Editor Introduction: The entertainment industry has been saying "cold" recently, but to be honest, variety shows that rely on advertisers sponsored may be the coldest carrier in traditional entertainment projects, besides movies, and also variety shows. When short video platforms such as Doukuai enter the variety show circle, is it quantitative change or qualitative change?
Under the continuous moving effect of users' "long to short", is also a new platform that eats advertisers' fees. The support for short variety shows has increased to varying degrees : Kuaishou's talk show "Super Nice Conference", food interviews "Yue Diligence Lucky", Douyin's celebrity reality show "Give You My New Business Card", Xiaohongshu's travel reality show "Escape from the City Plan", etc., can all be classified into this new genre. Under the trend of
, traditional variety showmen participated, Xiaoguo, Wajijiwa, Xiyue, Canxing and Kanli team were all in it to try the waters.
Looking at several new platforms, Doukuai is deployed earlier, and Xiaohongshu makes efforts later. For brand owners, there are also different considerations for paying for short variety shows on different platforms. However, for brand owners, can the behavior of "striving weaknesses and abandoning long-terms" drive the brand and sales? And, for the platform itself, is this a good move?
1. How is the Doukuai Short Variety Show done? According to the data from
Yunhe, the popularity of online variety shows in Q1 2022 decreased by 33% compared with last year. Some insiders revealed to Xiaoyu that the investment in variety shows in the first quarter was almost halfway.
Source: Yunhe Data
Program will make appropriate adjustments to the investment. A practitioner in charge of variety show investment told Xiaoyu that "usually chooses to reduce prices or increase resources to invest," will find that the implantation time of variety shows is getting longer and longer, and the frequency is increasing, which affects the viewing experience. Such a market ecology has discouraged many brands.
So many production companies began to turn their attention, and lightweight short variety shows came into being . This type of variety shows usually range from 5 minutes to 40 minutes. is easy to spread and has a low viewing cost. It is relatively more suitable for short video platforms. Xiaoyu summarized short variety shows jointly produced by Douyin, Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu in the past six months, covering outdoor travel, talk shows, food and other tracks.
In this field, "the most expensive naming fee for short variety shows is the level of millions. Compared with variety shows that sponsor tens of millions of yuan, this fee is lighter, but the amount of artists that can be won is not small, and the exposure on short video platforms is also sufficient." A brand told Xiaoyu.
and short video platform community and ecology provide natural advantages for short variety shows .
In the competition toward content, Douyin started earlier. Last year, Douyin launched 6 programs including long and short variety shows, including "Like it! The cumulative number of views of the Got Talent Show exceeded 930 million, and the cumulative number of views of "Praise for Songs" reached 990 million. The total number of views of "Yue Diligence and Lucky" launched by Kuaishou in 2021 exceeded 1 billion, and the program was also written into Kuaishou's Q3 quarter financial report in 2021. Judging from the data, the layout of the content has indeed brought substantial data growth to Doukuai.
Doukuai is eager to embrace more content, but the journey is long. Compared with the luxury star lineup of Douyin variety shows, its reputation in the hearts of mainstream variety shows audiences is not proportional. On other platforms such as Douban and Weibo, there are not many discussions about Douyin and Kuaishou, and the ratings are not outstanding. However, the increase in monthly active users on the site compared to the past has proved that embracing short variety shows and short programs has gradually achieved strategic significance for short video platforms.
2. Xiaohongshu makes efforts, what are the differences between the three companies?
currently has three main platforms on the market that have laid out short variety show tracks, namely Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu.
From the perspective of investment promotion, the most customers and the largest brands are selected for Kuaishou. "Super Nice Conference" has received sponsorships from Internet platforms including Zhilian Recruitment, Meituan, Guazi Used Cars, Huolala, and "Yue Diligence and Lucky" has received sponsors that are more suitable for Shuanghui, L'Oreal Men and Vatti.Although
has its own layout in short variety shows, the strategies of the three platforms are also different. From the content perspective, the variety shows produced by Douyin, customized and music programs account for the vast majority, and the music category "Like it! "The Got Talent" relies on Nicholas Tse to cause topics, and celebrity customizations range from Zhang Yixing to Li Bingbing, which brings topic traffic through highly binding stars.
No matter how large or genre is, Douyin variety shows are highly dependent on celebrities, focusing on attracting users through the charm of artists, or improving user stickiness within the platform. Although the short variety show "Hello, New Friend" has a long version on Mango TV, it is mainly updated directly on the TikTok account of celebrities. It can be seen that TikTok hopes to drive user growth through the celebrity effect and focus on retention rate.
A person related to Kuaishou’s commercialization told Xiaoyu that experts are resources held by Kuaishou. Based on Kuaishou’s e-commerce ecosystem, customers often have their own requirements for selling goods and conversions. Kuaishou hopes to introduce as many experts as possible and combine them with variety show content to achieve conversion. "The goal is to ensure that customers' rights and interests are exposed to the greatest extent in variety shows when the project is progressing normally." It can be seen that what he pays most attention to is conversion rate, and also emphasizes the platform's expert attributes.
and Xiaohongshu seems more special. "Night in the Corner", which was launched not long ago, was produced by Kanlii and Xiaohongshu. Judging from the current presentation, the program should be a nude broadcast. The audience is more overlapping with Xiaohongshu users: high knowledge, attach importance to the spiritual world, and attach importance to lifestyle.
Qin Ling, partner of Jiang Sida Studio, told Xiaoyu that the short variety show "Brother Drinks Two Cups" aired some time ago has entered the investment stage of Xiaohongshu with "three-event sample films". On the one hand, it is because of the adaptation of the program tone and the platform, and on the other hand, it is because of Xiaohongshu's own openness to content.
In addition, a practitioner revealed to Xiaoyu that Xiaohongshu is currently in the "bonus period" of introducing content. From the perspective of the platform, perhaps the form of content is not necessarily that important, but the matter of "Xiaohongshu is doing content" needs to be conveyed more clearly. But at the same time, "they will also hope there will be a grass planting link in the show," Qinling said.
From the perspective of theme, its short variety shows are generally more cultural and lifestyle, and are better integrated with platform attributes. However, from the perspective of user experience, when Xiaoyu searched for programs on the homepage, he did not find the exclusive account portal for a single program. Currently, several programs have been published in Xiaohongshu's official account "Humanistic Potato" or "Life Potato", and the search results are buried deeper.
These aspects actually have an impact on brand choice. When a short variety show appears on different platforms, different brands have different demands. In addition to the circle communities of different platforms, the tone of the program itself is also important. According to practitioners, compared with long videos, brands will care more about fit in the launch of short variety shows. "Either the fields that brands have been deeply engaged in, such as the emphasis on cultural programs by automobiles and liquor (Volvo's "Thirteen Invitations" and the Four Special Oriental Rhyme "Round Table"), or there are scenes that match the brand's use scenarios."
"At present, the intention of "Brother Drinks Two Cups" is also inclined to wine and lifestyle," Qinling said.
3. How long will it take for major platforms to "become a circle"?
In fact, no matter which platform it is short variety show, its influence is limited to the internal platform from the current results. For the platform, what short variety shows can bring has not yet achieved the effect of "out-of-the-box". Whether it is the test of long video content suitable for the volume of TV variety shows, or a new step in layout on short variety shows, the influence of cross-platform is still very limited.
For brand owners, cooperation with short variety shows is still exploring a more suitable way to pay, and exploring is still the unchanging theme.
With the gradual deepening of content production of Douyin Kuaishou, Douyin’s programs have also begun to undergo adjustments to integrate with community culture to a certain extent, but from the perspective of the launch of the program, there are still many uncertainties.According to relevant practitioners, the internal variety show team structure of Douyin has also been adjusted several times. In addition to the bonus of celebrities, the several variety shows currently launched still have a lot of room for breakthroughs in other aspects.
, and Xiaohongshu is in its period of development. In addition to jointly producing some "nude broadcasts" or "non-naked broadcasts" variety shows that "knowledge" are also making customized variety shows. "I Want to Live Like This" is a short and small video program customized by OPPO, which invites celebrities and Xiaohongshu KOLs in various fields. Low cost and intuitive data. This may also be a more suitable brand investment form that OPPO found after reducing its investment budget. But we can also see that for Xiaohongshu, there is still uncertainty in the decisions behind it.
For brand owners, most of them are still in the form of long video investment promotion, and a more customized investment promotion model for short variety shows has not yet been formed. The brand customized variety shows mentioned above may be a way of playing, but more brand owners still follow the "Zhonglianxing" and existing patch oral broadcasts. They still need to come up with a new way of buying.
"Now, based on the platform's traffic support, we will try to invest in short variety shows. But this support will not be indefinitely. One day we will put the length and short variety shows on the same table. For example, a budget of 20 million yuan, investment in long and short variety shows are both investments. What other advantages can short variety shows have besides the price? Can it better reflect the brand awareness or the form be more interesting? If it is not special, we may still spend the same money to invest in the final sponsorship of a top variety show." A variety show practitioner complained to Xiaoyu.
From the perspective of production companies, the methodology of short variety shows is still very limited. Director Jia Sihao of Xiaoguo Culture, who has worked with Kuaishou, told Xiaoyu: "We are still looking for such a balance point. Short video platforms dare to try and make mistakes, and can give us instant data feedback. We also move closer to their culture from the perspective of creative content."
's leading companies and new companies have begun to enter short variety shows. The future of this field seems to have come, but how this gust of wind blows remains to be explored. "From the perspective of creation, the rules and logic of long and short video content creation are actually the same. However, due to the 'cultural community' attributes of short videos, there is a certain difference between its users and long video platform users." Jia Sihao said.
This actually requires the producer to break the long video variety show creation logic based on different users, and requires innovation according to local conditions. This is an opportunity and a challenge for them. However, long and short variety shows cannot find a path to direct conversion. Short variety shows may be a good move for the platform, but they do not necessarily have direct driving force for traditional long variety shows.
summary, at this stage, short dramas and short varietals, such content forms that are shorter, flat, faster and farther, marks that short video platforms have gradually summarized the first stage of experience and lessons learned from the long video content test, and have begun to organically integrate and derivate with their respective platform ecology. In the future, "out of the circle" is still a later story. Short video platforms can do short varietals, adapt to the platform tone and find the right model to adapt to different brand owners, which is the next step closer.
Author: Coconut Tree; Official Account: Marketing Yuzijiang
Original link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bct1AIV03BQOQBpiBjGyLA
This article is authorized by @Marketing Yuzijiang and is published by Everyone is a product manager. Reproduction is prohibited without permission.
question picture comes from unsplash and is based on the CC0 protocol.
