Shang Yechu sent me a vertical short drama on Holo Video, each episode less than four minutes long. It was called "Little Youth".
Ji Juntao opened it and watched for a few minutes, then frowned and said, "What is this? The ad is so long, no wonder there are only a dozen or so comments."
"Little Youth" is indeed an advertisement. It's a ten-episode mini-series invested in by Holo Video to promote Chunli Soda. The visuals are quite beautiful, but there's not much of a plot; it mainly focuses on a group of students drinking different flavors of Chunli Soda every day.
For a TV series, this length is like the tip of a rabbit's tail; but for a commercial, it falls into the category of being tediously long. Nobody likes watching ten episodes of commercials. Therefore, this short drama had dismal viewership and popularity; almost no one inside or outside the industry even knew of its existence. If Shang Yechu hadn't racked her brains to search for it, she would have had a hard time finding any trace of it.
Several years ago, there were already some small-scale vertical short films circulating online. But "Little Youth" should be the first truly vertical short drama in China.
Unfortunately, due to its lackluster performance, or rather, its complete absence of popularity, Holo Video only produced this one series, "Little Youth," before abandoning the "money-losing" short drama genre and retreating to its comfort zone. As for Dingbao Video and Meta Films, they didn't even consider it.
God knows how fast Shang Yechu's heart was beating when she found out all this!
The true beginning of the short drama era in China was 2020. Mainstream platforms' investment in short dramas in 2020 was largely experimental, with development proceeding at a snail's pace. It wasn't until December 2020 that the short drama format received official recognition; the following year, 2021, the field entered a period of rapid development. Only then did major platforms like Douyin begin to enter the market.
It is now 2019.
There's still a year and a half to two years left.
This is a real goldmine. In a few years, the short drama market will reach tens of billions of yuan, attracting countless people to this nascent market. Who would have thought that at this moment, it's just an obscure soda commercial?
Good heavens! Holo Video clearly had the key to this treasure trove, but after only turning it once and finding it wouldn't turn, it simply gave up.
Compared to other film and television groups, Qingping Entertainment's biggest deficiency is not talent, but capital. The initial accumulation of capital is a very long process, and Qingping Entertainment's foundation is thin. Even though it has earned so much, it is still meager compared to others.
Ji Juntao glanced at the advertisement a couple of times, then tossed it aside uninterestedly: "You showed me this, are you trying to get our company to invest in this stuff? Does anyone even watch this?"
Undoubtedly, Ji Juntao has a keen business sense. However, even the smartest person can be influenced by subjective factors such as personal preferences. Ji Juntao was clearly influenced by his personal tastes and interests, and felt that short dramas were not worthwhile.
Shang Yechu took a deep breath, trying to make her tone as calm as possible.
"You think this thing is hopeless because this 'Little Youth' is too boring."
Ji Juntao raised his eyelids.
Shang Yechu cleared her throat: "But what if the short drama we're going to film isn't 'Little Youth,' but rather about Lin Guihua?"
*Splat*, Ji Juntao's fork fell into the noodle bucket, splashing up two bubbles of soup.
"Six minutes." Shang Yechu slowly extended her fingers, one, two, three, until six. "Suppose each episode of the short drama is six minutes long, but these six minutes are not the six minutes of 'Little Youth,' but the six minutes of Lin Guihua's story? Do you think it has potential? Can it keep viewers engaged?"
"Cough cough—!"
Ji Juntao coughed loudly, picked up the bowl of noodles, and placed it on a table some distance away. He then took a large gulp of tea and wiped his mouth and hands with a wet wipe.
When Ji Juntao sat down in front of the video again, his posture was much more upright. This was a sign that the conversation was becoming more formal.
"Go on," Ji Juntao said, uttering only three words.
"Isn't the company preparing to acquire Fengbiao Film & Television?" Shang Yechu said slowly.
While Metafilm and Qingping Entertainment are currently on very good terms, this partnership is not a long-term solution. In business competition and cooperation, it's either one side prevails over the other. There's no such thing as perpetual harmony and blissful intimacy.
If Qingping Entertainment wants to break free from being controlled by others, it must have its own online broadcasting platform.
A few years later, Meta Video, Holo Video, Dingbao Video, Huashi TV, Tuiqi Video, and Daily Video will have divided the film and television platform market into six parts, squeezing out other long-form video platforms to the point of barely surviving. But it is now 2019, and the market has not yet been completely divided up. Although a reshuffle is difficult, it is not a pipe dream.
Building a new video platform is too costly and requires too much investment; the most cost-effective approach is, of course, to acquire or merge with an existing video website.
As early as last year, Ji Juntao began preparing to acquire video websites so that Qingping Entertainment would have a foundation.
Shang Yechu was the first to know about her idea and was its biggest supporter and vanguard. She was ready to empty her own pocket for the plan. —If Qingping Entertainment acquired a new online streaming platform, Shang Yechu would undoubtedly become a shareholder. This was something both Ji Juntao and she were well aware of.
During the internet transformation period, websites and online streaming platforms on the verge of collapse were everywhere. These dying platforms rolled around like sheep droppings across the internet. But Qingping Entertainment couldn't be too indiscriminate; this process had to be extremely cautious to avoid dragging the company down with it if the new platform wasn't managed well.
After much deliberation, Ji Juntao finally settled on Fengbiao Films. This video website had once been quite successful, but due to its overambitious expansion and inflexible management, it had declined. It was barely hanging on, its fate uncertain.
Capital increases, share acquisitions—all of these boil down to one thing: burning money. Even Ji Juntao couldn't afford to be careless. This matter had been in preparation for nearly a year.
Ji Juntao's eyes lit up.
Acquiring management rights to Fengbiao Films is only the first step. They need to find a way to make it profitable and grow it significantly. This is also Ji Juntao's biggest worry: film and television copyrights are worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars—where will they get so much money to fill Fengbiao Films' content library?
How can you attract new users if you don't replenish your content library? Without the influx of new users, this platform is doomed to fail sooner or later!
But let's discuss Ye Chu's current suggestion...
Ji Juntao's breathing became rapid.
If it's a short drama, especially one produced in-house, the price will be much lower. Moreover, short dramas are a new type of content, and currently no one else is involved. If Qingping Entertainment keeps it under wraps, even after launching short dramas, it will take competitors a considerable amount of time to imitate this model. In other words, Qingping Entertainment will inevitably lack competitors in the short term.
Is it possible?
Ji Juntao clutched his chest and said slowly, "Ye, let me think about it... This is too big a step, let me think about it."
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