©️ Deep Echo Original · Author|Lu Yue
At the beginning of 2024, a "Flowers" will set off a nationwide craze for chasing dramas, and the ratings, word-of-mouth and commercialization will all win. After half a year, this work once again stood in the spotlight and won a total of 5 awards at the 29th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards: the work won the best Chinese TV series, actor Hu Ge won the best actor, Qin Wen won the best screenplay (adaptation), Bao Dexi, Chen Cheng, Jin Chenyu won the best cinematography, and Tu Nan won the best art.
At this year's Magnolia Awards, Tencent Video as a whole also gained a lot of "flowers" - a total of 6 works produced and broadcast on the platform won 10 honors, in addition to "Flowers", and "The Three-Body Problem" won the International Communication Award, director Xin Shuang won the best director with "The Long Season", actor Ning Li won the best supporting actor with "Under the Prosperous City", the variety show "China Wisdom China Tour" won the Magnolia Organizing Committee Special Award, and "Why China" won the best documentary series.
Swipe up and down to see the winning entries
As an important award in China's film and television industry, the Magnolia Awards brings together many popular dramas, actors, directors and screenwriters to compete on the same stage every year, and also attracts the attention of practitioners in the whole industry. At the same time, the Magnolia Award also has the significance of a weather vane, which continues to witness changes and innovations in the industry, cutting-edge creative ideas, new content trends, and the strength of long video platforms are all presented.
When the award was announced, it was "lively", and after it was announced, it was even more worthy of "watching the doorway". This year, Tencent Video, which has been deeply involved and has gained a lot, has provided us with a unique window into the film and television industry.
Use a good story to break through the ceiling of the industry
At a time when entertainment content is swelling and overflowing, and consumer aesthetics are rapidly improving, the audience's desire for "good stories" is becoming more and more intense, and this concept is also frequently mentioned in the industry. When everyone is talking about the same thing but has their own understanding of it, it becomes more and more obscure.
And the Magnolia Award happens to be a yardstick to measure "good stories".
This time, a total of 18 production and broadcast works of Tencent Video were shortlisted for 36 nominations. In terms of dramas, the themes of good stories are quite rich, including realism, science fiction, costumes, and suspense. Whether it is the shortlisted "Glory of the Fathers", "Asking Heart", "Sauvignon Blanc Season 1", or the final award-winning "Flowers", "Three-Body Problem", "The Long Season" and "Under the Prosperous City", almost every one of them is a popular drama in the hearts of the audience. This also means that the work is not only recognized for its professionalism, but also outstanding in its innovation and artistic aesthetics, truly achieving an all-round presentation of "good stories".
"Flowers", "Three-Body Problem", "The Long Season", "Under the Prosperous City"
In addition to dramas, Tencent Video has also been shortlisted and award-winning production and broadcast works in variety shows, animations, documentaries and other categories. For example, "The Fifth Season of Heartwarming Offer", which was shortlisted for the best variety show, seems to Xu Qing, the head of Tianqing Studio, Tencent's online video program content production department, and the producer of the "Heartwarming Offer" project, "Let everyone see the 'me' around me or the 'me' stronger than me, and see ordinary people being noticed and loved because of their efforts". Nominated for Best Animated Film, "Dart Man" tells traditional martial arts stories in a wild martial arts aesthetic style, and the director of the work, Deng Zhiwei, expressed his hope that the 2D animation will stay with the audience for a longer time with its unique aesthetic expression. There is also "Why China", which won the best documentary series, which not only records the archaeological excavation site realistically, but also recreates important scenes from ancient history in a cinematic way. These works also focus on "good stories", using different forms and styles to bring the audience a rich content experience.
"Heartwarming Offer Season 5", "Dart Man", "Why China"
After years of deep cultivation and dedication, Tencent Video has finally reached a new stage of blossoming and fruition. The successive hits that have been staged and recognized by the industry have turned the accident of success into the norm, which is a concrete embodiment of the systematic acceleration of the platform and the overall upgrading of the content.
The "head-focused" strategy behind this has played a key role.
In the past, long videos were always questioned "how to copy or continue the hit", and the uncertainty of the "innate" content made it difficult to find the answer to this question. Nowadays, the platform has reached a stage where it attaches more importance to tangible profitability, and it is the most rational and certain choice to do "must-have" head content and reduce "dispensable" content.
At the same time, as Sun Zhonghuai, vice president of Tencent and CEO of Tencent Online Video, said: "What users need today is not more, but quality. "Users always vote with their feet, and even if there is a lot of mediocre content, they don't watch it, and a good work will often be empty. Therefore, the platform subjectively reduces quantity and improves quality, focuses on the head, and works together, which will make the quality of the already good enough works more guaranteed, or even go to a higher level.
Sun Zhonghuai, Vice President of Tencent and CEO of Tencent Online Video
It can be seen that the idea of focusing on the head is actually to respond to and fulfill the needs of both the platform and the user.
Of course, the feelings of the creators cannot be ignored. To make a big drama, the creator will inevitably tend to copy a certain or certain type of popular work for the sake of safety. But users are keen, and most of the stories they have seen don't want to watch the same again, so to become a widely recognized "good story" work, it must have unique creative ideas and artistic styles, which undoubtedly puts forward higher requirements for creators.
The encouragement, guidance and assistance of the platform at this time is crucial. Wang Juan, vice president of Tencent Online Video, mentioned that Tencent Video is not limited to inherent and successful genres, but encourages innovation, and adheres to the principle of "rather taking risks than being bored" in the direction of creation, striving for more works that break through inherent ideas. At the same time, Tencent Video has also upgraded the evaluation system of the work to "binary evaluation", which not only looks at the economic benefits of the work, but also takes into account the artistic achievements of the work, as well as the audience's reputation, so that good stories that are not affected by traffic popularity and popularity can also be seen.
Wang Juan, Vice President of Tencent Online Video
Judging from the ultra-long film list released by Tencent Video Film and Television in 2024 "Wilderness Towards the Future", Tencent Video's good story idea is continuing and deepening.
First of all, in the mainstream popular themes such as ancient costumes, reality, female growth, and suspense, we find that there are still new ideas. For example, "Da Feng Beat the Guard" combines ancient costumes, fantasy and detective elements, "Invisible Name" tells the emotional suspense story of two generations and four women spanning 30 years of time and space, and "Six Sisters" uses the small incision of the six sisters of the He family to present the development and changes of the big era, etc.
Secondly, it is to do serial development for all kinds of high-quality IP. Although the world view of big IP is huge, there are many characters, the length is long, and the difficulty of film and television is high, Wang Juan emphasized that "we are willing to continue to develop 'ultra-long-term' head content" and do the difficult but correct thing. So we can see the second season of many popular IPs such as "Sauvignon Blanc 2", "Three-Body Problem 2", "Douluo Dalu 2", "Son-in-law 2", "Crime Hunting Guide 2" and many other popular IPs have appeared one after another, and the sequel to the same series of IP "Lan Boudoir Happy Event", which performed well in the comedy track last year, "Fragrant Happy Event", and Zhao Benshan's team's "Legend of Magpie Knife Gate 2" are also in production.
In addition, good stories are not long or short, and Tencent Video's high-quality short dramas also have many works with novel themes and strong lineups. The suspense drama "The Beginning of Man" is starring Zhang Ruoyun, Ma Sichun, Wang Jingchun, Tang Yan, etc., "Chess Warrior" is Wang Baoqiang's return after 12 years of absence from the drama circle, and "Sun and Stars" starring William Chan is not only the only Asian drama shortlisted for the Cannes TV Festival screening event, but also the first Chinese suspense drama broadcast simultaneously by Tencent Video and Netflix.
Swipe up and down to see the film list
The continuous development of big IP with a wide public base, the co-branded models of big artists, and rare treasures in the content field, the three pillars that Sun Zhonghuai proposed at the online audiovisual conference not long ago to support good content have also been further confirmed in this new film list. Good content and good stories are innovating the inherent themes and creative ideas, and they are also raising or even breaking the ceiling of the industry that was supported by those popular models in the past. The theme words released by Tencent Video this year are also in this deep meaning: There is no ceiling, it is the real wilderness.
Fight against inertia and be a "self-revolutionary"
In fact, for the platform, innovation is a kind of "gene". Since the emergence of the domestic video industry in 2005, the long video platform has been playing the role of "changer", which reconstructs the old model of multiple content industries with higher communication efficiency and new audience interaction.
For example, dramas and variety shows, from TV broadcasts to online students is not only a channel change, but also a great innovation and expansion of the subject matter. Look at animation again,Long video platform goes deep into the upstream and downstream to reconstruct the industrial chain,Gradually cultivated a number of representative Guoman works。 There are also documentaries, from the early pure introduction of works to the later self-control ability, and now the documentary has rich themes, looks at reality, pays attention to current affairs and public interest, and has won the favor of the younger generation of users, and the platform has played a major role in boosting.
If it is said that the content industry is given opinions and guidance, it is the embodiment of the platform's "external" driven innovation; In recent years, Tencent Video has taken the initiative to change, and has not forgotten to change "internally".
First of all, this is reflected in the change in the evaluation of the project.
Sun Zhonghuai said that in the past, the platform's evaluation criteria for project proposals were relatively simple and the discussion time was short, mainly focusing on evaluating some basic elements. However, now, Tencent Video's review requirements for projects have been upgraded and the angle is more comprehensive: the text requirements are stricter, in addition to considering the creativity and feasibility of the project, it will also pay attention to the adaptability of the main creative team, rather than relying only on its fame.
This change has made the project review process more rigorous and in-depth, and the project has become more difficult to pass. But the advantage is that once the project passes the review, it will receive more resources and attention from Tencent Video, which is also a concrete embodiment of Tencent Video's content strategy of "reducing quantity and improving quality".
At the same time, Tencent Video will also optimize its financial model, from relying mainly on estimated project return on investment (ROC) in the past to continuing to consider ROC, which is an important indicator, and will pay more attention to the number of viewers and investment cost of the project, that is, the average cost of a single UV.
Long video has already gone through the extensive development stage, and in the process of becoming more mature, it is necessary to optimize resource allocation, improve project quality, and reduce risks. The optimization of the financial model allows the platform to consider the market potential and economic benefits of the project more comprehensively, so as to make more scientific and reasonable investment decisions for the long-term development of the platform.
Secondly, Tencent Video has also adjusted and optimized the company's organizational structure to deal with the inertia problem caused by the development of large platforms to adulthood.
Starting from 2022, the head of Tencent Video's major department has started an internal rotation system. In the past few years after the rotation, it can be seen that Tencent Video has some new ways of playing on the basis of its original advantages in content selection, operation strategy and commercialization, and several people in charge have always been looking at the content industry with a new attitude, new angles and new thinking.
At the same time, Tencent Video has also put forward higher requirements for the platform's internal producers.
The problem of mediocre and homogeneous works is often attributed to the starring, director and screenwriter, both inside and outside the industry, but it is easy to ignore the important influence of the production team. During last year's Shanghai TV Festival, Sun Zhonghuai bluntly pointed out this hidden key - for a long time, the internal producer management mechanism of the video platform was not flexible enough, and there was a problem of "egalitarianism", which not only affected the work enthusiasm of producers, but also affected the fairness and effectiveness of the distribution of production input within the platform.
Now, the producer assessment should break the "big pot rice" as much as possible, and the money each producer gets must be linked to the final quality of the work, and it must meet the standards of the industry, users and platforms for judging good stories. This seemingly more stringent requirement will form an internal healthy competition mechanism, and excellent producers will have more room for development, while also forming motivation and pressure on others.
For platforms, organizational innovation requires courage. The rapid growth and scale of platforms and industries in the past may have sometimes masked some of the underlying problems, but as the industry enters a new phase of competition, we must bravely face these challenges head-on, because this is the key to widening the gap and achieving breakthroughs. A series of changes will allow Tencent Video to maintain its leading position in the highly competitive long video industry, and in the long run, it will actually have an exemplary effect on the industry.
From the perspective of the industry, to be a service, cooperation and pioneer
As the hub of the film and television industry, every content upgrade and self-innovation of the long video platform affects the pulse of the entire industry. In order to avoid unexpected friction caused by radical and brutal changes, platforms that actively seek change must also have a broad industry vision and take on multiple roles.
The more content categories the platform covers, the more partners will participate, but everyone's capabilities will also vary greatly. Therefore, if the platform wants to make a comprehensive and diversified high-quality story, it must first play a good role as a "service provider" and bring more fields to accelerate industrialization.
"Industrialization" is an important topic that has been discussed in the film and television industry all year round, and the platform is not just shouting slogans about this, but really starting from technology, products and production processes, doing a lot of infrastructure and accumulating a lot of experience, and now is the time when it should be used more widely.
Tencent Video's empowerment of account-sharing dramas is a typical case. According to Li La, deputy general manager of Tencent's online video film and television content production department, in terms of content production, Tencent Video's film and television content production department has established a production center, which has a full-link film and television drama production guarantee system and new AI technology, and will provide production support for partners. Li La also released a new and upgraded Tencent Video online drama account sharing rules, hoping to provide a benign ecology for the creation of good content through better policies, better operation and marketing systems, and more comprehensive platform support.
Li La, deputy general manager of Tencent's online video film and television content production department
In Tencent Video's hosted "Forge Together, Pick the Stars!" Cui Chao, deputy general manager of the operation department of Tencent's online video platform, also shared that stylized painting works are the first threshold for users to consume animation works, and the animation industry will show more far-reaching value under the integration of art and technology, and Tencent Video will always be committed to exploring the infinite possibilities of the animation industry.
Cui Chao, deputy general manager of Tencent's online video platform operation department
In addition to being a service provider, Tencent Video has always been a partner for creators, but now it will become more "rational".
As Sun Zhonghuai said: "No matter now or in the future, we can't be your friends with wine and meat, we can only be co-creation partners who supervise each other." Tencent Video is committed to innovating the cooperation model with film and television companies: abandoning the past "one-shot deal" pricing strategy, and turning to an innovative model based on the broadcast effect of "dynamic gambling and after-effect incentives" - that is, in addition to a part of the fixed amount of project cooperation, a considerable part of the project cooperation will also be closely linked to the broadcast effect of the work.
This kind of cooperation idea of real To C de-risk-sharing and benefit-sharing has been more applied in the field of account-sharing movies and account-sharing dramas in the past. But now that the platform is fully implemented, the producers will work more closely with the platform until the end of the work, and both parties will have to work together to improve the quality of the work, restrain each other, solve problems together, and face challenges, which will be of great benefit to the output of more good stories.
At the same time, for a professional and pure creative team, this model is undoubtedly a strong incentive, as long as the work becomes a hit, you can get real money in return. This will become a source of motivation for creators to continue to create and move forward, and will also help the platform attract more powerful partners.
From a more macro perspective, we can also directly elevate the role of Tencent Video as an "industry pioneer".
This is not an exaggeration. Judging from this year's Shanghai TV Festival, Tencent Video has deeply participated in and hosted many theme forums and activities, covering dramas, variety shows, account-sharing dramas, micro-short dramas, documentaries, animations and other content, and put forward a series of new thinking and strategies to actively contribute to the industry.
Making content is a long and arduous road, and someone needs to actively release encouraging signals to find more certainty for the industry and cultivate the creative enthusiasm of the industry, and Tencent Video is doing this.
At the same time, it is impossible for the content industry to monopolize all the popular products, and the growth height of the industry is not determined by one platform, but depends on the whole. Tencent Video took the lead in proposing new strategies and carrying out practice, which is also driving the whole industry to reach a new consensus, and consensus is the premise for all parties to work together.
Good stories are an innate human need, and they can make us feel a strong social connection and emotional resonance. And long video is the best carrier of a good story, which is the most basic and powerful development support for the whole industry. On this basis, Tencent Video has more patience, courage and long-term vision, and will be able to continue to break through its own boundaries and move towards the wilderness of the future in the adjustment of the new order, with good stories as the core.