Tacky but addictive: How mini-dramas cash in on millions of viewers' emotional demands
Shot by Ma Xuefeng, Yu Wenhao. Edited by Ma Xuefeng. Reported by Li Xueqing. Subtitles by Wang Xinzhou.
The birthday party descended into chaos as tables were overturned, wine bottles shattered, and the birthday girl found herself struck in the cheek by a cake, tumbling to the floor in bewilderment. Amidst the turmoil, the troublemaker showed no signs of halting her disruptive actions. Seizing the birthday girl by the hair, she uttered menacingly, "I want you to suffer."
This dramatic scene, not a real-life incident of bullying, unfolded as part of a mini-drama production at Hengdian World Studios, a four-hour drive from Shanghai.
Mini-dramas were born in the 2010s, and are gaining momentum recently in China. Typically shot vertically for mobile viewing, these series span 30 to 100 episodes, each lasting one to three minutes, brimming with melodramatic twists and turns. While audiences can often access initial episodes for free, unlocking the full narrative require payment or viewing advertisements.
In 2023, China's mini-drama market reached 37.39 billion yuan (US$5.17 billion), nearly 70 percent of China's box office revenue that year. The number is expected to reach 100 billion yuan in 2027, according to a report by iMedia Research.
Over 300,000 companies were involved in the industry last year, nearly four times the number in 2016, reported National Business Daily. Notable players range from tech behemoth Tencent to smaller enterprises.
Jian Daili, 28, a supporting actress in this Hengdian show, stands witness to the mini-drama boom. She has embodied over 50 characters since starting to play in mini-dramas last year. At her peak, she juggled 25 days of filming per month, playing three to four different roles in different crews.
Jian Daili during filming in a mini-drama at Hengdian World Studios on March 30 as Shanghai Daily arrived to interview some of its crew.
Compared with traditional TV series, mini-dramas have much shorter production cycles. Filming usually takes one or two weeks, followed by two to eight weeks of post-production work.
Jian's latest work has 80 episodes, but was filmed in just eight days. During Shanghai Daily's visit to Hengdian, shooting started at 9 am, continuing unabated until around 7 am the following day.
For Jian and her colleagues, grueling hours on set were not uncommon. Some crews would compress filming time to five days to save budget. Jian recalled that once after a marathon day and night of shooting, she struggled to recall her lines. In order to complete the filming, "the managing director uttered a line, and we repeated it," she said.
Last year, over 1,400 mini-dramas were released online. The cost of production ranged from 200,000 yuan to well above 1 million yuan -- a fraction of traditional TV series expenses.
Yet their revenue can be quite substantial. Audiences paid 100 million yuan within eight days after the release of the mini-drama "Unparalleled." The income was 200 times its production cost.
While not all mini-dramas rake in profits, those that do thrive on emotionally engaging viewers.
"Ciwei Gongshe" (Hedgedog Commune), a digital content platform, analyzed the titles of 6,000 mini-dramas to discern trends resonating with Chinese mobile viewers.
For female viewers, the analysis unveiled a preference for titles featuring "boss" or "CEO," followed by words like "madam" or "wife." Romantic entanglements with authoritative CEOs are one of the most popular topics.
Male audiences are drawn by an underdog's rise to success and his revenge on his enemies, as "ex-wife," "God of War" and "King of Dragons" are among the most used words in the titles. "Unparalleled," a blockbuster last year, shares a similar storyline.
While these themes echo established tropes seen in franchises like James Bond or Marvel, the plots in mini-dramas often unfold with rapid pace, escalating conflicts and resolutions in swift succession.
"A popular mini-drama should be intense and entertaining. When you see a bad guy on the screen, you'll want to beat him up," said Wang Yushun, a director whose first mini-drama released last year has earned more than 20 million yuan so far.
Wang attributed the breakneck tempo of mini-dramas to the fragmented viewing habits of mobile phone users, who consume content on-the-go. Other than sitting in a cinema to concentrate on the plot, viewers consume mini-dramas on the subway or during work breaks.
"People need to be captivated by the mini-drama immediately," said Wang. He also said that the earnings from mini-dramas nationwide more than tripled as soon as the Spring Festival holiday was over, as people went back to work and school.
There are more than 500 million mini-drama viewers in China, nearly 60 percent of them young adults, according to the National Business Daily report.
A mini-drama being filmed.
However, demand for immediate emotional engagement often comes at the cost of logic. On Chinese social media, many viewers labeled mini-dramas as "tacky," "unrealistic" but "addictive."
A typical male lead may casually spend 100 million yuan, enough money to buy 125 Tesla Model X vehicles in the real world, all just to rent out a karaoke bar to beat a love rival up.
Some mini-dramas even suggest audiences to "put your brain aside while watching."
"The audiences know there's something irrational in there, but they choose to ignore it," said Li Wei, professor of literature of Nanjing Normal University and a long time observer of online literature and art.
"The reason perhaps is that mini-dramas have met the audience's emotional needs that are unfulfilled in everyday life," she said.
Her opinion is shared by Professor Xia Lie, dean of the School of Creativity and Media at Hangzhou Normal University.
"Mini-dramas offers a kind of compensation for what people can't achieve in reality," Xia said. "Of course, these needs are met in an illogical way and no real problems are solved, but people are happy while watching these dramas."
Actors during work break Hengdian World Studios.
For viewers like Yang Liu, a 31-year-old IT engineer, mini-dramas offer a respite from mentally taxing content, ideal for treadmill viewing.
She has turned to mini-dramas also because she is fed up with poorly-made TV series.
"A minor conflict that could be resolved with a simple conversation between the characters is dragged out over several episodes in those TV series, while in mini-dramas, it's resolved in just one minute," Yang said, adding that she still has time for high-quality TV dramas, such as "The Glory," a popular South Korean series produced by Netflix in 2022.
As China's mini-drama landscape matures, industry experts foresee a proliferation of high-quality narratives catering to diverse audiences.
"When the playwrights are skilled enough, we may have another 'Breaking Bad'," director Wang said.
Professor Xia anticipates a shift towards nuanced storytelling that resonates with a broader demographic.
For practitioners in the industry, change is already underway.
Jian, the actress, has noticed a drop in actor demand this year. The pace of filming is slowing down, too, allowing her to brood over acting details. She also has more time to rest now.
Wang's company has tried to reduce production and embraced advanced CGI technology to elevate production standards.
"Mini-dramas have not yet reached the pinnacle of their potential yet," he said, adding that more professionals of traditional movies and TV series are entering the industry.
"We are able to tell more complex stories now," said Wang.
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