On June 6, the first episode of TVB's first short drama "Hot Queen" was launched. This short drama is played in the form of a vertical screen on the "Buried Pile" APP and the official account of TVB Douyin.
Most of the cast members of "Hot Queen" are familiar faces of Hong Kong drama fans, starring He Yiting, Lin Zhengfeng, Yuan Weihao, Chen Ziyao, and guest appearances by Ma Guoming, Chen Yinyu, and Cai Jie:
1. He Yiting: Hong Kong, China, actress, host. In 2017, he won the runner-up of Miss Hong Kong and became a TVB manager contract artist. starred in "News Queen" as Xu Xiaowei, the apprentice of Wen Huixin (Charmaine Sheh).
2. Lin Zhengfeng: An actor from Hong Kong, China, his representative works "Flying Tiger: Heroes", etc. played Wang Wei in "The Queen of News".
3. Yuan Weihao: An actor from Hong Kong, China, his masterpiece "Walled City Heroes", etc.
4. Chen Ziyao: Hong Kong actress, representative work "Colleagues Three Relatives", etc.
5. Ma Guoming: An actor from Hong Kong, China, whose representative works are "Rushing to the Clouds", etc. played Liang Jingren in "News Queen", and the role played by He Yiting is a lover.
6. Chen Yinyu: Canada-Chinese actress, 2006 Miss Hong Kong champion, representative work "Forensic Pioneer 3" and so on.
7. Cai Jie: Chinese actress, 2012 Miss Melbourne Chinese champion, representative work "Anti-Corruption Storm 2", etc.
TVB+ "Hot Queen", just looking at these two keywords, it is easy to think of the popular Hong Kong drama "News Queen" at the end of last year. In addition, many actors in the play have starred in both dramas, and it is not an exaggeration to say that "Hot Queen" is a spin-off short drama of "News Queen".
As can be seen from the plot and cast of "Hot Queen":
• TVB actors have sufficient resources and can be used as a strong backing for follow-up short dramas.
• TVB has abundant film and television IPs, and the gameplay of film and television spin-offs can continue to expand.
The first 8 episodes of "Hot Queen" have a total of 10.81 million views, which is not a very impressive achievement. The 10 episodes of the first short drama "Golden Pig and Jade Leaf" of the "Star Master" 9527 Theater have accumulated 200 million views, and the 90 episodes of "Hundreds of Millions of Silly Princes" written by Wang Jing and need to be paid for 90 episodes have 8.661 million views.
If you compare it with a short drama that is also starring TVB actors-
In March this year, TVB TV Emperor Haoxin (who left the nest from TVB in December 2023 and is husband and wife with Chen Ziyao, the star of "Hot Queen"), starred in the Douyin boutique short drama "Autumn Cicada in the Hidden World", which is a suspense-themed paid short drama in the form of a vertical screen, with a total of two seasons of content, with 23 episodes per season: the first season contains 17 episodes of paid content, with a total of 27.924 million views as of press time, and the second season contains 22 episodes of paid content, with a cumulative broadcast of 33.761 million as of press time.
It can be seen that, at least for now, the data performance of "Hot Spot Queen" can only be regarded as medium. However, "Hot Spot Queen" has not been updated after all, and this data has not yet reached the end, so we can expect whether there will be a real "hot spot" performance in the future.
After watching the updated episodes of "Hot Queen", the editor can feel that this kind of professional drama theme is still TVB's comfort zone, and the unit narrative mode it is good at is also very suitable for splitting in short dramas, and it only needs to accelerate the reversal.
However, the shortcomings of TVB short dramas are also obvious, the original brilliant emotional expressions in long dramas have become sparse due to rhythm problems, and the coolness cannot be sustained. At the same time, the plot is mixed with various social hot spots, but there is no time to dig deeper content, which makes it difficult for original Hong Kong drama fans to adapt.
In addition, the dubbing of "Hot Spot Queen" has become the hardest hit area by the group. The Mandarin version was first launched, and later Cantonese dubbing was used at the request of the audience, but it caused dissatisfaction with its Cantonese dubbing like the Pearl River TV Chinese TV series. At the beginning of episodes 7 and 8, the actor's original voice was finally used, but because it was a dubbing that was recorded later, there was still a situation where it was not close to the face.
It's obviously a Cantonese drama, but it's planted in Cantonese dubbing.
Another noteworthy point is that "Hot Spot Queen" is updated in serialized form. Previously, Stephen Chow's horizontal screen short drama "Golden Pig and Jade Leaf" was also serialized and updated in the same form.
This model follows the practice of the traditional film and television industry, which is completely different from the short dramas that emphasize "short, flat and fast", and at present, it is more concentrated in the form of traditional film and television people's entry short dramas or brand-customized short dramas.
Theoretically speaking, a short episode of the script is only a few minutes, and the serialization form goes against the audience's expectations of watching a short drama in one go, because it is impossible to achieve high-frequency and continuous reversal, and it is easy for the audience's top energy to go out because of chasing more. At this level, the serialization mode is not so suitable for the content style of the short drama track, which is why you can often see problems such as the rhythm of the plot with negative comments from the audience in the comment area.
However, this type of short drama is different from paid mini-program short dramas, their business model is in the form of "investment promotion", earning brand marketing expenses, and it is necessary to maintain the popularity of the drama and brand for a period of time, and the serialization model may become a choice to balance the plot and brand benefits of the short drama.
On March 29 this year, at the 11th China Internet Audiovisual Conference Micro Short Drama Creation Forum, Zeng Zhiwei, general manager of TVB (program content operation), was invited to share because of a speech about short dramas on the Internet. He believes that short dramas are one of the new situations in film and television, and the short drama industry is helping the entertainment industry cultivate new talents. "Whether it is a TV series, an online drama, or a current micro-short drama, although the form is different, content is king, and creators need to create with heart and affection."
The sharing at that time may have been the flare gun for TVB to enter the short drama, and soon after, TVB officially announced the first short drama "Hot Queen".
At present, there is almost no need to describe the popularity of the short drama industry, and TVB's entry is expected.
However, compared with Wang Jing, Stephen Chow, and Asia Television's high-profile entry, TVB's actions are slightly low-key, and the wind before the official launch of the short drama is not big, and the short drama has not received much attention from the market after it was launched. From this point of view, TVB's entry into the short drama is more like a response due to the iteration of the current film and television form.
Looking at TVB in recent years:
• Film and television dramas went downhill, and the hit was short-lived, TVB began to find a way out by cooperating with Youku in the "Hong Kong Arts Revitalization Plan", and the press conference released a list of 12 "New Hong Kong Dramas" in one go.
• Combined with the current popular live broadcast form, TVB actors such as Chen Ziyao and Ma Guoming have started live broadcasts.
• TVB's choice to enter the short drama is still a strategic performance that keeps pace with the times.
On the whole, whether it is Stephen Chow or Wang Jing, whether it is Asia Television or TVB, their entry into the game has released a signal - Hong Kong film and television resources are being integrated into the field of short dramas. Short dramas are a new opportunity for the Hong Kong circle, and the resources of the Hong Kong circle represent a new possibility of content for short dramas.
In addition, it can also be seen from the poster of "Hot Queen" that the advertiser of this skit is Proya.
Following the launch of the short drama "Dress with Growth" by Han Shu and Jiang Qiqi in March 2023, Proya, which is also a skin care brand, will also start to lay out Douyin short dramas in September 2023.
According to the survey, there are also a lot of works of Proya brand marketing short dramas, and it can be seen that they really dare to spend money, in addition to title sponsorship, there are also self-made short dramas.
It can be seen that short drama + advertising placement has become an important carrier of current brand marketing. I believe that in the future, TVB or 9527 Theater should be the main route.
As for how effective it is, and let the bullets fly a little longer.
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