In the first half of 2024, the drama market will be deeply cultivated, warm realism will be "deep-rooted", the content will be sinking, and urban life dramas will become the mainstream category. At the same time, high-rated themes such as spy war, suspense, and military are not to be outdone, and multiple genres have their own capabilities. "Healing the heart", "reflecting on life" and "self-growth" are the key words in the drama market in the first half of the year.
In the first half of the year, a number of high-quality dramas emerged, the "lens aesthetics" of "Flowers" brought a visual feast to the audience, "The Years of the Great River" and "The Second Season of Celebrating More Than Years" broke the sequel curse and created brilliance, "The Long Season" "The Internet and the Excellent Stage", "Fireworks Family" reflects the transformation of three generations of women, "Harbin 1944" reproduces the charm of spy war dramas, and "My Altay" presents a warm and healing idyll.
The theme highlights the "flexibility of life" and "rigidity of the times"
In the first half of this year, Satellite TV's late yellow file was dominated by reality-themed dramas. From January to May, 42 first-round dramas were broadcast on the evening yellow file of Shangxing Channel, and 9 first-round dramas were broadcast in the second yellow file. There are 29 late-reality dramas, accounting for about 70%, including 26 contemporary dramas and 3 modern dramas; There are 8 modern dramas and 5 costume dramas.
The head satellite TV almost took over the first round of drama resources. There are at least 10 CCTV-8 TV drama channels, at least 7 Beijing Satellite TV, at least 6 CCTV-1 comprehensive channels, Hunan Satellite TV and Dragon TV, and 5 each of Jiangsu Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV. In addition, among the second- and third-tier satellite TV, Tianjin Satellite TV has 3, Anhui Satellite TV and Shaanxi Satellite TV have 1 each.
Judging from the distribution of the themes of the first round of dramas in the late yellow file, the focus of satellite TV theme types has changed in the first half of this year, and more attention has been paid to the major themes of "flexible and landing": 6 urban life dramas, 4 romance dramas, and 3 social ethics dramas, accounting for about one-third of the total.
There are also position adjustments for major themes. Last year's "ratings champion" romance drama gave way to urban life drama, indicating that the mainstream tone of the drama changed from "strong love and honey" to "firewood, rice, oil and salt". Dramas such as "Fireworks", "Little Days", "Happy Parents Group", "Today's Them", and "Many Stories in a Small Town" are closely related to real life and resonate with the audience.
Taking into account the needs of audiences in different circles, the satellite TV platform did not ignore the "rigid theme of strong ratings factor" when selecting dramas, and launched anti-special/spy war dramas (5), suspense dramas (3), military-themed dramas (3), period dramas (3), case-related dramas (2), historical dramas (2), as well as joke interpretation, business wars, modern legends and martial arts dramas (1 each). In addition, there are 2 struggle inspirational and youth dramas, and 1 contemporary theme and other themes.
There are a variety of types of high-rated works
In the evening of the first half of the year, a number of excellent works emerged from China Central Radio and Television and provincial satellite TV, among which there were many "three-in-one" boutiques of word-of-mouth, ratings, and popularity.
CCTV-1 comprehensive channel and CCTV-8 TV drama channel have not only achieved a bumper harvest of ratings - at least 13 dramas have exceeded 1% in ratings, but also pay more attention to "three in one" when selecting dramas: high-quality, specialized, and innovative, which has played a role in leading the market and guiding new trends.
The 6 premiere works launched by CCTV-1 comprehensive channel can be described as having their own characteristics. The New Year's drama "The Years of the Great River" inherits the excellent quality of the previous part, with a Douban score of 8.0 points; the urban drama "Fireworks Family" focuses on the intergenerational relationship between three generations of women, which has aroused heated discussions, with a Douban score of 7.2 points and an average rating of 1.78%; "My Altay" was shortlisted for the Best Long Drama Competition Unit at the 7th Cannes International TV Drama Festival on March 12, 2024, and appeared on CCTV-1 comprehensive channel on May 7, with rave reviews; The ratings of the financial and business war drama "City in the City" exceeded 1%, and the environmental protection drama "On the River" and the wine-themed drama "Hometown of the Stars" also have a certain influence.
CCTV-8 TV drama channel has launched a number of high-quality dramas, including "Thank You for Warming Me", "South to North", "If Running is My Life", "Wind Chaser", "Faint Fire", "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2", "Ode to Joy 5", "Spring Lover", "Flowers" (New Year's Eve drama), with an average rating of more than 1%. Among them, "South to North", which tells the story of the railway police, premiered on CCTV-8 TV drama channel on February 6 and followed on Dragon TV on February 23, with a total rating of 3.37%.
Judging from the total ratings of provincial satellite TV, the "drama king" was honored by the modern spy war drama "Harbin 1944" simulcast by Samsung. The play was broadcast simultaneously on Jiangsu Satellite TV, Beijing Satellite TV, and Shanghai Dragon TV on April 21, with a compact plot and intensive highlights, with a total rating of 4.98%, and the ratings of the single channel of the three satellite TVs exceeded 1.2%, and the highest rating of a single platform was 1.9%, and the charm of "Erbin" swept the screen and outside.
Another drama with a total rating of more than 4% is the urban life drama "Little Days", directed by An Jian, starring Chen Xiao, Tong Yao, and Sarina, integrating the texture of life on the basis of a light comedy narrative. In addition, the period drama "Riding the Wind and Waves" focuses on the history of swimsuit entrepreneurship in Xingcheng, Liaoning, the "famous swimwear city in China", and witnesses the changes of the times from the perspective of small people. The elderly entrepreneurial drama "Old Guy" starring Zhang Guoli, Zhang Tielin and Wang Gang "Iron Triangle" has also achieved good results on Beijing Satellite TV and Jiangsu Satellite TV.
Judging from the ratings performance of a single channel, the head satellite TV is strong, with 50 films in the evening yellow file with an average rating of more than 1%, and 13 with an average rating of 2%. The average rating of dramas breaking 2% includes CCTV-8 TV Drama Channel's "Celebrating More Than Years" Season 1 Abridged Edition, Hunan Satellite TV's "Ask the Boundless", "When the Stars Shine", "Walking with the Phoenix", "Another Blue", "Our Translator", Zhejiang Satellite TV's "Today's Them", "Creative Season", Dragon TV's "South to North", "Riding the Wind and Waves", "Little Days", Jiangsu Satellite TV's "Long Wind Crossing" and "Surgery Live Room".
Urban life drama focuses on "reconciliation in growth"
"Homecoming Drama" pushes "Healing and then Departure"
In the first half of the year, urban life dramas became the protagonists of the screen, and a total of 8 provincial satellite TV evening yellow dramas were broadcast in the first round of dramas, and 2 were broadcast in the second yellow file, of which 6 had an average rating of more than 1%, the average rating of a single channel of "Today's Women" and "Little Day" exceeded 2%, and the total rating of "Little Day" exceeded 4%.
The urban life drama closely follows the theme of "growth and reconciliation" and presents the following major directions. The first is an urban women's growth drama, which continues the popularity and ideas of "her drama". For example, "Today's Them" tells the story of three women's self-growth, and Zhejiang Satellite TV has an audience rating of 2.11%; "Fireworks Family" tells the story of three generations of women supporting each other and growing together, and is the runner-up in the ratings of the first round of dramas in the evening yellow file of CCTV-1 comprehensive channel; "Ode to Joy 5" exceeded 1.2% in the secondary yellow file ratings of CCTV-8 TV drama channel. The second is to focus on marriage, and the hero and heroine grow together. "Little Days" focuses on the marital crisis and their respective growth of a young couple, and has received good ratings on Zhejiang Satellite TV and Dragon TV. The third is the growth of social and family roles. In "Happy Parents Group", parents accompany their children to grow up, experience the true meaning of education, and get a good score of 1.82% in the premiere of Hunan Satellite TV. Fourth, the growth of the elderly. "Old Guy", which was broadcast on Beijing Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV on May 14, tells the story of three "old buddies" who retire and co-founded a retirement community and reconciled with their families and themselves, and the total ratings have exceeded 2.8% (on the air).
In February last year, Hunan Satellite TV's "Going to a Windy Place" became a hit, which boosted the tourism economy of the filming location of the series; On November 23 of the same year, Beijing Satellite TV launched "Hometown, Don't Come to Harm", and the four girls returned to their hometown together to add another fire to the "Homecoming Drama". In the first half of this year, the "homecoming drama" continued to be hot, and the late yellow files included CCTV-1 Comprehensive Channel's "My Altay" and "Hometown of the Stars", Shaanxi Satellite TV's "Small Town Stories", and Hunan Satellite TV's "Another Blue". Among them, "Another Blue" has an audience rating of more than 2.1%. The second yellow file, CCTV-8 TV drama channel's "Spring Lover" has an average rating of 1.27%.
The creative broadcast model is eclectic
Drama linkage extends the "ratings chain"
In the first half of the year, the linkage marketing of head satellite TV and the editing and broadcasting strategy of "bridging ratings" attracted the attention of the industry, and two classic cases appeared.
The first is the dream linkage of Hunan Satellite TV's "The Legend of Chu Qiao" and "Walking with the Phoenix". On June 5, 2017, Hunan Satellite TV broadcast "The Legend of Chu Qiao" in the second yellow file, in which Xing'er and Yu Wenyue starring Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin fell into the ice lake, and the tragic ending made many viewers uneasy, so that they had the "obsession" of "salvaging Yu Wenyue". On March 18, 2024, Hunan Satellite TV's evening yellow file broadcast the Xianxia drama "Walking with the Phoenix" starring the two, the male protagonist was rescued by the female protagonist after falling into the water, "Yu Wenyue" successfully went ashore, and the audience finally realized their dream. Hunan Satellite TV started the linkage preview a week before the broadcast, laying the groundwork layer by layer, and broadcast "The Legend of Chu Qiao" on March 11, with a rate of 2 episodes per day, gradually warming up, and on March 18, "Walking with the Phoenix" was broadcast in the evening yellow file, forming a pattern of linkage broadcast of the two dramas, and finally "Walking with the Phoenix" ended with a rating of 2.26%.
The second is the CCTV-8 TV drama channel's bold arrangement of the "Celebrating More Than Years" series. CCTV-8 TV drama channel launched the first season of "Celebrating More Than Years" on the evening of May 12, the original 46 episodes were refined to 16 episodes, and it was broadcast intensively in the mode of 4 episodes of simulcast every night, and the ratings exceeded 2% on the first day, with the highest single-day rating of 2.4% and the average rating of 2.27%. On May 16, "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2" was launched, with a single-day highest rating of 2.48% and an average rating of 2.24% (on the air). This seamless editing and broadcasting mode fully taps the ratings potential of this big IP drama, first inspiring the audience's memory many years ago with the feelings of the first part (on January 30, 2020, Zhejiang Satellite TV premiered the first season of "Celebrating More Than Years" at 13:00), and then feasted on the spiritual needs of the audience with the second part.
Throughout the TV drama large-screen market in the first half of the year, classic narratives and innovative expressions were developed simultaneously, showing a trend of a hundred flowers blooming, and I look forward to more exciting in the second half.
Source: WeChat public account "Variety News"
Author: Li Hongling
Editor: Deng Rumeng
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