"Ancient puppet dramas are over", "Life dramas are all about creating confrontation", "Cultural tourism themes are the new blue ocean"... In 2024, we heard too many voices about Chinese mainland TV dramas, some of which were confused, some were expectant, and some were pessimistic. In 2024, the Chinese TV drama market experienced a series of changes and innovations. In this year, we witnessed the flourishing of many types of dramas, from ancient puppet dramas to life dramas, from criminal investigation dramas to realistic themes... At this moment, we need to look back to re-sort out those voices, those moments, those dramas that have accompanied us through the year, and the ups and downs experienced by the industry market.
Costume idol: S+ failed to fire one after another, and the low-cost movie went on the table against the trend
Ancient puppet drama is always underestimated by literary critics, but it is a magical drama that has always been favored by the market. As a major producer of ancient puppet drama, this genre has always been a strong player in my country's cultural export track, but it has always been ignored and even despised.
The ancient puppet drama market experienced some ups and downs in 2024. At the beginning of the year, the market had a hearty three-hit success with "Xihuazhi", "Huajianling" and "Moyuyunjian", which greatly boosted the market's confidence in ancient puppet dramas.
However, some highly anticipated works such as "Longing 2" and "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red" and several "Legend of Sword and Fairy" IPs were not broadcast as expected. "Fox Spirit" even broke iQiyi's confidence in ancient idol dramas. Afterwards, other works in the "Fox Spirit Matchmaker" series were even hurriedly renamed and "cut off", which shows the extent of its negative impact. Afterwards, although ancient idol dramas such as "Liu Zhou Ji" and "Jin Xiu An Ning" had a certain market share, they did not meet the initial expectations of the industry.
Poster of Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red
According to the author, in the second half of this year, voices in the industry that were pessimistic about ancient puppet shows were heard one after another. Screenwriter Xiao Ou (pseudonym) revealed to the author that he was writing a large-scale ancient puppet show this year, but the production team was hesitant about whether to stop developing the project, "because ancient puppet shows seemed to be at the end of their rope and audiences didn't like to watch them anymore."
However, at the end of the year, with the broadcast of "Eternal Night Star River", the ancient puppet drama market ushered in a turnaround. The drama successfully attracted the attention of the audience with its novel setting of cybernetics entering books and the sparks of the rivalry between the male and female protagonists. The number of views exceeded 1.3 billion, and the Douban score was as high as 7.4. The success of "Eternal Night Star River" not only injected new vitality into the ancient puppet drama market, but also proved the possibility of integrating innovation and tradition.
After the show was aired, the ancient puppet drama industry breathed a sigh of relief. After that, "Nine Layers Purple" became a huge hit, with a Douban score of 7.6 and a market share of over 20%, which finally stabilized the position of this type of drama in the industry.
Poster of "Nine Layers of Purple"
Looking at the ups and downs of ancient idol dramas in 2024, we can more or less summarize some rules: large-scale productions with first-line lineups do not necessarily mean the best returns, as evidenced by "Longing 2", "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red Chapter", "Pearl Curtains and Jade Curtains", and "Shu Brocade Family" (the only one that did not fall into this curse is "A Journey with the Phoenix"); on the contrary, medium-sized scale, new actors, normal scripts, and ingenious production are the rules for breaking out of the circle, as illustrated by "The Flower and the Blossom", "The Order of the Flower", "Eternal Night Starry River", and "Nine Layers of Purple".
In the interview, screenwriter Xiao Ou said that the industry used to believe that only first-line production teams, first-line actors, big IPs, and large investments could "drain the market" for ancient puppet dramas. But now, after observing that the audience is tired of ancient puppet dramas, the industry has begun to re-examine this type. Good scripts, good directors, and good creativity are the top priorities. Strong settings, fast pace, CP sense, and atmosphere have become new creative elements of ancient puppet dramas, and also a new direction in the era of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency." The era when "traffic" and "ancient puppets" complement each other may be gone forever.
Crime suspense: innovation and sequel as the performance points
The crime suspense theme, the natural strong plot stimulation of "murder and arson", and the lower cost compared to some other types make it a type of fairly stable output in the domestic drama market.
In 2024, the most obvious label for crime suspense themes is "innovation". "New Life" and "Border Water Past" won with "newness" and became the dark horses of the year, which also proved the possibility of young directors in this track. "Nine Prosecutors" broke through the restrictions of themes and broke through with comedy + "uninvestigated" themes, gaining good reputation and ratings. "Misplacement" and "Pale Fire" are relatively unique works in the female suspense track. There are also works like "Hunting Ice" that are of mediocre quality but unexpectedly became popular because of the actresses and contributed to the hot topics of B station.
Poster of "Borderwater Past"
Another notable feature of this genre this year is the “sequel”. After years of waiting, the long-awaited sequel to Day and Night has not received the expected popularity and reviews. However, it is undeniable that although the Douban score of the drama is only 6.1, the influence of its predecessor and the expectations of its sequel have made the drama a hot topic, which still proves the long-term return value of a good IP.
The sequel to "Hunting Crimes" "Hunting Crimes 2" caused a controversy over the replacement of the screenwriter in the early stage of creation, which affected its reputation for a time, but after the broadcast, it continued the various large-scale features of the previous work, "hunting for novelty" and "hunting for crimes", and the click rate rushed to the top of the entire network, but the reputation was far less than the previous season. There is also the second part of the costume suspense series "Tang Dynasty Weird Stories" "Tang Dynasty Weird Stories: Journey to the West", which has both good reputation and popularity, and once again became the annual drama, proving the team's ability to continuously and stably output.
At the end of the year, it is particularly noteworthy that after the broadcast of "I Am a Criminal Police", the ratings on CCTV-8 exceeded 3, and the online broadcast market share exceeded 30%, becoming the hit drama of the year. The drama abandoned the "semi-fictional" background that was easy to appear in similar themes in the online broadcast era, and returned to the semi-documentary style of criminal investigation and crime works in the 1990s. With its realistic and rough style, solid characters and narrative, it has aroused the audience's praise. This drama may provide new ideas for the creation of this theme in the future.
Poster of "I am a Detective"
Main theme drama: word-of-mouth masterpieces burst out, diverse and in-depth exploration
Main-theme dramas have always been an important part of the Chinese TV drama market. In 2024, main-theme dramas became the focus of audience discussion with their profound social issues and touching plots. There are also many works that innovate in genres and integrate elements.
This year, there are many excellent works of the main theme. "When the Mountain Flowers Bloom" is based on the real deeds of Zhang Guimei, the winner of the "July 1st Medal", and shows her process of establishing a free girls' high school in the mountainous area of western China. Douban scored as high as 9.6. "Long River 3", "South to North", and "The Glory of Our Fathers" still reflect the market appeal of the main theme of the period narrative. "City in the City", which the author pays more attention to, is set in the financial city of Pudong, Shanghai, and writes a very exciting industry and complex group portraits.
Poster of "When Flowers Bloom"
Among the main theme works, several works with regional characteristics and ethnic elements have also attracted the attention of the industry and the market. "My Altay" depicts the naturalness, straightforwardness and authenticity of life in a prose style, which not only won the audience's love, but also triggered deep thinking about real life. With a very small volume, it has leveraged the unexpected success of the market and the industry. There are also "Sunshine City" about the entrepreneurship of young people in Lhasa and "Dahaidao" about the participation of young people in Xinjiang in motorcycle competitions. Ethnic themes are expected to explode this year.
In addition, the creation of mainstream themes will present a diverse artistic style in 2024. "Flowers" subverts the content and shooting methods of traditional reality-themed dramas with its personalized artistic style and aesthetic narrative, and is considered to be the beginning of "literary mainstream creation". The unique composition, camera movement, setting, and color tone of "Ask the Vastness" make this work with excellent audio-visual language a particularly unique and poetic one among the dramas telling the life story of Comrade Mao Zedong.
Poster of "Flowers"
Contemporary life: No noise, no noise, no excitement? Is opposition the password for traffic?
This year's life drama has become a public opinion arena for controversy and discussion.
Whether it is Xie Meilan's divorce dispute in "Song of the Ordinary Man", the controlling mother who suffocates in "People of Fireworks", the feudal domestic violence father who makes people collapse in "Little Days", or the "old mistress" in "If Running Is My Life", controversial characters have become the engine for breaking the circle of life dramas. It seems that only controversy can increase the popularity of life dramas.
Looking back at the popular life dramas in the past few decades, such as the "Small Series" focusing on education anxiety, works such as "Heart Home", "An Ju", and "Dwelling Narrowness" that tell the anxiety of buying a house in a big city, and "Double-Sided Adhesive Tape" that tells the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, all of them have detonated ratings and public opinion with controversial social topics. But why is the creation of life dramas often inseparable from the blessing of social topics and the anxiety of the times? On the one hand, the type of life drama determines that it is difficult for this subject to produce content that naturally attracts attention, such as strong plots and strong settings, and it is difficult to innovate in audio-visual language. Only by connecting with the pulse of society and the times can it gain the most attention. However, if this creative idea is done well, it will be a masterpiece that records the times. If it is not done well, it will become a work of "riding on the popularity" and "sprinkling dog blood".
Poster of "Alley People"
There are still some life dramas that really win without relying on themes or topics. This year, Mango TV broadcast "Alley Family" and it has become another masterpiece of life dramas of the era. Although there are also descriptions of the original family problems, overall, the characters in the drama are solid, and the story unfolds slowly like a deep stream, evoking the nostalgia and recollection of the past era and childhood of several generations. It is the same as the classic life dramas "Parents' Love", "Golden Wedding" and "A Family in Wenzhou" in that it carries the development process of the times in the family narrative. It is the most difficult and most exciting type of life drama.
Modern romance: diverse expressions and unique charm
In 2024, this genre seems to be "silent" and there are no "earth-shattering" blockbusters. In fact, if you take stock, you will find that modern romance can still firmly occupy a share of this year's popular dramas.
"In the Snowstorm" poster
For example, "In the Snowstorm" has become this year's dark horse of idol dramas. "The Story of Joy" and "You Are More Beautiful Than the Stars" also belong to the "silently making a fortune" type. The discussion seems to be average, but the ratings and clicks are really good. There are also works like "Reluctant to Part with the Stars" and "Love Forever" that carry love stories with childhood sweethearts. With a semi-grounded texture, they have made their own recognition in this type of drama. There is also "The Courage to Not Please", which has a good reputation among small-scale works, although the data is average, and its discussion theme also shows the possibility of this type of subject matter to take responsibility for expressing social issues.
It is worth noting that in the past two years, some works in the modern romance genre have highlighted the texture of literary and artistic films in terms of scripts and audio-visual language. For example, "Brilliant Wind and Sea" currently being broadcast on Mango TV has become a recently noteworthy drama with its literary and romantic texture. In addition, "Spring to Lovers" is also a modern romance work that has received more attention this year. The occupations, identities, and personality settings of the male and female protagonists are unique among similar works.
Poster of "Half-Ripe"
In addition, "Half-Ripe Men and Women" is also a very special drama in the modern romance track this year. In a nutshell, other dramas with the same theme focus on the "upper part", while this drama focuses on the "lower part". The literary texture wraps the love and desire entanglement of men and women in the metropolis. It not only does not create dreams, but also urges people to calm down. It is indeed an anomaly in this type of track, which also caused the reputation and click-through rate of the drama to fall short of expectations. But this innovative spirit is still worth encouraging.
In 2024, although male-oriented dramas were generally weak, they still produced big hits such as "Joy of Life 2" and popular dramas such as "Young White Horse Drunk in the Spring Breeze". At the end of the year, "Dafeng Night Watchman" was broadcast, which still shows the market and industry's expectations and confidence in this type of drama.
Poster of Joy of Life 2
In the past two years, the industry has often discussed whether short dramas have "pushed long dramas into a corner", but the facts have proved that audiences are not unwilling to watch long dramas, but have become more picky about the content of long dramas. As the audience's demand for high-quality content increases, diversified themes such as science fiction, suspense, and youth are also popular. This requires the Chinese TV drama industry to maintain the growth of the market scale while also meeting the audience's demand for high-quality content.
In general, in 2024, the Chinese TV drama industry is moving forward amid changes. Whether it is the innovative attempts of ancient idol dramas, the profound reflections of life dramas, the highlights of criminal investigation dramas, or the diverse explorations of realistic themes, they all prove that long dramas are still on the road, moving forward with heavy burdens, but are far from exhausted.
