The Internet drama has entered a stage of improving quality and improving content.
Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “Deep-echo” (ID: deep-echo) < / a>, by Lu Yan.
▪ The supply-side production of the episodes in 2019 is stabilizing, and the trend of refined products is emerging. Many changes are positive factors for membership growth. < / strong>.
▪ The content market is oriented to attracting users to pay, and producers have shifted from ToB to ToC mode. The platform not only participates in content production, but also focuses on the selection and selection of drama Schedule .
▪ The platform will continue to deepen user payments in 2020, empowering and operating well, and giving members more viewing options.
The “Matthew Effect” of the content market in 2019 has intensified.
Although the film and television industry in 2019 has undergone a “shuffle” adjustment, under the general environment of subject matter supervision, content extension, and indefinite scheduling, there are still “All Quite Good”, “Icebreaking Action”, “Dear “Love”, “Chen Qingling”, “Xiao Huanxi”, “Qing Yu Nian” and other hit dramas.
Driven by high-quality content with drama as the key representative, iQiyi and Tencent Video will have 100 million members in 2019, and users ’willingness to pay has increased significantly. More users’ payment habits have been developed. The head video platform itself has also entered a new stage of development.
In 2019, various platforms are still increasing their content investment. The headline content in the episodes is still the core of supporting payment, and the value of content for circle users is becoming more prominent. At the same time, platform episodes are interchangeableThe exploration of phenomena and payment models also shows that the video industry is not an industry oriented by short-term profits. This kind of content and model come together easily. The membership mode keeps shortening the distance between content and users, allowing content producers’ content production capacity to face users, giving higher-quality content a better reputation and more reasonable payment.
The online video has already reached the front of the mountain, and the discussion about where the members are going is also officially on the agenda. The drama, as a “key man” who swayes users to pay, will advance with the members. How do members and episodes affect each other? What choices will be made by members in the future for platform episodes? What subtle changes will be made upstream in content production? With these questions in mind, the “Deep Sound” system sorted out the episodes of the past year and interviewed important people in various links of the industry chain in an attempt to more comprehensively outline the future development of the drama market.
Drastic drama changes: supply-side production stabilizes Realistic theme bursts out frequently
The shuffle adjustment and bubble clearing have become the main theme of the film and television industry for a whole year, so there is no doubt that the most obvious change in the 2019 drama series is the reduction in quantity.
According to Yunhe data, 180 new TV shows will be released in 2019, an increase of 6 compared with 2018; 309 new online TV shows including account shows and vertical screen shows, up from 2018 The annual decrease is 7.21%.
From the perspective of the investment situation, due to the continued regulatory impact in 2019, systemic risks in the episode market The increase and the return period are lengthened, and the hot money in the capital market is ebb. According to statistics from Yien, the total investment scale of the drama market in 2019 is expected to be 16.8 billion, a decrease of 27.59% compared to 23.2 billion last year, and a record low in the past 5 years. 
From the perspective of each platform, the three Aitengyou companies are still in the strong first team. According to Yunhe data, the number of new episodes of each video platform in 2019 has decreased compared to 2018, and iQiyi has more new episodes than the other two. 
Source: Yunhe Data
Although the total number of episodes has decreased in 2019 as a whole, from a deeper perspective, in the context of the industry’s overall bubble clearing in 2019, video platforms are also being expelled. Ineffective production capacity, the pace of improving the quality of works.
According to Yunhe data, in 2019, the total number of effective serials in the entire network reached 508.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4%. Among them, TV dramas effectively played 361.5 billion, a slight decline; Internet dramas effectively played 146.7 billion, a year-on-year increase. twenty three%. It can be seen that although the number of online dramas has decreased, their appeal to users has become stronger. The reason behind this is the steady improvement of content quality.
The quality of the online drama “Improved” is also available through the Douban score of the new episode in 2019 see. According to Yunhe data, the average Douban score of the TOP10 serials that are effectively played in 2019 is 6.8, which is a significant improvement from 5.6 in 2018.The average Douban score of online dramas is 7.7, which is a certain amount compared to 7.3 in 2018. rise. Specifically, there are 9 episodes that broke 8 points in 2019. Among them, iQiyi’s “I am waiting for you in the future” topped the list with a Douban score of 8.6, and Tencent Video’s “Chen Qingling” and iQiyi’s “Xi Yuan Yuan” and Youku’s “Chang’an Twelve Hours” both scored 8.3 points. 
In addition, from the perspective of Yunhe data, the number of episodes in 2019 will increase, and 2019 Of the TOP20 that has been effectively broadcast, 13 episodes are broadcast on multiple platforms. At the same time, in the drama series, the proportion of 3 platforms is significantly increased, and the 2 platforms have become the mainstream. In 2019, from the summer season’s blockbuster drama “Dear, Devotion” to “A Sword Mountain Once Upon a Time” and “Celebrating the Years”, iQiyi and Tencent Video have frequently exchanged two dramas. After sharing resources, To a certain extent, it has enriched the diversity of members’ choices. 
Source: Yunhe Data
In fact, the solo drama has a crucial impact on the platform’s membership renewal and overall user activity, and is the most direct reflection of the platform’s core competitiveness in terms of content. It can be seen that in the effective broadcast of TOP20, there are a total of 7 solo shows on the list, of which 5 are iQiyi solo shows and 2 are Tencent videos. In 2019, the solo dramas on various platforms performed well. “Icebreaking” became the “win-win” work that achieved word-of-mouth, popularity, and popularity in the first half of the year. “Chen Qingling” has become a hot item in the summer. The year-end hit “Qing Yu Nian” also quickly entered the top 20 ranks.
Source: Yunhe Data
The great popularity of Operation Icebreaker also reflects a significant change in the theme of the 2019 drama series. Because of the unexpected encounter between the theme of “gift theme” and the strict control of the costume theme in 2019, made the realism theme dominate.
According to the data released by the State Administration of Radio and Television, in the first three quarters of 2019, various TV drama production organizations across the country completed production and were approved to distribute 163 domestic TV dramas, of which 117 dramas in realistic subjects accounted for 71.78%.
In addition to the above mentioned “Icebreaking Action”, such as the “The Icebreaker” that triggered the original family discussion “It’s All Good”, “Little Joy” and “Juvenile”, which explore the issue of children’s education, all show the obvious progress in the content quality of domestic modern dramas-not only abandoning the old and illogical old problems, but also dare to show Social phenomena that touch the pain points of public life.
It is also worth noting that 2019 is also known as the first year of Chinese interactive film and television creation, and various video platforms have launched interactive content development plans. 2019
From the perspective of the investment situation, due to the continued regulatory impact in 2019, systemic risks in the episode market The increase and the return period are lengthened, and the hot money in the capital market is ebb. According to statistics from Yien, the total investment scale of the drama market in 2019 is expected to be 16.8 billion, a decrease of 27.59% compared to 23.2 billion last year, and a record low in the past 5 years. From the perspective of each platform, the three Aitengyou companies are still in the strong first team. According to Yunhe data, the number of new episodes of each video platform in 2019 has decreased compared to 2018, and iQiyi has more new episodes than the other two. The quality of the online drama “Improved” is also available through the Douban score of the new episode in 2019 see. According to Yunhe data, the average Douban score of the TOP10 serials that are effectively played in 2019 is 6.8, which is a significant improvement from 5.6 in 2018.The average Douban score of online dramas is 7.7, which is a certain amount compared to 7.3 in 2018. rise. Specifically, there are 9 episodes that broke 8 points in 2019. Among them, iQiyi’s “I am waiting for you in the future” topped the list with a Douban score of 8.6, and Tencent Video’s “Chen Qingling” and iQiyi’s “Xi Yuan Yuan” and Youku’s “Chang’an Twelve Hours” both scored 8.3 points. In addition, from the perspective of Yunhe data, the number of episodes in 2019 will increase, and 2019 Of the TOP20 that has been effectively broadcast, 13 episodes are broadcast on multiple platforms. At the same time, in the drama series, the proportion of 3 platforms is significantly increased, and the 2 platforms have become the mainstream. In 2019, from the summer season’s blockbuster drama “Dear, Devotion” to “A Sword Mountain Once Upon a Time” and “Celebrating the Years”, iQiyi and Tencent Video have frequently exchanged two dramas. After sharing resources, To a certain extent, it has enriched the diversity of members’ choices.