Dramatic improvement

Although the productions in 2017 covered 23 genres, according to Guduo Media, about 70 percent of releases were categorized as comedy, romance, thrillers, campus-themed, and historical legend.

"Similar productions still flock together," Hou says.

"Many mainstream topics and social issues are rarely reflected in online series, and many are about so-called 'subculture'."

Hou also points out that Chinese online series today rely heavily on adapting internet novels, and sometimes tend to be "salads of jokes popular in cyberspace".

"What are popular in other forms do not necessarily work well when they are adapted into a drama series," he says.

"If we want to create a 'summit' for the industry, original creativity is a must."

And while some successful series appear to mimic established productions from the West, Hou thinks this situation will not last for long, since Chinese people have a different cultural background and aesthetics.

"When the same model is repeated a few times, young audiences looking for freshness will soon grow tired of it," he says.

Dai Ying, the general manager for developing online drama series with iQiyi, believes local topics in China will be in the spotlight in the future.

"Our surveys show that the generation born after the 1990s have a stronger interest in these subjects," she explains. "That means they have a very strong connection with our own culture."

She believes the industry also needs to include more themes about social responsibility into their productions.

"What young audiences watch online is what they will be," she says.

"It's unacceptable to give them something that rates 2 points on Douban."

And the era where celebrities propose a premise for productions seems to have passed.

For instance, in the hit film Tientsin Mystic, the cast is full of new faces. Bai Yicong, a director and screenwriter for online series, believes streaming media will give novice actors more chances.

However, the market still needs time to find a balance between popularity and quality.

Bai says that productions that rate around 6 points on Douban usually get the most traffic online.

"Young audiences will often view productions about the elite as emotionally detached." Bai says. "But that doesn't mean we should be satisfied by 6 points.

"We need to focus our efforts and try to hone our productions rather than worry too much about gaining huge popularity beforehand," he says.

"It's impossible to cater to everyone's tastes."