Recently, the Micro-Short Drama Professional Committee of the China Television Artists Association was established and announced the list of the first organizational members. The committee appointed Fan Zongchai and Zhuang Dianjun as honorary presidents, Zhao Yifang as president, Zheng Liguo as executive vice president, Wang Tianlu, Wang Liang, Liu Mutian, Su Xiao, Li Chuan, Li La, Yang Shu, He Yunchang, Chen Yi, Chen Yunfeng, Chen Ruiqing, Fan Zhizhong, Luo Jun, Zhou Peijin, Zhao Hui, Qian Lili, Gao Guanglei, Guo Jingyu, Sang Zhimin, Xie Guangcai (in order of the number of strokes in their surnames) as vice presidents, Bao Xuanyi as secretary-general, Zhang Jianqi, Miao Luxi, Zhao Ruizhe, Pei Yuehua (in order of the number of strokes in their surnames) as deputy secretaries-general, and 28 members.
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The China Television Artists Association was founded in 1985. It is a professional people's organization led by the Communist Party of China and composed of television artists of all ethnic groups across the country. The establishment of the Micro-Short Drama Professional Committee is undoubtedly an expression of a positive attitude towards the "micro-short drama" content that has attracted widespread attention from the industry and audiences in recent years. The list of members also includes important creators and platform representatives in the TV drama industry.
First of all, Zhao Yifang, the first president, is the current president, founder and chairman of Zhejiang Huace Film and Television Group. Huace has been based on long series for many years and is an important content producer in the industry. In recent years, Huace has made rapid layout in micro-short dramas. According to Cailianshe on November 8, 2023, Huace Film and Television began to pay attention to and study the micro-short drama market in 2022, and gradually entered from June 2023, clearly establishing two core capabilities of micro-short drama script development and marketing distribution. At present, 6 teams have been established, 5 short drama projects have been completed, and the company has established extensive cooperation with various leading companies in micro-short dramas, and has cooperated with Douyin to release the boutique short dramas "Looking for Song" and "My Way Home is Windy". Among them, "My Way Home is Windy" not only has a total playback volume of over 200 million, ranking among the top three Douyin short dramas in the Spring Festival, but also attracts netizens to punch in by displaying the intangible cultural heritage food culture of Leshan, Sichuan, creating a model for short dramas to drive the development of local cultural tourism.
At the meeting, Zhao Yifang said that in the creation and production of micro-short dramas, we must "constantly improve our political stance, guide the industry to develop in an upward, kind and beautiful way, continue to strengthen communication and contact, unite and serve the vast number of industry partners, and strive to empower and upgrade industry content, dedicate more high-quality micro-short dramas to the people, and meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the vast audiences in the new era." These words also reflect Huace's "high-quality" and "high-position" trends in the micro-short drama track.
As a representative of the leading companies in the industry's content production, Su Xiao, the founder of Lemon Studios, is also among the vice presidents of the Micro-Short Drama Professional Committee. In 2019, facing the question "Will there be another outlet in the drama industry?" Su Xiao boldly predicted that the outlet would appear in short dramas. In 2021, the short drama team under Lemon Studios, "Hao You Neng Ling", was separated from the main company of Lemon Studios and was responsible for the development of short dramas. "Hao You Neng Ling" has produced short dramas on women's themes such as "Starting from Divorce", "One Yuan Beauty Salon" and "Twenty-Nine". Among them, "Twenty-Nine" not only ran through the C-end payment field, but also achieved initial results on the brand side, and cooperated with beauty brands for customization, using more than 550 million times of data and brand appeal to let the market see more possibilities of professional teams.
The committee also includes representatives from established online drama platforms such as iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video and Mango TV. Li La, deputy general manager of Tencent Online Video’s film and television content production department, said at the meeting, “We will continue to enhance the industry’s professional self-discipline, enrich the contemporary connotation of the industry’s audio-visual content, and bring more development opportunities to the micro-short drama industry through the joint efforts of the association and the platform.” In 2023, more than 100 micro-short dramas will be launched on Tencent Video, and there will be no shortage of hit content.
Youku started to develop short dramas as early as 2018. In 2021, when short dramas were booming, Youku launched the "Fuyao Project", which opened up in-depth cooperation between Youku Short Drama and other top IP platforms such as Fanqie, Chinese Online, and Migu, and developed more than 30 high-quality short dramas. It is reported that Youku will continue to upgrade the content of short dramas this year.
iQIYI also took the lead in developing short micro dramas in 2018, opening up a "vertical screen control theater" and launching the short micro drama "Life Has Attacked Me" with comedy as the main theme. This year, comedy short dramas such as "Don't Panic, Great King" have performed well in the market. In the view of Wang Liang, executive editor-in-chief of iQIYI, short micro dramas have great industrial potential, "seeing the big from the small" and "being small but doing something" can provide more possibilities for the development of the online audio-visual industry.
Representatives of short video content platforms also participated in the meeting. Qian Lili, head of Douyin's boutique short dramas, and Chen Yi, head of Kuaishou's entertainment, were both listed on the list of members and spoke at the meeting.
According to the "2023-2024 China Micro-Short Drama Market Research Report" produced by iiMedia Research, the scale of my country's online micro-short drama market in 2023 is 37.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 267.65%. In the report forecast, in 2027, this market size is expected to reach 100 billion yuan. Faced with the heat of the market and the expectations of the audience, the micro-short drama has been valued and "incorporated" by the "old national brand" China Television Association, which is really what everyone expects. For this new form of content, the audience and the industry expect not only a momentary pleasure and a temporary popularity, but also the standardization of the industry and long-term sustainable development. It is worth observing and looking forward to what impact this Micro-Short Drama Professional Committee will have on the creation and production of micro-short dramas.
