文/Darren Cake
On November 27, actor Godfrey Godfrey died unexpectedly of sudden cardiac death while recording the Zhejiang Satellite TV variety show "Chasing Me ".
This incident caused a great shock in the industry, and it can even be said to be a big wave. Both inside and outside the industry, people began to unanimously criticize dangerous variety shows.
On the afternoon of December 5, Zhejiang Satellite TV director Lin Yong responded to the accusations from many parties in an interview with local media in Zhejiang. Lin Yong restored the scene of the Gao Yixiang incident in the interview and revealed that Zhejiang Satellite TV has decided to permanently suspend the broadcast of "Chasing Me" programme.
Subsequently, Zhejiang Satellite TV and the "Chasing Me" program team also forwarded the article to apologize. This is also Zhejiang Satellite TV's statement again after a brief statement a few days ago. However, this statement still seems to have failed to calm the public opinion storm.
On the evening of December 5, the topic about Zhejiang Satellite TV’s response once again topped the hot search headlines on Weibo.
It is fair to say that the broadcast incident of "Chasing Me" dealt a heavy blow to Zhejiang Satellite TV.
However, in many reports, there is no analysis of the real status of China’s variety show industry and the far-reaching impact of this status quo on program production.
From a practical point of view, the so-called program security and recording mode may be just appearances, and the real root cause may not be easily understood by the outside world.
Truth 1: Competition in the industry is fierce
To be fair, in the Chinese entertainment industry, variety shows are sometimes more topical and popular than movies and TV series.
Due to reasons such as a wide audience, short cycle, many topics, and flexible production, variety shows have emerged in endlessly in recent years, and have gradually replaced TV dramas and become the main source of income for many entertainment companies.
Currently, major TV stations including Zhejiang Satellite TV and Hunan Satellite TV broadcast their core variety shows during prime time on weekends. The rise of major Internet video websites such as iQiyi , Youku , and Tencent has given rise to the popularity of variety shows.
According to statistics, a total of 95 variety shows were broadcast in the first half of 2019, including 49 online variety shows and 46 Taiwanese variety shows. In 2017, a total of 197 online variety shows were broadcast on the Internet platform, with a total of 55.2 billion views, while the number of Taiwanese variety shows was only 149.
At the same time, only 108 TV series were approved for distribution. According to industry statistics, the size of my country's variety show market in 2018 was approximately 33.27 billion yuan, an increase of 13% from the previous year.
On the other hand, TV media also rely on variety shows to win ratings. In the context of the market economy, all TV/online media have set their sights on the ratings/click-through rates of variety shows, and stars who are naturally eye-catching have become the main targets that variety shows rely on.
It is undeniable that without a "star" like Gao Yixiang, no matter how good the program is, it will not be able to stimulate ratings and arouse popularity.
Putting aside the online variety shows on Youaiteng and other platforms, at the satellite TV level, the variety shows broadcast by Hunan Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV can be said to be the two major forces competing for variety shows at the moment. In the past ten years, Hunan Satellite TV has always been famous for its "slow variety"; the themes are more relevant to people's daily life. In today's fast-paced society, Hunan Satellite TV has undoubtedly captured people's shifting points. Through the form of slow variety shows, people in fast-paced situations can truly relieve fatigue and release stress through variety shows.
Looking back on the past 10 years of Zhejiang Satellite TV, it is obvious that the format of variety shows needs to be different from Hunan Satellite TV, so Zhejiang chose to emphasize fast pace and excitement. Challenge more difficult programs through star effect, and achieve teamwork and team cohesion by completing multiple tasks. This is undoubtedly a new variety show technique to attract audiences.Similarly, many people can release their own stress and learn certain knowledge in such variety shows.
However, in the face of the fast-paced variety show system, the safety factor of the program has become particularly important - behind all this is caused by competition in the industry.
Behind the fierce competition, there will also be the homogenization of programs. The characteristic of the domestic variety show market has always been that after a certain program type is verified by the market, there will be a large number of similar variety shows.
After such intensive output, it is easy for the audience to become fatigued with a certain genre. This forces program planners to continuously develop new variety show forms, and those N-generation variety shows also need to constantly design new links. Stimulate the excitement of the audience.
"Chasing Me" can be seen as another upgrade of "Run" by Zhejiang Satellite TV, and it is also a new change. "Run" experienced a major change of members in the third season. Compared with previous seasons, the ratings dropped to third place in the same period. When it first aired in 2014, the premiere ratings of ", let's run, brothers " were only 1.132, but the last episode of the show soared to 3.993. From the second to the fifth season (renamed "run"), the premiere ratings in CSM50 cities were all at 3.993. After 3%. However, when "Run" premiered in 2018, the ratings just exceeded 2. When it premiered this year, it once fell below 2, and then slowly recovered to above 2.
Another ace program "The Voice of China 2019" also suffered from a serious decline in reputation because of the format of the program and the lack of amazing contestants. The rating on Douban also hit the lowest level in eight years, falling below 5 points, the rating is only 4.8 points. Although the ratings once exceeded 2, it is obvious that the decline in word-of-mouth has forced Zhejiang Satellite TV to take precautions and find new hot spots for variety shows.
Truth 2: Capitalization of Variety Shows
As we all know, the launch and development of variety shows requires capital most. Without funds, no matter how good a program is, it won’t be able to come out. At the same time, program producers are racking their brains in order to compete for funds.
For capital parties, compared with the three- to five-year production cycle of film and television dramas and the inability to go online due to policies, the risks of variety shows are more controllable and capital recovery is faster - all variety show projects on most platforms have to be launched before they are launched. Pre-investment is required, and the project can only be launched when advertising revenue and production costs are equal. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the variety show craze is more prosperous than the film and television industry.
Therefore, some large companies in the entertainment sector usually start looking for good and high-quality programs in the early stages of sample recording and preparation, and the producers of variety shows also begin to seek investment and sponsorship during the creative stage.
At the same time, the early investment situation is also a core factor for later sponsors to consider whether to participate.. The problem is that in the past two years, due to the so-called "industrial winter", investment has decreased. The advertising revenue of TV stations including Hunan Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV has declined significantly, not to mention other second-tier satellite TV and local stations. Therefore, the capital source of variety shows has also declined. Then it began to shrink.
According to statistics, in the first half of 2019, China's advertising overall declined by 8.8%, and traditional media fell by 12.8%. Among traditional media, TV media publication expenses fell by 12.4% year-on-year. Relatively speaking, Zhejiang Satellite TV is considered to be the better advertising operation in Taichung Satellite TV. However, according to multiple media reports, “the advertising revenue in the past two years is still slightly compared with previous years.” "
Zhejiang Radio and Television announced its total revenue in 2018 at the beginning of 2019 as 13.3 billion yuan, but this revenue includes not only advertising revenue, but also audio-visual fees, media product sales revenue, financial support and other revenue items, as well as Including related income from other broadcast platforms belonging to Zhejiang Radio and Television - this means that the proportion of advertising income is not as large as imagined.
Based on Hunan Radio and Television’s total revenue of 21 billion yuan and Hunan Satellite TV’s advertising revenue of 8.68 billion yuan during the same period, it is estimated that Zhejiang Satellite TV’s advertising revenue in 2018 was actually less than 7 billion yuan. Referring to the past share of Hunan Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV in the advertising revenue of the five major TV stations, the total advertising revenue of the five major TV stations in 2018 may only be 23 billion yuan.
Zhejiang TV itself mainly relies on variety shows and activities to generate advertising revenue. Therefore, Zhejiang TV has prepared a lot for the party this year and hopes to bring back some advertising revenue. As for variety shows, unless they are very promising variety shows or "variety shows" that have become popular in the ratings, N Generation", such as Zhejiang Satellite TV's " Ace vs. Ace ", etc. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the project to attract investment.
Under such circumstances, programs like "Chasing Me" must adhere to a fast-paced recording method. On the one hand, it controls costs and compresses the cycle. On the other hand, it is also for the sake of the program's broadcast ratings and further financing. and lay a solid foundation for sponsorship.
The most popular variety show is undoubtedly the reality show. In order to maximize ratings, various regional stations have created a large number of variety shows, such as " extreme challenge ", "Running Brothers", and "Escape Room". From the mouths of many celebrities, I learned that many variety shows often record a day or even more programs like "Chasing Me" until the next morning. "I run all night and work with high intensity."
Artist Their schedules are all different. In order to allow the artists to shoot together, they often squeeze in their rest time to work. It is normal to sleep 3 to 4 hours a day.
All this seems to be a problem with the arrangement of the program, but in fact it is all caused by financial pressure.
Truth 3: Program costs are difficult to control
Compared with movies and TV series that have high costs, great uncertainty, and long cycles, variety shows are an obvious shortcut. They can more easily hit hot searches, establish characters, and bring wealth. More and more stars are becoming dependent on variety shows.
However, the irony is that although variety shows are relatively low-cost, a large amount of money is still spent on inviting celebrities; it is precisely because of the need to free up expenses for celebrities to appear, in terms of production cycle, safety measures, and other work types of cost arrangements. , it will become more and more economical - in this way, problems will arise.
Objectively speaking, the overtime production of variety shows is determined by limited schedules and high costs. The production funds for each variety show are limited, and the prices of popular stars are high. If you have to sign a contract for filming according to the time, then the control of time becomes extremely difficult.
Before the salary limit order for variety shows was issued, the cost for a popular idol to participate in the filming of a variety show could reach millions of yuan. After the salary limit order, many celebrities can also use other methods to collect fees; moreover, stars The schedule is the most difficult to control. If the schedule given by a first-line star is lower than the program team's ideal time, then the program team can only ask the staff and other guests to work according to the schedule of the first-line star.
Moreover, there are various signs that the emergence of the salary limit order has not significantly reduced the cost of variety shows in the short term. For example, iQiyi, which is in the first echelon of Internet video platforms, released its third quarter financial report a while ago. The company's net loss in the third quarter was RMB 3.7 billion. One of the important reasons is the company's content cost. Continued to climb, reaching 6.2 billion yuan in the third quarter.
At present, the artist team still controls more than half of the cost of variety show production. This variety show industry chain includes various types of work such as stage design, editing, videography, artist services, marketing, and visuals, and can only share less than 50% of the remaining profits.
Venue rental, equipment, and labor costs are also settled on a daily basis, especially celebrity fees, which account for the majority. Under the premise that variety show production costs have been repeatedly compressed, has only one goal for all variety show production teams - to produce in the shortest possible period. Complete the recording, which will inevitably lead to overtime work.
So throughout the project period, all the staff were exhausted mentally and physically. The physical and psychological torture they suffered may be even worse than that of celebrities.
Generally speaking, under the pressure of economy and time, the producers can only hope that the stars can complete the recording of several episodes of the program in a few days. It is best to complete the work ahead of schedule.
As a result, this kind of long-term, high-intensity, and high-stress working condition has become the norm in the industry, and it is weighing on everyone. When the audience and guests shout "Stop recording", the program management often cannot stop. Come down.
As we all know, this is a common phenomenon in the industry. Everyone, including celebrities and staff, operates like a machine at high load. No one can easily escape this cycle.
Conclusion:
According to reports, due to the broadcast accident of the "Chasing Me" program, Zhejiang Satellite TV's 2020 New Year's Eve concert was also greatly affected. But we must also admit that Zhejiang Satellite TV is just a microcosm of the industry and a case, but this time the case was magnified due to the death of the artist.
Under the current situation of China's variety show industry, there are more Zhejiang Satellite TVs. Perhaps this incident can make industry practitioners reflect and see if there are any measures that can change the current situation of the industry and avoid more negative news or even Tragedies happened one after another.
(Mala Entertainment Investment original article, no reproduction without authorization)
