The "International Short Drama Asia Forum" hosted by the International Short Drama Association was successfully held at the Hong Kong Film Festival HK FILMART on March 18, 2025. Famous director Wong Jing attended and participated in the discussion as a "forum guest".
During the forum, Mr. Liu Xiaolin, President and CEO of the International Short Drama Association, served as the chief host, followed by co-founder Gao Lizhen as the second host, and renowned director Mr. Wang Jing as a guest speaker. Together with the elite short drama producers of the "American Short Drama Explosive F4", they discussed topics such as short drama production, promotion, IP usage, data monetization, short drama going global, and short drama industry prospects. The four elite short drama practitioners from the forefront of the United States are: James Chen, an independent producer who has been producing short dramas in North America since 2022 and has won multiple North American blockbuster short dramas; Sean Zhao, founder of PH8 with a financial background and has achieved multiple $20 million recharge short dramas; Eno, a senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States; Eason, a senior traffic monetization expert and founder of Mobking short drama company in the United States.
More than 400 short drama professionals from China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Mongolia and other places shared the latest and most practical "short drama expert knowledge information" on site. Wang Hui, co chairman of the International Short Drama Association, Su Yantao, chairman of the Sino US Film Festival, Wang Haige, chairman of Huading Group, founder of Huading Award, Yang Xianghua, senior vice president of iQiyi, Zhao Yifang, chairman of Huace Film Group, Liu Yanming, chairman of the Capital Audio visual Industry Association, Jin Cheng, chairman of Huahuang Film, Li La, general manager of Tencent's ecological cooperation department, Lin Xueyan, vice president of American Eagle Dragon Media, secretary general of the Sino US Film Festival/Sino US Television Festival, Huo Yan, secretary general of the Internet Advertising Working Committee, deputy secretary general of the China Advertising Association, Zhang Zhipeng, secretary general of the Working Committee of Content Marketing and Advertising Agents of the China Advertising Association, founder of the new power of short drama, Xu Peixin, founder of Besson Capital, and Heng Guo Shu, General Manager of the International Department of the Studio, Zhang Dong, Chairman of Yiding Media Company, Thailand Branch of the International Short Drama Association VIPs such as Chen Weizhong, Chairman of Yipin Group, the first generation of the International Short Drama Association in China, Xiu Jian from Japan's Gilla Corporation, Gu Yungao, Chairman of Hong Kong's Guosheng Group, Yan Min, the chief executive of the short drama industry, He Jing, founder of Hong Kong's Maiji International, and Zhai Lifeng, President of Shaanxi Creative Culture Industry Association, also attended the event and delivered speeches
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Director Wang Jing is very familiar to everyone. He has been in the film and television industry for many years and has produced various types of works, from martial arts films to web dramas and online TV shows. Recently, he has also ventured into the field of short dramas. Today, we have specially invited Director Wang Jing and the short drama creators known as the "hot selling group" in the United States to share topics related to movies and short dramas together. Due to Director Wang Jing's upcoming activities, let's first discuss the relationship between short dramas and film. Yutao and Yino, you can interact with Director Wang Jing and talk about the relationship between movies, TV dramas, and short dramas.
Famous director Wang Jing:
In the field of short dramas, I am considered a semi outsider, having only invested in one project but not much involvement in its production. I think that currently, short dramas are not something that individuals can easily do well, and basically require the support of large capital. Without leveraging platform power and large capital, it is difficult to create a trend or achieve profitability by producing 100 or 200 episodes at once. If an individual only makes small investments and wants to make money, it is very difficult, which is basically something that only large capital can do.
Senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States, Qu Yinuo:
I grew up watching movies directed by Wang Jing since I was young, and we are also very eager to create works that everyone loves for consumers in the new era. We operate Dream Pictures, an American short drama production company in Los Angeles, mainly engaged in short drama production, and are currently exploring homemade local dramas. I have a background in screenwriting and have been incubating screenwriting studios in China since 2017. I have collaborated with platforms such as Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku, and have participated in the production of multiple works. After entering the field of short dramas, I found that there are many differences between short dramas and long dramas, which is also the first topic of today's conference. Long dramas emphasize storytelling and their main function is to accompany the audience; Short dramas have the characteristics of being short, flat, and fast, requiring strong stimulation and efficient emotional reversal. From a product perspective, the two are completely different. But they also have a great advantage, which is that the audience is interconnected, and their needs may vary at different times and in different usage scenarios.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
What are some of the well-known short drama works you have produced?
Senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States, Qu Yinuo:
Three days ago, we just launched a new drama "The ED CEO" on Tallflix and it has achieved good results on various platforms. Seeing so many peers in Hong Kong today, I really feel like going home. Seeing everyone working hard for the short drama industry, I am full of confidence in the prospects of this industry.
Chen Yutao, an independent producer of popular short dramas in North America:
Director Wang Jing, like Yino, I have been your fan since I was young. My debut work was' Nine Grade Sesame Official '. I am currently filming short dramas in the United States and have recently produced two independent films. Previously, I worked as a producer and producer on the platform and participated in the production of over a dozen short dramas. I can be considered the "old man" of overseas short dramas. I have always wanted to explore what kind of stories are suitable for adaptation into short dramas. I am very interested in adapting movie IPs into short dramas and would like to ask if it is possible for you to use your IP for our short drama creation.
Famous director Wang Jing:
I don't actually have many IPs in my hands. Many of my previous works were filmed for large companies and the copyright was in their hands. For example, since the late 1990s, there have been copyright disputes between some works and companies such as Warner Bros., and the copyrights of hundreds of old films are unclear, such as "Gangster", "Ten Brothers", "The Invincible East", etc. So, it depends on which specific IPs are still in my possession, such as the 'Macau Storm' series.
Senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States, Qu Yinuo:
Teacher Wang Jing, as a well-known film director, how do you view the emerging industry of short drama?
Famous director Wang Jing:
For me, short drama is still a new field that requires a lot of time to understand. I have a principle for making movies, which is mainly aimed at audiences aged 15 to 35. Audiences over 35 can't watch many movies in a year. But now the short dramas are very strange. Viewers in their sixties and seventies are more willing to deposit money, while young people are not very fond of depositing money. This may be because many short dramas can be watched for free now. At that time, I found that many people had inexplicably less money in their WeChat accounts, which turned out to be deposited into the short dramas.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Just now, during our offline communication, we mentioned that the domestic short drama market is very prosperous and mature, but users in Hong Kong's short drama market seem to be less fond of watching short dramas. There are many Hong Kong media and audiences present, and I would like to ask you a question. What do you think are the reasons why the Hong Kong short drama market is not yet mature and popular? Is it due to insufficient content production or other reasons?
Famous director Wang Jing:
Mainly due to the lack of strong promotion by the company.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Will there also be shortcomings in content production?
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
I have been making movies, TV dramas, and documentaries before, and I don't know much about short dramas. Today, I invited many friends and investors to learn about the short drama. The Chinese short drama market has been thriving for at least three years, and various regions are promoting the overseas development of short drama cultural tourism. Hong Kong is an international metropolis, but short dramas have not developed in Hong Kong. Is this related to Hong Kong's economic structure? The middle class in Hong Kong is dominant, and a large part of the audience for Chinese short dramas are the "three guarantees" (security guards, nannies, and cleaners). Friends who do short dramas in the United States have also found that the target audience of women aged 25 to 45 in the central United States is similar to that of housewives in China. Hong Kong originally had a payment system. How do you think we can make people in Hong Kong, as well as Southeast Asia such as Singapore and Thailand, more willing to watch short dramas? Besides the free advertising model, do you think Hong Kong people can accept the implementation of a paid model?
Famous director Wang Jing:
Hong Kong needs a platform that everyone is willing to use. At present, there is no suitable platform for people to watch short plays in Hong Kong. Tiktok is not used by everyone in Hong Kong. They prefer to use YouTube, Instagram, and now some people use Friend. There is no local platform, and using mainland platforms to watch short videos is not popular. If a platform that everyone is willing to use can be created, I think short dramas can become popular in Hong Kong.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Director Wang Jing has already sent out an invitation. Investors and short drama platforms present here, if interested, can collaborate with Director Wang Jing to create a short drama platform in Hong Kong.
Famous director Wang Jing:
Since short dramas can be popular all over the world, they can definitely be popular in Hong Kong as well.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
It is indeed possible for it to become popular. Short drama platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox, which go global in China, prefer Southeast Asian markets, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan markets when going global because the people in these regions are more likely to accept short dramas of Eastern culture, so the market potential is great.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Just mentioned the free short drama, let's invite Mr. You to talk about it. Mr. Ren has a background in advertising and has also participated in short drama related work. Please share your views on the future development of free short dramas and your current thoughts.
Founder of Mobking Short Drama Company in the United States:
I am an Internet entrepreneur. I used to work on advertising platforms and games. Now I have set up a production company in Los Angeles to engage in short drama production. I just mentioned the issue of China's preferred destination for content going global. I used to play games and have some say in this matter. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are indeed the preferred destinations for Chinese products to go abroad. However, Director Wong Jing and Mr. Liu Xiaolin may have different views on the development of the Hong Kong short drama market. I think the core reason is that the short drama producers did not explore the local demand in Hong Kong according to local conditions.
To make any product go global, localization is necessary, which is also the starting point for us to establish a production company in the United States to do short dramas. To succeed in a market, one must cultivate deeply. This topic may be a bit off topic. Today at the conference, I met many friends from Party A and Taiwan. To be frank, at the beginning of this year, both the platform and content producers in the entire overseas short drama industry have encountered some problems, which I believe can be confirmed from the platform data. So, how can we break the deadlock? My idea is to be more meticulous and localized in terms of content; We need to innovate in terms of business models. At present, most overseas apps use in app purchases and subscriptions as a paid model, but overseas, when we used to play games, there was a paid monetization model of watching advertisements, which involved multiple parties such as content providers, CPs, and advertising platforms. I am fortunate to have invited friends from Google, and the monetization system for short dramas can also consider leveraging the market through free advertising.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Advertising monetization is not a new phenomenon. Since the beginning of 2024, some products have achieved good results through advertising monetization. Just now, Renyi said that the short drama market has declined at the beginning of this year, but there are still so many people on site because the short drama industry is changing very quickly. In the past, the cycle of the Internet industry was 5 to 10 years, while short dramas were one of the few ascending tracks when the economic situation was declining. The competition cycle was compressed to two or three years, becoming very involute. Advertising monetization has expanded the ways in which users pay and has unlimited possibilities.
In the Internet business model, the long tail theory subverts the two eight laws of economics. When users have a long tail and advertisements are free, it can continuously attract more users to watch short dramas. So, if we start from a platform based approach, the content should be rich enough, and combining advertising with direct user payment can make the development of the short drama track more promising.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
I invited Mr. Gao to come because he knows more about short dramas than I do. We are all curious about how long short dramas can be popular. The metaverse and NFT were popular for two or three years in the past two years, but now their popularity has faded. We also see in the United States that the short drama market is a red ocean domestically, but there is a payment habit for short dramas going abroad in the United States. So, how should short dramas develop in the future? What impact does American short drama have on Hong Kong and domestic short dramas that want to go abroad? Let's ask Zhao Xiang to introduce us. Zhao Xiang has been studying in the United States since middle and high school, and has a good understanding of the localization situation in the United States.
PH8 founder Zhao Xiang:
Hello everyone, I am the person in charge of PH8. I entered the short drama production industry by a bit of coincidence. After graduation, I worked at China International Capital Corporation in Beijing for three years, and then returned to Los Angeles to work in the PEVC industry for three years. In 2022, I founded PH8 label with a partner who graduated from Chapman Dodge Film Academy. In the first year, the projects we worked on were quite traditional. In the second half of 2023, there was a wave of overseas short dramas in Los Angeles. In January 2024, we produced our first short drama, which became a phenomenal hit in the industry after its release in April. In 2024, we produced a total of 16 short dramas, of which 8 were released that year, contributing approximately $35 million to $40 million in recharge to the entire network and platform.
Through these projects, we have developed our own methodology on the production side. Firstly, we will invest a lot of effort in localizing and adapting the script. Usually, we receive a simple Chinese to English version adapted from a Chinese short drama script, but our audience is local American viewers, so we need to adjust the dialogue and plot in the script according to American culture to make it more in line with American logic. At the same time, we also need to pay attention to whether the character designs of the male and female leads in the script match the actual actor images found. If the difference is too large, the audience is likely to appear in the play, and we will spend a lot of time modifying it to make the audience feel more immersed when watching the drama, just like watching American TV shows.
Secondly, during the production process, we continuously optimize the industrial production system. When shooting different projects, we encounter various problems, and in the process of solving them, we constantly review and think about how to improve process efficiency. If the production is not industrialized, the crew is prone to rushing to meet the schedule, with low efficiency, high personnel pressure, and difficulty in ensuring project quality. We will arrange the photography team members reasonably and will not arbitrarily reduce personnel due to budget issues, ensuring that each scene creator has enough time to polish details. For example, DP can design more exciting scenes, and actors can better enter their roles, so that the series can be more exquisite. Only by doing a good job in localization and standardizing processes can we achieve the so-called aesthetic of numerical evaluation.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Zhao Xiang's sharing is very informative. Let me conduct a brief survey. Among the VIP guests present, if you are from the production team, please raise your hand. (Some people raised their hands) I saw it, so please raise your hand, issuer. (Some people raised their hands) I have a general understanding. There are many producers among the guests who came today, such as Zhao Xiang ENO、 Chen Yutao and Mr. You have experience in localizing filming in the United States.
When we were planning this forum last night, we were still discussing how to make sharing more informative. Although Zhao Xiang is young, he is a cross-border entrepreneur, and his sharing is very valuable. Compared to traditional long drama production, short drama production has many differences. As a deep Internet entrepreneur, I believe that to subvert a new business model, it is often not the self subversion of people in the industry, but the promotion of cross industry forces. Innovation is very important. Sorry, I interrupted for a moment.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
I have interviewed some short drama crews in the United States, and they said that 99% of them are Chinese capital and Chinese production teams, and many of the actors are from popular short dramas. There is a saying in the film and television industry that goes, 'If the actors are chosen correctly, the play is half done.' Do you think that's the case, Director Wang Jing?
Famous director Wang Jing:
In any theatrical creation, the cast is very important, and choosing the right actors will greatly increase the chances of success.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Actors of popular short dramas in the United States will see their salaries and assistant fees increase after a drama becomes popular. Yutao, you are also filming popular short dramas in the United States. Let me introduce your experience to everyone.
Chen Yutao, an independent producer of popular short dramas in North America:
Thank you, Mr. Xiaolin. I started filming short dramas quite early. In September 2023, I went to the United States with two suitcases and searched for a team to shoot. At that time, I thought it was in the education market, with the main filming location being in Los Angeles. I had also been to cities such as New York, Chicago, and Ruihuada. I first worked as a producer on the platform.
I agree with the viewpoint of making short dramas across different lines, which may be related to my past experiences. I made long videos in the United States ten years ago and returned two years ago to shoot short dramas. In the past year or two, overseas short dramas have developed and I am very happy. In September 2023, I filmed 8 dramas in one go, with a production cycle of about three months. The first drama was released in December, and since then, we have produced several blockbuster movies. Our definition of a popular product is to recharge to a certain amount, such as 3 million US dollars, 5 million US dollars, and last year there were also those that reached 20 million US dollars. This market is becoming increasingly hot, and there are more and more producers and platforms involved. I think this is a good thing for the entire industry.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
What is the initial cost of producing a short drama?
Chen Yutao, an independent producer of popular short dramas in North America:
At first, my boss gave me a budget of $100000 for a drama and told me to watch the arrangement. This is really difficult, the United States has a vast territory with a large span from the West Sea to the East Sea. I remember a drama was filmed in New York and the cost was particularly difficult to control. At that time, it was not possible to raise a sign for filming in Manhattan, so we had to find a particularly large villa on the neighboring Long Island. In order to save costs, we arranged many scenes of the male and female protagonists in the story to be completed in this villa.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
good. Just now Yino mentioned that the cost of a short drama is about 180000 US dollars, which has increased by nearly 100%. I have seen some collaborating short drama companies, in order to reduce costs, relocate their teams to other countries such as Southeast Asia, and some people want to invite American directors to shoot in China. The core is to increase the success rate of popular products, so are actors the core? I think if the actors are the core, the current commercial model of short dramas may not be feasible. I would like to ask the four of you present, including Director Wang Jing, how do you view the role of actors in short dramas? What do you think is the core of the short drama?
Famous director Wang Jing:
The core of a short drama is not just the actors, the script is the key. But actors must at least have the corresponding acting skills to present the required performances in the script, so as to fully demonstrate the advantages of the script. If the actor's acting skills are not good, then even the best script is in vain.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Indeed, the basic acting skills of an actor are very important, including the match between the actor and the character, temperament, and other aspects that are crucial. What do you guys think?
Senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States, Qu Yinuo:
The issue of actors raising their prices is really a headache for production companies. But this is also an inevitable phenomenon in the development of the industry. Actors have raised their prices, but they have indeed brought higher exposure and attracted more fans. If an actor performs in a popular drama, new users will come to watch the show because of the actor, which is a normal market behavior. Although production companies have to spend more money, they can only respect this situation. And the profit margin of the production company is already limited.
In order to save about 20% of the cost, we may have to move the entire crew to Atlanta, or even fly from Southeast Asia to China like my team is currently shooting, but the actual cost savings are very limited. Moreover, after actors produce blockbuster dramas, prices will continue to rise, so it is difficult to achieve long-term cost reduction solely by saving costs. I strongly agree with Director Wang Jing's viewpoint that scripts and content are definitely the core of the short drama industry. I also want to share some experiences with everyone from the perspective of content creation.
Many of you present are from the platform side, closer to data and capital, while our production side has a better understanding of the business. Short dramas are products driven entirely by emotions. On the basis of a smooth plot, they should bring extreme emotional reversals to the audience, because watching short dramas is impulsive consumption, not for companionship like watching long dramas.
How can we achieve this? There are two key points about emotional control: first, finding the right direction of emotions and accurately grasping them; The second is to increase the intensity of emotions in the right direction. Let me give you a specific example. Nowadays, most overseas short dramas are female oriented dramas, among which sweet pet dramas and revenge dramas are very typical. Revenge dramas belong to the genre of female protagonists, both of which have classic openings, such as the female lead going bankrupt overnight, being calculated by her archenemy, and being bullied by the green tea supporting actress, and then deciding to return and start a new life. But in revenge dramas and sweet pet dramas, with the same opening, the emotional nodes are completely different.
The emotional bottleneck of revenge dramas lies in showcasing the various misfortunes that the female lead encounters, enhancing the excitement in this direction, without showing her reaction after being stimulated, as this is the core of the subsequent action line. The focus of the sweet pet drama is on the love between the male and female leads, so the purpose of the female lead encountering these things is to create a strong emotional bond between them in the first episode, create reasonable reasons for them to date, and have a wonderful relationship. So in the preparation stage, accurately grasping the type of drama can present completely different effects for the same plot.
The preparation time for overseas short dramas is very tight, with only three weeks from receiving the script to starting production. Within these three weeks, we need to determine the director, photography team, etc., but the director's actual preparation time may only be about two weeks. If the director cannot fundamentally understand the type and emotions of the script, the resulting work may not achieve the best effect.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Just now Yino mentioned sweet pet dramas and revenge dramas. For dramas of this type, Teacher Zhao Xiang, how did you do it during filming?
PH8 founder Zhao Xiang:
In fact, I agree with Eno that short plays are Internet products that rely on emotion. When we shoot, we consider many aspects, such as whether there is a sense of atmosphere between the male and female leads CP, whether their opposite scenes can produce enough emotional tension, whether the costumes are exquisite, and whether the camera design is clever.
The number of similar dramas in the short drama market this year has increased significantly compared to last year, possibly tenfold. Although the number of short dramas is increasing, they have not really broken through the circle yet. Many short dramas, no matter how innovative or repackaged the script may be, still revolve around common stories, such as the theme of 'Ba Zong'.
I think in order for a work to stand out, it is important to pay attention to the details mentioned earlier and immerse the audience. Many female viewers like to eat Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs when watching short plays. Once they get used to it, they may eat it today, yesterday, and tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The key is whoever can make this dish more to their taste, they will watch whose drama. I think that's it.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
That's true. There are many short drama production teams on stage, whether they are producing or producing dramas, they all have their own filming teams or collaborating filming teams. In the eyes of those of us who make products, the details of a good product are crucial. To improve the content quality of short dramas in a short period of time, it is crucial to grasp the details during the filming process. For example, there are many angles to choose from when shooting scenes of male and female protagonists interacting with each other. Zhao Xiang, you have produced many popular short dramas with a high success rate. Can you share your experience with everyone?
PH8 founder Zhao Xiang:
It's like this, in our company, I am mainly responsible for the Business Development (BD) area, and the content manager in the team is currently in Los Angeles. This area is mainly in charge of content.
Chen Yutao, an independent producer of popular short dramas in North America:
Let me help my brother answer. Detail expression is really important. I have been influenced by some excellent directors since I was young. Let me give you an example. Recently, I participated in the production of a drama where there was a detail about the object of love between the male and female leads. This drama is about sports and is related to rugby. The object of love is a rugby necklace (which may be confused with the watch mentioned earlier, possibly due to memory or expression errors). In the plot, the female protagonist and others compete for this necklace, which becomes the key clue of the story.
There was a scene that left a particularly deep impression on me. At that time, we designed a plot to showcase the emotions between the male and female leads: the female lead held the male lead's necklace in her mouth. When shooting, the camera slowly shifts from the middle scene to the close-up, and the presentation of this detail is particularly infectious and can catch the audience's attention.
When I saw this scene on the set, I thought it must be a popular material. In post production, such materials should be edited reasonably to create content suitable for streaming. In the process of short drama production, I pay special attention to these details because ultimately it is the users who pay for the work, and we need to find ways to capture their hearts. This is a great challenge for our production team, as we need to capture more emotional moments within a limited one or two minutes and make each episode enjoyable in order to achieve the desired effect.
Senior screenwriter and founder of Dreamood Pictures short drama company in the United States, Qu Yinuo:
I think this question can actually be understood as how to display extreme emotions through audio-visual language, that is, the visualization of emotions. Director Wang Jing is a senior in this field, and I dare not play tricks in this area. I can only share some tips on the audiovisual aspects of short dramas.
The first technique in short dramas is to highlight the feeling of being "big" because the audience's screen size is limited. For example, in the plot of aphrodisiacs commonly seen in short dramas, you can think about whether to give a small pill or to put the pill in a glass of water and make the water boil and change color when feeding the medicine. Which presentation method can give the audience a more intuitive feeling? It must be the latter.
The second technique is to have a change in the image, which can become a trigger point for emotions. Scenes such as fights in action scenes, interactions in intimate scenes, and cup drops are all forms of variation that can enhance emotional expression.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Well said, the core is to amplify emotions through filming techniques. I think everyone is very concerned about how to create popular short dramas. Can you share some tips on short drama project proposal and shooting?
Chen Yutao, an independent producer of popular short dramas in North America:
Let me briefly explain. I started shooting short dramas in September 2023, and at that time, I filmed 8 of them. I have been trying to choose the theme. Because it is uncertain which type of drama will be popular among users, we have filmed revenge dramas, sweet pet dramas, time travel dramas, and even werewolf themed dramas.
After three months of filming, we began to verify market feedback. I remember after the release of 8 dramas, the first hit appeared, whether it was a big female lead and frequent female drama, or a true and false dual female mainline story. The recharge of this drama exceeded 5 million US dollars, and it ranked in the top two or three on the platform, achieving very good results. Later on, we filmed a sister drama with a similar theme, featuring multiple female leads and a handsome male lead, which also became popular.
This indicates that this type of theme is very popular among users. When we were in the United States, we also conducted some research and analyzed user data. From the current situation, in the overseas short drama market, female dramas are very popular and their genres are becoming increasingly diverse. There is also room for development in new themes such as gang revenge. I think there is still a lot of room for expansion in the audience of overseas short dramas, as the current audience range is relatively narrow. Platforms and producers can make breakthroughs in subject matter innovation, language use, and other aspects. There are over 100 countries worldwide, with the United States and Europe and America being the main markets, but there is also great market potential in regions such as Japan, South Korea, and South America. In terms of expanding popular products, there are many opportunities for innovative themes and exploring new regional markets. Thank you everyone, these are some of my opinions.
Founder of Mobking Short Drama Company in the United States:
Just now, we discussed many methods for creating popular short dramas, including content innovation and exploring new genres. But there are many uncertain factors in artistic creation. When we do advertising, we will use some methods to improve the success rate of prediction, such as AB test.
We have served some clients who have multiple script proposals and utilize current AI capabilities to first create AI animated short films to present the story content, and then test them through a streaming system, which is what we call material PK (AB test) in the industry. Obtain investment data through testing to verify which script is more suitable for the target audience. After determining a suitable script, proceed with live action filming. Some overseas platforms have already adopted this method.
I hope that domestic platform partners can also learn from this approach. After all, even excellent producers cannot guarantee the success of every project, so we need some methods to improve the success rate. Nowadays, AI is developing rapidly and large models have strong computing power. We can spend some time using testing methods to verify scripts and creative ideas. This is what I want to add.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
Okay, thank you. This is a valuable suggestion from an advertising perspective. I am very happy to be able to gather with so many colleagues in the short drama industry today, and I would also like to thank the organizers for their efforts. Our American counterparts have made many outstanding performances in the field of short dramas. Yesterday, a director of the General Administration said that our short drama is like a young girl coming gracefully, full of vitality. Now let's invite Ms. Li La, General Manager of Tencent Ecological Cooperation Department, to share her views. Welcome everyone.
Li La, General Manager of Tencent Ecological Cooperation Department:
It's an honor to be here on this forum. In China, micro dramas have developed particularly rapidly in the past two years. Just now, after listening to everyone's discussion, some people are concerned about the lack of storytelling and serious homogenization in micro dramas. But in reality, we can see that the refinement of micro dramas is rapidly advancing. For example, there is a very popular period drama called "Home and Away" recently, which is filmed with warm and healing techniques, and the actors' performances are also excellent. This shows us that in addition to dramas like "Ba Zong" and "Dog Blood", short dramas with a sense of the times and family themes also have the potential to become popular. We at Tencent Video firmly believe that the entire industry will thrive on the path of producing high-quality micro dramas.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Thank you, Ms. Li, for sharing. Next, I would like to invite my good friend, Mr. James Su Yantao, the chairman of the China US Film Festival and China US Television Festival, to give a speech. I am also a consultant for the China US Film Festival, and I hope everyone can participate in the China US Film Festival and China US Television Festival in November.
Su Yantao, Chairman of the China US Film Festival and China US Television Festival:
Thank you very much for the invitation, Mr. Kobayashi. The short drama industry has developed very well, whether it is landscape or portrait short dramas, or long dramas, they all have their own significance. The development trend of short dramas is very strong now, especially in the United States. We can see the efforts of everyone on stage in the field of short dramas. I think that whether it's a long drama or a short drama, while pursuing commercial value, we should also consider social value. By balancing both aspects, one can also create wonderful works.
Whether it's long dramas or short dramas, I see that both young and experienced film and television professionals are passionate about film and television. Everyone's creative enthusiasm is the same and deserves respect. Just like how Chinese and American movies have been using light and shadow to convey love and peace for decades. Nowadays, the world is quite hostile, and we really need more works full of love and peace. Every form of work presentation deserves respect, and as long as it is a good drama, it should receive encouragement and support from everyone. I hope everyone applauds for today's forum. Thank you all!
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association
Thank you, Mr. Su Yantao. Now let's invite President Liu Yanming to speak. President Liu Yaming has always supported our International Short Drama Festival held in the United States, and is our co organizer and important supporting force. Please welcome President Liu.
Liu Yanming, President of the Capital Audiovisual Industry Association:
Thank you all. I don't know much about short dramas and am still in the learning stage. I came here to learn about the short drama market. I'm not quite sure about the difference between short dramas and micro dramas. I feel that those that last less than one minute or one to three minutes may be a form of micro drama, while short dramas typically last for five to ten minutes.
We recently tried to make two short dramas of over ten minutes, mainly focusing on the theme of the case. We also want to explore how to tell stories well in a short period of time. Just now Chairman Su said that content is king. Indeed, the script and story are the most important. I will learn from everyone. Thank you!
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Okay, thank you, President Liu. Next, let's invite Mr. Zhang Dong to speak. Mr. Zhang Dong is the Chairman of Yiding Media Company in Thailand and the President of the Thailand Branch of the International Short Drama Association. He has also participated in the production of short and long dramas in Thailand, and we have known each other for some time.
Mr. Zhang Dong, Chairman of Thailand Yiding Media Company and President of the Thailand Branch of the International Short Drama Association:
good Today, I saw many industry veterans sitting in front of me. After Director Wang Jing left, I was quite moved. I had met him before at the Changchun Film Festival. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand. We have established the China Thailand Film and Television Promotion Association, which was jointly promoted with Chen Weizhong and received strong support from the co presidents last year. He said that for this year's 50th anniversary event, we cannot just invite the association in the name of the company, we need the association to invite us. Therefore, with the efforts of multiple parties, we have facilitated this matter.
Yesterday we held a press conference, and we are very grateful for the support of President Liu and other presidents. When it comes to short dramas, we have been trying different durations of creation since 2021, such as one minute, three minute, and 20 minute episodes. Recently, we also made a short drama with 15 minute episodes. Our specialty is to purchase the IP adaptation rights of Thai long dramas and produce Chinese versions of short dramas. For example, "Boss falls in love with beauty" was broadcasted on Youku platform, with 15 minute episodes and a total of 22 episodes, and was the number one on the entire network at that time.
Later, in order to promote a 45 minute, 8-episode long drama, we produced a one and a half minute vertical screen short drama version, consisting of approximately 30 episodes. I didn't expect this promotional version to have a particularly high click through rate on YouTube and bring in advertising revenue. It was originally just for promoting a long drama, but I didn't expect such unexpected gains.
Recently, we filmed Wanbo Romance in Xishuangbanna. The male number one is Thai star Xu Zhixian. He has filmed long dramas on many Chinese video websites and platforms, and has also filmed Tiktok dramas. He speaks Chinese very well. The female lead is a graduate of the Chinese Academy of Drama, and this is the first attempt at pairing Chinese and Thai stars. Currently, we are working on the post production and hope to gain everyone's support when the time comes. Let's promote it to everyone in advance.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Thank you everyone! Next, we would like to invite guests from relevant associations in the advertising field. Please invite Mr. Zhang Zhipeng, Secretary General of the Content Marketing and Advertising Spokesperson Working Committee of the China Advertising Association, who is also the founder of the new force of short dramas.
Zhang Zhipeng, founder of the New Power of Short Drama:
hello everyone! Let me briefly share with you that at the end of last year, I participated in many awards ceremonies for short drama actors. At that time, I found that the number of fans for short drama actors was already quite considerable. When I spoke at the award ceremony, I mentioned that I hope these actors can not only gain something in the field of short dramas, but also transform into advertising endorsements in the future, which indirectly reflects the expanding influence of short dramas.
From a commercial perspective, in the past, short dramas mainly relied on C-end payment, with a relatively small proportion of B-end advertising. But now, many companies in the advertising industry have paid attention to short dramas and are deeply involved in them, such as customized short dramas and embedded short dramas, forming a mature system. The short drama ecosystem can also connect the A1 to A5 groups in the marketing circle, achieving closed-loop marketing, which is a very good development trend. So I believe that short dramas have great potential for commercialization in the future, and I look forward to working together with everyone. thank you!
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Thank you Mr. Zhang Zhipeng for sharing. Next, let's welcome Mr. Guo from Hengdian Film and Television City. Hengdian Film and Television City is well-known to everyone and holds an important position in the film and television industry.
Guo Shu, General Manager of the International Department of Hengdian Film and Television City:
hello everyone! Hengdian Film and Television City can be said to be a place that filmmakers cannot avoid, and for many people, it is a place of love and hate. Last year, we noticed the development momentum of the short drama industry, and as the forefront and trendsetter of the industry, we quickly responded.
In terms of upgrading business infrastructure, we have specifically established a short drama service team to provide more efficient services to the short drama shooting team from scene upgrading, reception, shooting, scene exploration to character arrangement, and other aspects, reducing their shooting costs. At the same time, after establishing the International Short Drama Alliance, we actively explored globalization and have set up overseas centers in Australia, Spain, South Korea, Japan, and other places. The main purpose is to integrate resources, make creators more worry free, expand communication channels, take works to a broader market, and establish industry rules to promote rapid development of the industry.
Hengdian Film and Television City is an open platform film and television enterprise that has the responsibility to contribute to the development of the industry. We will also conduct regular research on the pain points faced by the production and distribution teams, and empower and solve them on the platform in a targeted manner. Hengdian is a national level film and television industry gathering area, and we also hope to work with the government to introduce more favorable policies to support the development of the industry.
If we compare short dramas to a new type of aircraft carrier, then Hengdian Film and Television City is the combat support force of the aircraft carrier, and we will do our best to safeguard the short drama industry. Thank you everyone!
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Thank you, Mr. Guo, for your wonderful speech. Next, let's welcome Mr. Jincheng. Mr. Jincheng is from Jincheng, Chairman of Huahuang Film Industry, and has collaborated with China Film Channel. He is also the President of the Capital Documentary Association.
Jin Cheng, Chairman of Huahuang Film Industry:
I am honored to participate in this international short drama forum. Today, after listening to everyone's sharing, I gained a lot and gained a new understanding of short dramas, especially international short dramas. Going global with short dramas is an important direction for the transformation and development of the current film and television industry, and I also hope that we can continue to explore in this area. Wishing the International Short Drama Forum continued success and looking forward to more cooperation with everyone in China in the future. Thank you, President Liu and President Zhao!
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Thank you, Mr. Jincheng. In fact, Shaanxi has a deep connection with short dramas, and Mr. Jincheng's Shaanxi Cultural Industry Association has also played an important role in the development of short dramas. Now, let Mr. Jincheng talk about it again.
Zhai Lifeng, President of Shaanxi Creative Culture Industry Association:
I am from Shaanxi Cultural Industry Association and I am delighted to attend this conference. During the epidemic, a large number of people from Shaanxi province in the film and television industry returned to their hometowns. Since 2019, many people in Shaanxi have been involved in short drama production, forming a peak period of short drama production from 2019 to 2021. Today, I would like to share a case where a member unit of our association purchased some short dramas for a copyright price of 1000 yuan and used AI technology to produce short videos that were sold to the United States. The annual revenue reached over 10 million yuan, providing a new model for the development of short dramas.
I hope that Shaanxi can hold a similar event next time, inviting everyone to Xi'an for exchange and jointly promoting the short drama industry to a new stage.
Liu Xiaolin, President, CEO, and Forum Host of the International Short Drama Association:
Mr. Gao, could you share with everyone your findings in the field of data.
Co founder Gao Lizhen:
good Just now, the leaders in Shaanxi mentioned AI, which will indeed bring about tremendous changes to various industries. To achieve large-scale development in the short drama industry, it is necessary to rely on technology to achieve systematic and large-scale operations. As a third-party data service provider, I would like to share with you some data observations from the short drama track.
At present, the competition in the short drama industry is becoming increasingly fierce, presenting several typical characteristics: firstly, almost all of the top short drama platforms and producers in China have gone abroad for development, such as the well-known platforms and producers of Double and Nine, as well as platforms and producers such as Capacity, Malt, and Shanhai, are expanding their overseas markets; Second, some large platforms also launched their own short play products and went to sea, such as Red Fruit Short Play with ByteDance; Thirdly, some top gaming companies have also ventured into the field of short drama overseas, as they excel in traffic operations. To some extent, short drama operations and game operations share similarities. This indicates that with the addition of large platforms and top game developers, the market potential for short dramas to go global is enormous, but competition will also become increasingly fierce.
Also, the current main business model for short dramas is app payment, but there are many uncertainties in costs, and actor costs are constantly rising. Therefore, we cannot only start from reducing costs, but also need to explore more business models. For example, MyDrama, a Ukrainian short drama product, quickly gained millions of users and millions of dollars in revenue after its launch in 2023. Its innovation lies in the generation of AI actors. After a drama becomes popular, audiences want to interact with the actors. Traditional offline interaction methods are limited, while AI personification allows users to interact with virtual characters online, but the interaction requires payment, which expands the profit model.