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Original title: Recording 4500 high-yield online movies a year needs to get rid of the low-quality label
Securities Times reporter Wu Zhi
“The first 6 minutes of the big online movie is enough. The audience thinks that they have digged for treasure at the beginning. After 6 minutes, they will return to the special effects of 5 cents, because after 6 minutes, they will be charged…” The emotions sent by an audience when evaluating the quality of a certain online movie (“Wangda” for short).
Thanks to the rapid development of online video sites, a few years ago, online big and online dramas emerged almost simultaneously. But nowadays, excellent online dramas are frequently published, which is an important part of the current film and television content. Although the number of records and output of online dramas remain high, both the reputation of the works and the box office scale are at a low level.
Netda’s filing remains high
According to relevant regulations, online movies with a total investment of more than 1 million yuan need to be filed in the “Key Online Film and TV Drama Information Recording System” of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Data from the filing system shows that in 2020, there will be a total of 4,514 major online movies registered in the system and complying with relevant regulations on the production of key online original audiovisual programs.
In the first six months of 2021, the number of Internet universities filed in this system has reached 2,243. In the relatively high peak period, there are more than 5,000 filing networks in one year, and the number of filings in the past two years has declined, but the overall situation is still at a high level.
There is often a big difference between the number of recorded movies and the final online movies, but the number of recorded movies remains high, indicating that the production level’s enthusiasm for Wangda is still at a high level, which is closely related to the characteristics of Wangda.
“The production cycle of Wangda is short, and the filming may be completed within a week at the earliest, and the cost is too low. Unlike cinema movies, it may take three to five years for movie theaters to be available. The cost of Wangda is not that high. Investors can also afford to pay for risks.” Screenwriter Liu Kaijian said in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Times.
In addition, in the past, stories of low-cost leveraging high-yield frequently appeared on the Internet, which also attracted investors. But on the whole, the size of the box office of the Internet is not commensurate with its output, especially since 2021, the box office growth of the Internet market has shown signs of slowing down. When interviewed by a reporter from the Securities Times, many industry insiders believed that it is not an exaggeration to use “virtual fire” to describe the current development of the Internet University.
At present, Wangda does not have statistics on the box office of the industry-wide online works. The box office of the tens of millions of top online works is the vane of the development of the industry. According to data, in the first June of 2021, among the three major video platforms, the total box office of the top 10 works in the sub-account box office was 468 million yuan, which was not an increase but declined from the 469 million yuan in the same period in 2020.
Since 2021, a total of 9 films have a box office of more than 20 million yuan; in the same period in 2020, there are 12, of which two have a box office of more than 50 million yuan, and this year’s film with the highest box office has only 44.2 million yuan.
“It is true that this year’s market has not broken out as everyone expected. Whether it is from the feedback of the platform or the number of explosions in various online projects this year, the industry does have a’virtual fire’ situation. There are several hits, but this year’s are relatively few.” An Yugang, the co-founder of Beijing Yingxing World Culture Communication Co., Ltd., who has participated in many online dramas and large online investments, said frankly in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Times.
“Now there are too many things for users to entertain, such as short videos, script kills, escape rooms, etc. The attractiveness of simple online movies to users is declining. Although the development direction of the industry is good, the overall situation of the industry at this stage is indeed not. Great.” An Yugang said.
Low-quality works
In recent years, the development trend of high-quality products in the film and television industry has become more and more obvious. Net dramas, which are also rooted in online platforms like Wangda, have frequently produced excellent works in recent years, but Wangda seems to have fallen behind in this boutique trend.
“The big online movies are still in a low-level competition stage, with concentrated works of subject matter, and the overall production level is low.” Liu Kaijian said bluntly.
Ordinary audiences also don’t think highly of Net University. According to the reporter’s statistics, as of August 16, there were 40 online colleges with a box office of more than 10 million yuan in 2021. Among them, 7 have no Douban scores, 26 Douban scores are below 5.0, and 12 scores are below 4.0. point.
In the three years from 2019 to 2021, the top ten online universities in the box office by account, only one with a Douban score above 6.0, and only two with a score above 5.0. Recently released, the latest Douban score of “Tough Guy Gun God”, which is widely praised by practitioners, is 7.3 points, which is rare among the works of the Internet.
Although the score cannot be completely equated with the quality of the film, the generally low scores at least show that there is still a long way to go for the quality of the network.
“One of the more important reasons for the low-quality development of the Internet University is that there is too little money to attract too many outstanding creators. If an Internet University can invest more than 30 million yuan, it will definitely be different. Now web dramas can be included. Many of the best creators in China have higher production standards than TV series; however, the investment of the university is not enough. Who dares to vote for a director of the university of tens of millions, and who is willing to pay 2 million for the writer of the university? “Liu Kaijian said.
In fact, in the past two years, the investment of a single network university has increased, and the video platform has put forward higher requirements for the quality of the network university, and the network university has already begun to develop into a boutique, but it will take time.
“This phenomenon is relatively normal. The audiences of online movies and theater movies are different, and the quality of online movies may be slightly inferior. However, the next major online projects will definitely get better and better, including the recent “Tough Guy Gunslinger”, Douban The score has been higher than that of many theater-line movies, which proves that its quality is quite good.” An Yugang said.
In addition to the quality of the content, another problem that has been criticized by Wangda is the high degree of homogeneity of the subject matter. It’s not difficult to find out that “hunting strangeness” is the core keyword of the Internet. Based on this, Wangda’s works are highly concentrated on the themes of curiosity and horror, such as tomb robbery, monster hunting, and monster hunting.
For example, the top 10 online majors with the highest box office in the past three years have three “Ghost Blowing Lantern Series” works, as well as many curious works with themes of big fish and big snakes.
“The subject matter has something to do with the audience of Wangda. The current audience of Wangda is mostly concentrated in cities below the third-tier. The audience in first- and second-tier cities is relatively small, and there is still a period of development for the overall aesthetics of the audience. The subject of curiosity is naturally dramatic. It is simple and rude to aim at the strongest needs, so this type of subject matter is relatively concentrated, and the diversification of subject matter also requires a process.” Liu Kaijian said.
Rational treatment by the platform
The concept of Wangda was born on the video platform, and the development of Wangda is closely related to the importance of the video platform. However, compared with online dramas and variety shows, the video platform does not pay much attention to and investment in the university. To a large extent, it is related to the current market performance of the university.
According to the “Annual Report of China’s Online Film Industry in 2020”, in 2020, there will be 79 online movies with a total box office of more than 10 million yuan, and a total box office of 1.39 billion yuan, which is roughly the same as the theater-line movies “Chinese Doctor” and “Send You A Little Red Flower”. “The box office of a movie is comparable. Since 2021, there have been 40 movies with a box office of more than 10 million yuan, with a total box office of 680 million yuan, which is equivalent to a mid-range cinema movie.
For upstream film and television companies and individual investors, Wangda may still be a good investment direction, but for platforms with annual revenues of tens of billions, the scale of income of Wangda is very limited. In the new pull-ups where the platform is very concerned, the role of the Internet University cannot be compared with that of online dramas and variety shows, and the platform lacks the motivation to invest heavily.
“At this stage, the three major video platforms generally value online dramas rather than online dramas, especially Tencent, and seldom accept third-party companies’ online games, unless there is a possibility of adapting them to games.” The director of the Internet University who has cooperated with multiple video platforms revealed.
In fact, it is not difficult to see from the online marketing and sharing models that have been continuously adjusted by major platforms in recent years. In the face of low-level development of Internet business, platforms are always exploring a way to better balance input and output.
Taking iQiyi as an example, in July 2019, iQiyi adjusted its marketing division model to “marketing division + joint marketing”, and at the same time raised the threshold for cooperation with the Internet University, and the overall investment is tilted toward the head work.
Iqiyi said that this adjustment was made to avoid bad money from expelling good money. It is hoped that the big net will also be able to gain more incremental users like top online dramas, online comprehensive and theater movies, so as to obtain business. Return.
Many practitioners believed in interviews that, for investors, Netda can broadcast on the platform and may gain income from the platform for a long time in the future. Although the income is not necessarily high, it is still good overall; and the platform The demand for high-quality content has always been strong. Although most works cannot directly bring high profits, they can increase the length of users’ use. Regardless of the length, the platform is also willing.
Where is the future
Although the scale of the market at the current stage cannot be compared with theater-line movies and online dramas, its development space is still optimistic by the industry.
“Wangda’s competitors are online dramas, variety shows, short videos, etc. Although both the network and theater movies are movies, their audiences are different and their application scenarios are different. You can just watch a mobile phone on the network. Yes, but you need to go to the cinema to watch movies in theaters, and the demand for Internet universities will definitely be stronger than that of theater movies in the future.” Liu Kaijian said.
“I’m relatively optimistic about the development prospects of Net University. With the development of social economy, everyone’s demand for spiritual consumption will further increase. Although there will be some bumps in this process, the industry as a whole is going up. “An Yugang said.
Indeed, for viewers, Wangda provides a simple, convenient and low-cost way to watch movies; for film companies, Wangda has low investment costs, short cycles, and relatively low risks, which is a good investment direction. At this stage, improving the quality of the Internet and attracting more audiences remains the top priority for practitioners.
“From the perspective of my communication with many investors and practitioners and the strategies delivered by major platforms, everyone has clearly realized that only higher quality works can retain users.” An Yugang told reporters.
“Now everyone’s attention is easily diverted, and the audience’s viewing standards are also improving, so the video platform also hopes to have better content to attract users. Every link in the entire industry chain is trying to improve the quality of content. Now the industry We are already in this process of mutual promotion and benign development.” An Yugang said.
“In the long run, Net University is definitely still a relatively vigorous market. But I think it will still be in a low-level barbaric growth stage for at least 5 years.” Liu Kaijian believes that to change the current low-level development of Net University, talents are Important aspect.
Prior to this, Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi, has also publicly stated that the fundamental reason for the limited development of the Internet University is the shortage of talents, and there is a shortage of professional talents such as directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters.
“From the perspective of creative and production standards, there is still a big gap between Wangda and its talent matching is seriously insufficient. At this stage, it is necessary to accumulate time to allow talents to continue to grow, and to attract new professionals in order to be able to slow down. Slowly improve, this process is still quite long.” Liu Kaijian said.
Sina’s statement: This news is reprinted from Sina’s cooperative media. The publication of this article on Sina.com for the purpose of transmitting more information does not mean that it agrees with its views or confirms its description. Article content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors operate accordingly at their own risk.
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