photo album
"Haimu" women's shoes
"The Legend of Chu Qiao" and Chow Tai Fook collaborated with jewelry
"Three Lives Three Worlds" Golden Peach Blossom
Tape is one of the easiest derivatives to sell.
"Our Boyhood" pencil bag
"Haimu" cup
" The Legend of the Condor Heroes " sold more than 3.7 million yuan.
"Haimu" keychain
In the past two years, the TV drama market has ushered in the trend of derivatives development. " Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms " (hereinafter referred to as "Three Lives Three Worlds"), "Our Youth", "The Legend of Chu Qiao" and other popular dramas have launched derivatives. Last year's TV series "The Legend of the Sea Mu Cloud" (hereinafter referred to as "The Legend of Sea Mu") has truly launched the concept of "series of IP" derivatives, and benchmarked against the US "Game of Thrones". The influx of TV series into the derivatives market has become an indispensable strategic link in the distribution of TV series.
Although from the perspective of market behavior, the domestic derivatives market is in a "blue ocean" period, according to the data of some e-commerce platforms, the monthly sales of most TV drama derivatives are single-digit, and some are even zero; some domestic TV drama derivatives have not yet escaped the dilemma of low-end, young age and low-quality, and seem to be still in the primary stage.
What kind of business model is currently adopted in the Chinese TV drama derivatives market? Which domestic TV series are suitable for developing derivatives? Is the derivatives market where many drama parties are rushing to enter the market really just superficially noisy? For this purpose, a reporter from the Beijing News interviewed Yu Tian, commercial director of Jiuzhou Dream Factory, Wang Hongling, chairman of Shanxi Culture, and Li Chuan, CEO of Catfish E-commerce.
Types
Physical derivatives
Clothing, jewelry, cultural and creative products (such as amulets, keychains), digital 3C products (such as power banks), etc.
Which category is more? It is mainly the intention of the derivative producer, and it is not decided by the drama party, because the producer knows which of these categories will sell better. But from experience, clothing and 3C sell better, followed by power banks, and some cultural and creative products, such as tape. Because we are regular live derivatives, not animations, and mainly focus on practical daily necessities, these categories are the most common. ——Yutian
digital derivatives
mobile themes, expressions, etc.
more undertakes the function of increasing exposure, accounting for only about 10% of the overall number of derivatives. ——Wang Hongling
Industry Chain
Copyright
Handwidth IP copyright holder, and can authorize IP, IP elements, etc. to derivative producers for development. Yu Tian revealed that before the production of "Haimu" derivatives, they spent four months and made nearly 60 pages of PPT, extracting hundreds of available elements from stills, plots, scenes, and art concept designs, such as the logo of the three major clans: Muyun, Muru, and Shuofeng. "The derivatives producers can obtain the authorization of these elements, and they have the right to use these "Jiuzhou" elements on any product such as cups and hats."
derivatives producers
were authorized in three ways:
. The "copyright agent" of a single drama, Catfish E-commerce and Noon Sunshine and other companies have established a "copyright agent" method.
2 Partner of the Year, that is, responsible for the development of derivatives of all IPs of the copyright holder within one year. For example, Catfish E-commerce and Huace are the "Partner of the Year". Last year, it participated in TV projects such as Huace's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Fifty Meters of the Blue".
3 A long-term strategic partner, that is, responsible for the copyright owner's past and future development of derivative products of TV series.
"Television series is usually more of the latter two, because the IP of the TV series can launch many subsequent episodes , and maintain a long-term relationship with a reliable partner. This can make the derivatives launched each time have similarities and can retain the users after returning."
- Industry insiders who have participated in the production of derivatives
Producer
First, brands with production capabilities are second authorized, for example, Shanxi Culture authorized "Three Lives Three Worlds" to Chow Tai Fook to produce a series of jewelry.
Second, derivatives makers directly establish their own production supply chain. For example, Shanxi Culture independently produced the "Haimu" series of notebooks and desk calendars, and found channels to distribute them by itself.It is reported that these two models have their own advantages. The former can borrow the other party's mature production and sales system to ensure the quality and sales of products; the latter will help expand more sub-categories, such as cultural and creative products with a wide variety of categories.
Different derivative producers have different plans in the two models due to their different core competitiveness. For example, Shanxi Culture has a professional design team, which is enough to support the extraction of core elements from the play, and then authorize the production of jewelry to jewelry brands such as Chow Tai Fook and Diamond Bird for production, and obtain income through authorization funds and sales commissions. Because if you only apply the patterns that have appeared in the TV series, it will be difficult to attract non-core fans. "Like in "Three Lives Three Worlds", we extracted the elements of 'peach blossoms composed of five fox heads'. On the other hand, we are also looking for cooperative factories to build our own production supply chain." Wang Hongling said.
The core competitiveness of Catfish e-commerce lies in merchant resources, mainly based on the secondary authorization model. CEO Li Chuan (also known as Tianji) was the head of the Tmall think tank and the former head of the O2O business unit of Alibaba Group, managing and connecting with merchants ranked in the top 300-500 in Tmall and important listed companies in the country. "With a merchant, it is easy to cooperate with the copyright owner because it hopes that more merchants will participate. It is also easy to negotiate cooperation with e-commerce because it requires a group of merchants to do activities together, and a single merchant does not have this ability."
Profitable
In the eyes of the outside world, domestic derivatives are far less than those of the foreign market, and the monthly sales are also very tight. The best selling "Haimu" Tmall is a tape worth 28 yuan per person, which is not a big profit product. Derivatives seem to be a market that loses money and makes people famous. However, industry insiders all said that almost all domestic derivatives are profitable at present.
The drama party guarantees the capital and makes sure to make money
From the copyright owner's perspective, what they earn is more licensing fees and profit commission fees. First of all, they authorized elements of the drama to downstream production companies and brand owners for use. "The specific licensing fees vary, depending on the category," Yu Tian said. Generally speaking, "we need to develop a set of elemental systems for dramas to provide them to downstream companies. Then after their industrial design is completed, we will review them. We will also provide sales suggestions, such as crowdfunding or on which platform to sell. In the end, they make a profit and give us a fixed percentage of the share, so we almost make a profit." The
derivative producer controls the profit and loss risks
derivative producers not only need to pay authorization fees, but also need to spend production costs. Although it seems that the pressure to recover money is high, most derivatives makers say they are almost profitable. Wang Hongling revealed that Shanxi Culture has always been profitable overall, especially popular dramas such as "Three Lives Three Worlds" and "The Legend of Chu Qiao", but there may be losses in some projects. "Some online dramas will be a little worse. Now the brand and audience are not interested in online drama derivatives." According to Yu Tian, mature producers will accurately estimate the order quantity and cost range based on the estimated selling price. For example, the estimated unit price of a mobile phone case is 100 yuan. "Basically, the positioning of derivatives is around 100 yuan, and the cheapest ones are only a few dozen, because if it is too high, it is another consumer group, like the one you particularly like." If the mold opening fee of a mobile phone case is 50,000 yuan, then 1,000 may be the basic quantity and can be repaid. But if there are more, there will be cost pressure. "The shipment volume is determined by derivatives production companies, because a certain brand specializes in making cups. How many cups can a category be sold? Should it be made in a single category, or to separate the inventory of existing products to develop new products, they will make sure to make the capital."
different sales methods also have different profit models. Products with higher unit prices often use crowdfunding mode. If a figure requires a 50,000 yuan model opening fee, it only needs to crowdfund 50,000 yuan on the platform, and one person supports 300-400 yuan. The manufacturer can not only open a model, but also consumers can get the goods at the same price, which is the best of both worlds. Judging from the current sales situation of Catfish E-commerce, the revenue under the crowdfunding model is very considerable. Although sales only account for about 30% of the total sales, sales can account for 50%-60%.
Risk control
Prevent backlog
For derivatives producers, product backlog is one of the most serious problems.Therefore, the derivatives producers either place orders from the factory in batches or establish a rapid reaction chain for product production. "The rapid response chain of clothing can be achieved in 3 days, most products can be completed within a week, and 3C digital is one month." Li Chuan said, or crowdfunding. But "only IP derivatives consumers are willing to wait, while other commodities consumers are unwilling to wait," said Li Chuan.
Product quality
From the day when it comes to derivatives, the thinking of derivatives is actually about thinking, focusing on brand, and quality, "Your products are good enough to continue to have a market. For example, when others watch this cup, they must first think it is really beautiful, then they think it is really useful, and finally they buy it because it is an IP product. This is the correct thinking of selling goods. I can't just sell it to these 600 million people in China because there are only 600 million people watching my drama. My products are well done, and more than 5 billion people around the world will come to buy it after hearing the news. This is what I hope."
的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的的� A person in the industry who prefers to develop costume IP dramas
is engaged in TV series development. The TV series that is most suitable for developing derivatives is the IP that can produce series of works every year. "If our first movie becomes famous, we can continuously cultivate consumer groups in the future." The best example is the big IP of HBO in the United States, "Game of Thrones", which has been broadcast for ten seasons so far, and the sales of derivatives have continued to be popular at home and abroad for many years; and domestic examples such as the "Jiuzhou" series of works led by "Haimao" by Jiuzhou DreamWorks and the planned "Chapter Cheung" series of works that are planned to create multiple seasons are also trying to take the "Game of Thrones".
Yu Tian said that when he came to Jiuzhou Dream Factory, part of the reason was that he was interested in the "Jiuzhou" series of IPs held by the company. "Because IP is an important criterion for derivatives development, it had a relatively solid fan group from the beginning, and they were willing to buy derivatives for this drama. Secondly, IP products can be developed in series, derivatives can be developed continuously, and the business cycle is relatively long."
But there are also "hot" dramas such as "Our Boyhood" and " Seven Me " that want to do short-term derivatives business. Once a single drama accumulates enough market popularity in the short term, the one-time sales performance of derivatives will not be bad. "The energy spent on developing derivatives of this type of TV series is definitely different from that of derivatives of long-term IP. For example, if I do Jiuzhou IP, I may have to do four months of material design for a movie, because these can still be used in the future, and we also want to build a brand." Yu Tian said.
Is all IP dramas suitable for developing derivatives? It is reported that the drama team will generally make a long-term assessment of the IP during the preparation period. Generally speaking, costume IP dramas are the preferred type in the derivatives market. For example, "Three Lives Three Worlds", "The Legend of the Sea", " Langya Bang: The Wind Rises in Changlin ", etc.
Yu Tian said that costume dramas are rooted in traditional Chinese culture, and Chinese people are prone to empathy. For example, "Three Lives Three Worlds" has Chinese mythological elements, and peach blossoms have a more Chinese artistic conception; while "Haimu" adheres to traditional Chinese mythological novels, such as Kuafu, Shanhai Jing, Soshen Ji, etc. "Tea cups, tapes, etc. with ancient elements in Chinese style design, these derivatives with local culture will be sold more."
has limited sales channels, lacking professional derivatives of figures
At present, the sales channels of domestic TV series derivatives are concentrated online, mainly Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, iQiyi Mall, and Eman U products. Taking iQiyi Mall as an example, when users watch TV series on the website, the information about derivatives will pop up in time, and after clicking, you can jump to the mall to purchase. The main target of this sales model is the audience of drama viewing, and it is rare to see popular promotion of TV series derivatives. Even on several major e-commerce platforms, the resources obtained by TV drama derivatives are limited.
has fewer sales channels and is not conducive to the copyright owner and producer profit. At present, the domestic derivatives market has not yet developed a more mature cooperation method except procurement and distribution. Derivatives developers and video platforms are more of a simple procurement relationship. "For example, a certain drama is broadcast on a certain platform, and the derivatives of the drama are just borrowing the platform's e-commerce to sell goods, which lacks the profit sharing brought by in-depth cooperation and IP value."
revealed in the future that Jiuzhou Dream Factory will also open a physical store, "This must be one of the derivative sales channels to be developed in the future. "
At this stage, most domestic derivatives makers focus on the development of pan-entertainment derivatives, and most of their products are daily necessities. However, in the mature markets of derivatives such as the United States and Japan, professional derivatives such as figures occupy a large market. This type of derivatives often have higher unit prices, and most of the audience are hard-core fans of related IPs. Li Chuan admitted that since the life cycle of Chinese local IPs is generally short, the market size of professional derivatives is much smaller than that of pan-entertainment derivatives, so the entry point of the producer is mostly the latter, but the mining of the former has been included in the agenda. It takes 2-3 years for the market to be improved in
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It took a full ten years for the United States "Game of Thrones" to stand out in the TV series derivatives market and drive the development of other similar overseas drama derivatives. At present, most of the domestic experience in operating TV series derivatives is learning from overseas models, and there is no domestic successful experience to follow. Whether in terms of business models, profit models, sales channels, and in-depth cooperation between various platforms, all parties are feeling the stones.
Based on Yu Tian's experience, it will still take 2-3 years for the domestic TV series derivatives market to start. "To put it bluntly, now we have our own methods to do derivatives, but the entire industry has not yet risen. "For example, the sales of derivatives such as the Chinese comics "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" and "Bears" are extremely high. One of the reasons is that the industry has formed a mature industrial chain; "Game of Thrones" can be sold overseas, and the main reason is that the IP popularity is sufficient, coupled with the support of the mature industrial chain. "I can't say that derivatives have no market in China, but China's live-action film and television derivatives do not have a very continuous and complete business layout, nor does it have a hot series of IPs. If you want to make quick money based on IP development, subsidize the drama or attract investment, it is very easy, but if you want to build a market, it still requires a long-term development process. "
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" hot products are responsible for sales, and other products are responsible for the overall richness of derivatives. Mobile phone cases and pillows are conventional derivatives, with low sales but need to be done. Generally, 80% of sales revenue will come from a small number of product types 10%. "Li Chuan said that, for example, the sword of the popular derivative "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" launched by Catfish e-commerce has sold more than 3.7 million yuan. Jewelry is also a major salesperson. According to data provided by Shanxi, as of the end of 2017, the sales of derivatives of "Three Lives Three Worlds" have exceeded 30 million yuan, of which Mingpai Jewelry accounted for 10 million yuan; the sales of derivatives of "The Legend of Chu Qiao" were about 40 million yuan, and Chow Tai Fook accounted for 20 million yuan. However, the sales of cultural and creative products It is basically around 6 digits. Judging from the pricing of cultural and creative products of about tens of yuan, the sales volume is about one million.
Although the copyright holder of the TV series will draw fees from derivative sales, according to Wang Hongling, even for the most popular drama, the commission of the copyright holder will not exceed 50%. As the derivative producers' voice increases, the share of the production party in some projects can be as high as 70% to 80%.
Editor/Reporter Wang Xueqi Zhang He
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