At the end of September, there were undercurrents surging in the film and television industry. Recently, Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi, announced that the film and television industry is undergoing three major changes: changes in length, changes in AI, and changes in Chinese film and television dramas going global.
The film and television industry is experiencing three major changes
Challenge or opportunity?
Specifically, this summer's film and television dramas, as well as theatrical films, have opened high and closed low. For example, at the beginning of the summer season in June, Tencent and Youku broke through with "The Story of the Rose" and "Between the Clouds of Ink Rain" respectively, but the performance of other TV series in the market continued to be lackluster. Compared to the same period in 2023, there is a lack of substitute popular products; In terms of cinemas, the total box office of the summer season closed at 11.64 billion yuan, lower than the same period last year.
However, the micro drama market in the third quarter continued to be hot, with multiple micro dramas such as "Bringing Her into the House" and "Flash Marriage Companion is a Rich Family" breaking through the circle with new views and paid results. Among them, the number of topics of Tiktok's "Flash Marriage Partner is a Powerful Family" exceeded 2.3 billion, and its popularity has broken from short video platforms such as Tiktok to long video platforms such as Tencent Video and Bilibili.
In terms of AI, the emergence of generative AI is accelerating and embracing the film and television industry. In September, Vidu, the video model of Shengshu Technology, officially opened its API and synchronously accessed the Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan model platform; Meitu Corporation announced that its MiracleVision video generation capability has been fully upgraded.
The person in charge of Shengshu Technology told Securities Daily reporters that with the full opening of APIs, Vidu will accelerate its landing in the pan entertainment, film and television, animation, and gaming industries.
With the emergence of these video generation software like mushrooms after rain, the impact on the film and television industry has become more intuitive. Baidu launched a cooperation with Dianzhong Technology, a leading micro drama company, in September. Both parties will rely on Baidu's powerful AI technology to empower the production of micro dramas, including pre script and post editing processes.
According to data disclosed by iQiyi, the search trend for Chinese film and television dramas among global users on Google is constantly increasing, recently surpassing Korean dramas. The influence of Chinese film and television dramas overseas continues to expand.
The three major changes are both challenges and opportunities. How to deal with it, iQiyi as a long video platform has provided a new template.
Long video platform running entrance
IQiyi adjusts its micro drama business model
Gong Yu announced at the iQiyi Enjoyment Conference in September that in response to the three major changes in the industry, iQiyi has proposed three measures: opening micro theaters and short theaters, exclusive to VIP members, without the need for additional single point payments; Taodou 2.0, an AI intelligent assistant that allows you to get what you want, will be launched online; Vigorously developing overseas business to meet the continuously increasing demand for watching mainland dramas among global audiences.
Multiple micro drama producers and platform executives told Securities Daily reporters that their cooperation with iQiyi has already begun, and long video platforms are actively entering the micro drama market.
A staff member from a leading micro drama company told a reporter from Securities Daily, "The addition of big companies such as iQiyi and Baidu can alleviate some market investment pressure for micro drama practitioners. Because big companies enter with preferential policies that are more conducive to the content of micro dramas
Taking iQiyi as an example, Gong Yu introduced that there has always been investment pressure in the micro drama market, for example, more than 90% of the revenue from micro dramas is used for investment and advertising.
Gong Yu said, "iQiyi's current business model is to distribute more than 70% of its revenue to content producers and offer exclusive membership. The current business model for short dramas is to pay by episode or bundle multiple episodes, and prices have been decreasing this year. However, watching a drama costs 30 to 100 yuan. iQiyi's consecutive monthly gold membership is 25 yuan/month, and if the annual pass is discounted, the price will be even lower. The future trend of short drama prices will continue to decline, so why not offer exclusive membership? Therefore, the business model has changed
In terms of AI, iQiyi App will launch an intelligent assistant called Taodou 2.0. Taodou can converse with characters from popular TV dramas and movies, and learn the speaking, logical, and language styles of characters in movies and TV shows.
Finally, the opportunity for Chinese film and television dramas in overseas markets has arrived.
Gong Yu introduced that in the Southeast Asian market, iQiyi has a business model called Freemium (free value-added). There are both paid and free content available. Only under this business model, according to AMPD's Q1 2024 data, Korean dramas had the highest search volume between Q3 2022 and Q1 2024, followed by Chinese film and television dramas. By Q1 2024, the market share of Chinese film and television dramas had risen to first place
On this basis, Gong Yu believes that there are two directions for future film and television going global that can be vigorously explored. On the one hand, it's marketing. The value of Chinese film and television cultural output in marketing has significantly increased; on the other hand, content creators deserve to start investing their energy and focus on creating content for overseas markets