperation will also receive additional share rewards.
At the same time, it is also because the number of overseas short plays and talent resources are limited.The production speed of most platforms can’t keep up with the audience’s demand, which has become the biggest pain point of the current short play going out to sea.
In China, the creation of short plays with small programs has been completely streamlined and accelerated-there are a set of fixed formulas for how to write the script, how to shoot the lens, how to cut it later, and when BGM appears. Under the logic of assembly line production, shooting in one week and online in January have greatly improved the new speed of short plays. Yan Min, the founder of short play, once estimated that the short play platform with small program in the head can produce 30 to 40 plays a month.
However, observing ReelShort, GoodShort and other short drama platforms that have made a little noise in Europe and America, the ideal period from project establishment to launch is one and a half months. Due to the shortage of internal human resources, the number of new ones is basically around two per month.
"All incoming platforms are grabbing cakes. It must be that the faster the new platform is launched, the more viewers will be, and you can eat cakes. Now the problem is that all platforms are not adapted to the overseas creative rhythm, and there is a contradiction between the demand of manufacturers to enter the market quickly and the specific landing period of the project. If the short play wants to continue to develop, this contradiction must be solved."
Overseas vertical screen short drama shooting scene, source interviewee
After the short play is finished, you can go online to make money. Domestic short programs and short plays earn a lot of money by streaming short videos-guiding users to jump to pay for them, weaving a "rich dream" for more outsiders, but overseas, can the "rich dream" be copied?
We might as well calculate an account first. The cost input categories of overseas short plays and domestic short plays are basically the same: production cost+investment cost.
From the perspective of production cost, taking Europe, America and Australia, which have high flow value and high production cost, as an example, the industry standard for shooting a regular short drama without special effects and big scenes is about 150 thousand to 200 thousand dollars(Modern themes, one and a half minutes per episode, a total of about 60 episodes). Looking at China again, producer and producer Wang Yunxiao once revealed that the production of short plays with small programs is becoming more and more "rolled up". Compared with the previous tens of thousands of plays, the cost has now increased to 300,000 or even 500,000 RMB. But by analogy,At present, the investment in the production of short plays in Europe and America, which is still in its infancy, has been three times that in China.
And half of the high production investment is spent on scarce manpower.
"Look at these overseas short drama platforms, there are few big scenes, and at most there are less than 10 people, because manpower is too expensive, which is too different from the domestic concept." Human resources are scarce and expensive, and the Hollywood strike, which lasted for more than 140 days, has also had a certain impact on the production of short plays.
Let’s look at the cost of streaming. In China, streaming is a big part of the cost. The streaming party clips the short drama into pieces and puts them on short video platforms such as Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker. Users can jump to the applet by clicking the link in the comment area. Overseas short plays are also streamed in similar ways, such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Insgram and X.（Twitter）Mainstream social platforms are the main delivery channels. Leon said,Overseas investment is not as exaggerated as domestic investment, and more attention is paid to "quality" than quantity.
According to the vast amount of big data, in the past 90 days, the best-performing material in GoodShort Station is the short play BILLIONAIRE CEO’S OBSESSION.(Billions of presidents are addicted)The three-minute slice of ",and this drama is also the hottest short drama on the platform, with a total of 88 episodes updated. The beginning of the sliced material is a hot one-night stand between the man and the woman, and the ambiguous atmosphere editing directly fills the desire to "read the complete works".
Marketing strategy of TikTok short play going to sea
In terms of commercialization returns, overseas short drama platforms also have two payment paths: user payment and advertising revenue.
There are two kinds of user fees,One is the single episode unlocking. After the user swipes it on the short video platform or social platform, after watching the first ten episodes or the first 20 episodes for free, he jumps to the short drama App. After that, the user needs to buy coins and unlock one episode.For example, ReelShort, FlexTV and GoodShort all adopt the mode of single episode payment. In ReelShort, you can probably watch about 60 episodes with a coin of $15.99, which adds up to about one yuan for one episode, and the unit price is similar to that of domestic short programs.
There is another one.The general subscription system of long video platform allows users to recharge a certain fee to become quarterly members and annual members and watch short plays in the platform at will.In addition to the payment system, GoodShort also tried the subscription system, ranging from $99.99 to $399.99.
Advertising revenue comes from advertising in the platform. In ReelShort, users can not only spend money to buy coins to unlock, but also watch advertisements for free. However, the maximum number of episodes unlocked by advertisements is 20 per day. In other words, if users can bear to watch advertisements, they can also read the complete works for free.
In addition, after overseas short plays gradually took off, they also began to attract some advertisers to implant in contact with drama series. According to Leon, to his surprise,Among the advertisers who come into contact with short plays, there are few consumer goods, mostly real estate, banks, hotels, car rental and other relatively "heavy" industries, which is completely contrary to the category and logic implanted in domestic drama series.
High cost has brought high returns, and the short drama market has also run out of the top. According to big data, ReelShort’s revenue in the App Store and Google Play in July 2023 has exceeded $1.2 million; By September of this year, ReelShort’s Google Play revenue had increased by about 40%, steadily entering the top ten of the list, surpassing WeTV and iQIYI.
The return is indeed high, but for those who want to "make a big fight with a small fight", it is difficult to tell such an attractive story overseas.
The revenue of mobile application in the sea is Top20, and the source is vast.
At present, the domestic vertical screen short play market is becoming more and more involved, and more and more people are starting to look for new opportunities overseas. However, before starting the layout, we also need to be careful, whether the content creation level, risk-taking ability and overseas audience preferences can be used to it, and whether the logic of creating vertical screen short plays by domestic investment will be accepted by overseas audiences.
"Overseas short plays are the blue ocean of the market, but the content is the red sea. It is more important to let local audiences always pay the bill with innovative content, rather than simply engaging in business model arbitrage." Leon said.
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