As the first half of 2023 draws to a close, various Chinese video platform' top-performing drama statistics have been released. According to the data collected, there have been changes in audience preferences and creative directions within the industry.
Despite an overall improvement in Cdramas' quality this year, with particular emphasis on high-scoring productions such as "Three-Body," "The Knockout" and "The Long Season," few stand out as true blockbusters based on viewership numbers alone. After "The Knockout", the second-highest-ranked series was Xuanhuan cdrama "Till The End Of The Moon," with a total view count of 2.71 billion.
So far this year, only “The Knockout” has exceeded three billion views during its initial broadcast period; none have reached three billion or more since then. Of course, some of the highly popular works with limited airplay are closely related to the short number of episodes. For example, the summer hottest cdrama "Love Between Fairy and Devil", with a total of 36 episodes, had a playback volume of around 2.2 billion during its hit period.
Last year's hottest cdramas like “A Lifelong Journey”, “New Life Begins” and “Love Like the Galaxy,” all had episode counts exceeding forty episodes, with “Love Like the Galaxy” split into two parts totalling fifty-eight episodes. This year no single production has even exceeded forty episodes making it difficult to surpass previous years’ records.
Compared to last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of hottest cdramas that exceeded one billion views during their initial broadcast period. In total, nine productions have achieved this milestone, most of which were broadcasted on two platforms simultaneously. For example, "Flight to You", "The Ingenious One", and "Camino a Casa".
For many non-headline shows or lesser-known works, achieving more than one billion views can be considered as an unexpected success. However, among this year's productions with over one-billion viewership counts are mostly headline programs such as "The Ingenious One," “Miles to Go,” even the sci-fi mega IP “Three-Body” is within the range of 1-1.5 billion.
"Three-Body" presents a science fiction extravaganza while "The Ingenious One" depicts wuxia martial arts characters using ingenious strategies in their adventures across different regions while “Miles to Go” portrays young people growing up in the Chinese northern Shaanxi region. The common feature of these three series is that they have multiple characters and storylines but do not rely on strong plot twists or conflicts to advance the narrative style, hence relatively gentle storytelling vibes.
With short-form drama becoming increasingly popular among audiences nowadays, slow-burning dramas may struggle to retain viewers' attention spans resulting in lower final view counts despite being well-produced works.
Of course, this is also related to some platform's adjustments made regarding scheduling changes . For instance, compared with previous years where free episodes would be released daily for double-lined broadcast shows, many hot dramas this year have instead adopted a double-window broadcasting model with only two free episodes available per week during their initial broadcast period. "The Knockout" even had no free viewing option throughout the series.
Another characteristic of the dramas with 1-2 billion views is the absence of ancient costume dramas. This is also related to the slow release of main costume dramas this year, leaving a void in their place across all three major Chinese video platforms.
As summer schedule up, it's important to note that last year saw two historical puppet dramas exceeding one billion views during their initial broadcast period: "The Blue Whisper" and "A Dream of Splendor", which ignited a frenzy for historical costume romance drama before being followed by waves of other hit productions such as "Love Like the Galaxy", "Love Between Fairy and Devil," and “Immortal Samsara” etc. However, there has been a slowdown in pace this year.
It wasn't until last week that all three major Chinese video platforms finally announced new releases for summer regarding both ancient and contemporary romantic shows. On July 18th , iQiyi debuted “Destined,” starring Bai Jingting and Song Yi; while “Hidden Love” and"Snow Eagle Lord” are scheduled respectively. If quality remains steady throughout these productions' runs, they are also expected to exceed one billion views.
This year, several non-headline historical costume dramas have achieved similar viewership results as previous hits did before them like Chen Xingxu and Li Landi starring in "The Starry Love", Zhang Binbin and Xu Lu acting out in "Song of the Moon", as well as Hou Minghao & Zhou Ye leading casted show called "Back From the Brink". All these titles mentioned above reached comparable ratings levels with those produced during H1 2022 such as "Who Rules the World" and "Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities".
Today, costume dramas are no longer solely focused on production costs but instead they prioritize cost-effectiveness. Special effects and costume design can be tailored to fit the characters, while emotional expression is in line with pop culture trends.
For example, "The Starry Love" achieved extreme humor early on in the series as its male and female protagonists clash over their personalities resulting in many comedic moments throughout the show; it was an innovative attempt that succeeded at being fresh among similar shows.
The number and quality of these products is one indicator of industry recovery. While reducing costs has made it difficult for many small-scale productions to succeed, this year's mid-range dramas have seen an upward trend in terms of viewership ratings.
Last year's diverse range of dark horse productions included "Under the Skin", a detective drama with a unique art style, and "Shining for One Thing", a suspenseful youth time-traveling romance. This year’s strong-performing mid-range works have been more conservative thematically, focusing mostly on modern pure love stories.
For instance, "Once and Forever: The Sun Rises", "Hi Venus", and "Falling Before Fireworks" received good reviews. According to data, the three dramas had respective views during their broadcast period: 150 million, 197 million, and 279 million.
“Once and Forever: The Sun Rises” vivid portrayal of Chinese teenagers growing up during the 90s through flashbacks; it almost felt like watching Mainland China’s version of "Reply 1988". However,it ultimately garnered only 150 million views indicating that pure nostalgia-themed dramas are no longer as attractive to audiences. For those who occasionally indulge in nostalgia, one drama is enough.
People who enjoy watching dramas always seek out more extreme conflicts and emotions; however, for life-like drama authors, balancing creative direction with increasingly demanding audience tastes will be a difficult question that they must answer.
