Micro-dramas make big impact

In the hustle and bustle of daily subway commutes, many may frequently witness such a scene — passengers wearing headphones engrossed in short videos on their smartphones.

Amid this unprecedented expansion of the internet era, China's entertainment landscape is rapidly evolving. Younger generations have become more accustomed to consuming short tales in bite-sized moments, whether during their daily commutes or leisurely dinners.

The latest statistics indicate the domestic market size of micro-dramas reached 37.39 billion yuan ($5.31 billion) last year, marking a sizable surge of 267.65 percent year-on-year, according to a forum during the recently concluded 2nd Beijing Internet Audiovisual Arts Conference.

"This figure accounts for around 70 percent of the domestic film industry's annual box-office receipts last year. We anticipate that by the end of 2024, the overall scale of the micro-drama industry could match that of the film market," says Wang Chen, head of Douyin's micro-drama division, one of the country's leading short-video platforms.

"The micro-drama industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, already shifting from a niche new market to a mainstream, established one," adds Wang.

Li Jiang, chief executive officer of Dianzhong Tech, a Beijing-based company that focuses on digital content for mobile devices, says that in a survey, they found over 10,000 micro-dramas on the market last year, 70 percent of which were adapted from internet literature.

As a product of China's mobile internet ecosystem, micro-dramas typically feature episodes that range from tens of seconds to 15 minutes, showcasing fast-paced storytelling that easily resonates with audiences, providing entertainment and alleviating negative emotions such as stress and anxiety.

Recognizing the huge market potential, Wang reveals that Douyin has partnered with major television production companies and internet influencers to create a total of 40 micro-dramas earlier this year, with 15 amassing over 100 million views each.

Among these, one standout is Da Guo Nian De (The Spring Festival), a thought-provoking series delving into the challenges women face in maintaining their marriages. With each episode spanning four minutes, the series has garnered over 1.2 billion views online, with the most popular episode receiving 1.92 million "likes".

Shen Hongxiang, the director of the program, reveals that the key to crafting a successful micro-drama lies in developing the script from the audience's perspective, through understanding their challenges, difficulties and dilemmas to make the drama serve as an emotional outlet.

Interestingly, some cutting-edge technologies, which are still limited in use in traditional showbiz sectors like the movie and TV industries, have already made their way into the emerging micro-drama industry.

An internet celebrity who goes by the name Huihuizhou, with 15 million fans on Douyin, says that her show Qi Liang Ren Sheng (The Weight of Life) has utilized virtual reality production — which enables scenes captured by the camera to instantly merge computer-generated scenes with actual imagery.

The 16-episode series tells a suspenseful story unraveling the case of a missing child. It begins with a tense scene in a moving cable car where the desperate mother confronts the suspects.

Recalling the production process, she says that the drama was filmed on a sound-stage in Changsha, Hunan province. A life-size cable car prop was installed about a meter above the ground against a giant LED screen, which displayed the urban backdrop featured in the show, creating an immersive environment that helped the actresses and actors deliver more powerful performances.

Li from Dianzhong Tech echoes that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies will also enhance the productivity of the micro-drama industry, predicting that creativity and innovation will become the most crucial skills for content creators in the future.

However, he highlights a major challenge — the prevalence of similarities in storytelling and themes. Li says he hopes micro-drama creators can diversify beyond commonly seen themes like time-travel narratives to explore more unique stories.

Li also mentions that micro-dramas could serve as a new avenue to promote Chinese stories and cultures overseas, with North America currently being the largest foreign market for consuming such content. He adds that some micro-dramas were shot in the United States and Canada, with themes ranging from original fantasy tales featuring wolverines and vampires to realistic urban romances.