The Dragon Boat Race in June, the Pupu Hairpin Flower Wai in May, the Qintong Boat Festival in April, and the Fujian Youshen and Chaoshan Ying Singing and Dancing in February...... In the first half of the year, the hot search of intangible cultural heritage short videos continued, attracting a large number of tourists to check in while helping intangible cultural heritage culture out of the circle.
Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat racing is a hot topic on short video platforms recently
As an emerging medium, short video allows intangible cultural heritage to enter the public eye in a more intuitive and convenient way. On Douyin, the topic of hairpin has 450 million views, and on Kuaishou, "Fujian Youshen" related works have 2.19 billion views. National charm, craftsman spirit, oriental aesthetics, historical heritage...... In these short videos, people truly feel that as an important part of China's excellent traditional culture, intangible cultural heritage comes from the depths of history and complements current life.
The creative team is constantly expanding
There is a clear trend towards younger people
In recent years, the "national tide fever" has been heating up, and more and more intangible cultural heritage craftsmen have settled in the short video platform to publicize and promote intangible cultural heritage with the help of this emerging communication medium. At present, the intangible cultural heritage short videos on short video platforms are mainly divided into two categories - handmade and performed. The former includes embroidery, paper-cutting, printing and dyeing, clay sculpture, bamboo weaving, etc., while the latter includes drama, lion dance, shadow puppetry, acrobatics, etc. Creators include intangible cultural heritage inheritors, related practitioners, hobbyists, traditional media, self-media, etc. According to the "2024 Intangible Cultural Heritage Data Report" released by Douyin, in the past year, creators have displayed intangible cultural heritage in various forms such as special effects videos and visits and reproductions, and endangered and niche intangible cultural heritage has been seen by more people. At present, Douyin has a total of 1,428 intangible cultural heritage inheritors, of which 199 are under the age of 30, a year-on-year increase of 72%, and the post-95s and post-00s who have grown up in the Internet era have become a new force in inheriting and disseminating intangible cultural heritage. According to the "2024 Kuaishou Intangible Cultural Heritage Ecology Report", the number of Kuaishou intangible cultural heritage content creators has shown a continuous growth trend, of which the number of Kuaishou intangible cultural heritage creators with more than 10,000 fans exceeds 11 million, a year-on-year increase of 30.5%. Among Kuaishou's intangible cultural heritage creators, 39.1% of them are over 50 years old, which is relatively high, but it is worth mentioning that among the intangible cultural heritage creators with income, young creators under the age of 30 account for 27.7%.
Leng Li, director and researcher of the Audiovisual Research Office of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and an expert of the think tank of the New Media Alliance of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, believes that the audience of the short video platform is relatively young, and the short videos of intangible cultural heritage have received widespread attention, allowing more young people to fall in love with intangible cultural heritage, and then promoting the younger, innovative, market-oriented and industrialization of intangible cultural heritage, which has contributed to the development and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage. According to the aforementioned report, in 2023, the cumulative number of national-level intangible cultural heritage-related videos on the Douyin platform will increase by 36% year-on-year, and the number of national-level endangered intangible cultural heritage-related videos will increase by 33% year-on-year. As of December 2023, there are more than 95 million users with deep interest in Kuaishou's intangible cultural heritage.
Zhao Hui, director and professor of the Basic Department of the School of Drama, Film and Television of Communication University of China, and vice president of the Network Audiovisual Art Creation Committee of the China Television Artists Association, said that compared with traditional intangible cultural heritage communication methods such as building museums and teaching by word and deed, short video production cycle and fast transmission speed reduce communication costs, improve communication efficiency, and also drive the enthusiasm of the public to participate. Zhao Hui said that from the perspective of inheritance, dissemination, diversified development and innovation of intangible cultural heritage, short videos have played a very important role. First, short videos of intangible cultural heritage are disseminated in a form that is popular with the audience, which has changed the traditional form of propaganda and education and made intangible cultural heritage more life-like. Second, the combination of short videos, live broadcasts, and e-commerce can drive the development of intangible cultural heritage derivatives; Third, the emergence of a large number of intangible cultural heritage experts can form a new national trend with the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage content through the dissemination of short video content, drive the development of derivative culture, and bring intangible cultural heritage to different user groups; Fourth, the technical content delivered by short videos of intangible cultural heritage can drive the development of intangible cultural heritage schools and help the dissemination and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Fifth, in addition to intangible cultural heritage inheritors, more and more intangible cultural heritage "spokespersons" with good image, good temperament and strong expression ability are participating in the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage short videos after being authorized, and using more aesthetic and powerful forms of communication to drive the innovation and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
There is a threshold for creation
The point of transmission needs to be caught
Compared with other popular types of short videos, the creation and broadcast volume of intangible cultural heritage short videos is weak, on the one hand, because intangible cultural heritage short videos started late; On the other hand, because of the particularity of intangible cultural heritage, higher requirements are put forward for creators. At present, most of the circle-breaking works on short video platforms are "cross-border" production by head creators in other fields. For example, Jiang Xunqian, who learns to play iron flowers and ice sculptures, is a creator of short videos of food; Nanxiang, who restores the production process of dragon and phoenix candles and box lights, does not like to eat, and is also a creator of short videos of food. Some creators attribute this phenomenon to the lagging performance of their creative ability after suddenly gaining attention. An intangible cultural heritage short video UP owner told reporters that although it is no longer the era of intangible cultural heritage techniques and self-cherishing, good craftsmen and inheritors are not necessarily good communicators. "Excellent intangible cultural heritage short videos should conform to the public's aesthetics, artistically process intangible cultural heritage, and sublimate the spirit of intangible cultural heritage. For most creators who are still in the small workshop stage, these are insurmountable creative gaps. There are even intangible cultural heritage short video creators jokingly said: "The attention is a little late and urgent, and everyone is also worried that if they haven't learned how to keep up with this wave of popularity, the popularity will not be there." Specific to the creative level, Leng Li said that intangible cultural heritage short video creators do not have the awareness of "focus in advance", and are accustomed to using logical narratives, focusing on skill display and technique demonstration, which cannot attract the audience in a short period of time, thus affecting the number of broadcasts. In addition, everyone does not understand the communication rules of short videos, and many intangible cultural heritage inheritors are not the best narrators, so it is necessary to find a suitable intangible cultural heritage "spokesperson" to promote the creation and dissemination of content with intangible cultural heritage inheritors in a simple way. Zhao Hui said that the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage short videos has played a role in soft marketing, and the audience can understand the stories and cultural heritage behind intangible cultural heritage through short video works, and then buy intangible cultural heritage products and feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage. In addition to the inheritance of techniques and the products themselves, the dissemination of these intangible cultural heritage items is closely related to the attention of its intangible cultural heritage short videos and the popularity of intangible cultural heritage experts. "Sufficiently high-quality products and a way of telling stories that attract the audience are the prerequisites for the wide dissemination of intangible cultural heritage short videos." The industry is calling for professional content creators to enter. At present, the combination of intangible cultural heritage culture and variety shows has become a national trend. Whether it is the thematic variety show "China in Intangible Cultural Heritage", or the popular variety shows such as "Let's Run", which cleverly integrates intangible cultural heritage elements, they have achieved good ratings and word of mouth. According to this, intangible cultural heritage micro-variety shows may also be able to show their strengths.
Income differentiation
Explore multiple business models
According to the relevant person in charge of Kuaishou, the monetization channels of Kuaishou intangible cultural heritage creators mainly include e-commerce sales, live broadcast rewards, paid courses, commercial advertising revenue, etc. In 2023, the per capita total income of Kuaishou intangible cultural heritage creators will increase by 55% year-on-year, and more and more intangible cultural heritage creators will achieve a bumper harvest of income generation and fan growth in Kuaishou, with the highest annual income exceeding 8 million yuan and the highest annual increase in fans by 1.257 million. @Xiaomin Huyi, who focuses on the culture of purple sand pots, has not only become the official top 100 newcomer anchors of Kuaishou and the head e-commerce expert in the purple sand industry, but also signed more than 500 cooperative artists of purple sand teapots. In 2023, Henan Opera actor @Opera Guo Chaochao will have 454,000 fans, and his income will increase by 645%; Errentai art inheritor, Northwest comedy star @ Wang Maolin Wang Lixia (caterpillar) increased by 190,000 fans, and his income increased by 282%; Ice carving skills intangible cultural heritage creator @Ice Cube Gege, increased by 1.257 million fans, and his income increased by 161%; The intangible cultural heritage creator of lion dance skills @lion dance sister has increased by 670,000 fans, and his income has increased by 911%. In terms of Douyin, in the past year, the number of intangible cultural heritage merchants of Douyin life services increased by 215% year-on-year, the number of orders for intangible cultural heritage group purchase products increased by 356% year-on-year, and the number of users who purchased intangible cultural heritage group purchase goods increased by 328% year-on-year. The post-90s generation has the largest number of orders, and the post-00s have the fastest growth rate. The sales volume of intangible cultural heritage inheritors increased by 249% year-on-year, and the number of consumers who purchased intangible cultural heritage items increased by 203% year-on-year. Among them, Xianghe Dumpling Shop Jujube Clay Roll, Suzhou Embroidery Fan, Liuzhou Snail Powder, Bayao Jasmine Tea and Ruyao Master Cup are the most popular intangible cultural heritage items among users. However, some intangible cultural heritage short video creators revealed that at present, the income of practitioners is significantly differentiated, and the head creators can obtain good benefits in terms of content and live streaming; However, the main source of income for creators with a larger number of waists and below is the platform's traffic support and broadcast revenue sharing. Unlike intangible cultural heritage inheritors who can sell products directly through the platform, performance intangible cultural heritage creators often gain attention through short videos, so as to strive for offline performance opportunities. However, there is a ceiling on their energy and market pricing, and it is a dilemma for such creators to devote themselves to making videos or participating in offline performances to make money. Leng said that at present, the monetization method of intangible cultural heritage short videos is still relatively simple, and he hopes that more industries and brands can see the huge commercial value of intangible cultural heritage and explore more diversified business cooperation models.
Online and offline linkage
Intangible cultural heritage short video + cultural tourism has a lot to offer
During the Spring Festival in 2024, Kuaishou