TV people think coldly: Advertising has dropped sharply, high-quality content is hard to find, and popular programs are hard to find

Last year's TV viewing and advertising data show that the TV industry is in a downward trend. At TV festivals in previous years, forums were everywhere talking about the success of variety shows, but this year's TV people tend to think coldly. What stage of development is the cold variety market in? What is the current living situation of TV stations and program production companies? What is the biggest dilemma we are facing right now?

Original title: Shanghai TV Festival opens on the 12th, advertising revenue drops sharply, popular variety shows are hard to find

. The annual Shanghai TV Festival is underway. Last year's TV viewing and advertising data show that the TV industry is in a downward trend. At TV festivals in previous years, forums were everywhere talking about the success of variety shows, but this year's TV people tend to think coldly. What stage of development is the cold variety market in? What is the current living situation of TV stations and program production companies? What is the biggest dilemma we are facing right now? Focusing on the theme of "The Real Temperature of the Global and China Variety Markets," Chinese and foreign TV people gathered together to take the pulse of China variety shows.

The good time when advertisers of popular variety shows rushed to name titles seems to be gone forever. In the first half of 2017, it was difficult for many TV station variety shows to sell them at ideal prices. Many TV's major variety shows were aborted due to the sudden withdrawal of advertisers, and the business of TV advertising dropped very sharply. According to Liu Xichen, president of Shixi Media, this is because the profit model of TV variety shows and TV stations is very single."More than 95% of revenue comes from advertising." This situation also appears in online variety shows. Liu Xichen explained that because Netcom's profit model is the same as TV stations,"When advertisements cannot be sold, Netcom cannot be online."

In the past, TV stations or online platforms took money from advertisers and found production teams to customize them. But since last year, good days have disappeared, and the funds for producing programs have to be paid by yourself, and the risks have increased greatly. Liu Xichen revealed that last year, a certain first-line satellite TV lost 80% of its variety shows, while Shixi Media also lost 50% of its projects last year and could not make any money. Judging from the current situation, the capital of TV variety shows has declined a lot. He bluntly said that since last year, capital has become more and more cautious in investing in this area.

An interesting phenomenon has also emerged in the TV industry. In 2016, the number of companies with TV program production licenses in China suddenly increased by 4000. Behind this, in fact, many directors who have been deeply involved in TV stations for many years have begun to leave and start their own businesses, such as Cen Junyi, who single-handedly created the first two seasons of Zhejiang Satellite TV's "Running Brothers". However, in the view of Peng Kan, co-founder and vice president of Lezheng Media, many directors who have produced successful programs on TV stations have not adapted to the market so quickly after starting a business, so it may be difficult to use their creative talents. Liu Xichen judged that it is still in the stage of free competition where "anyone can set up a company to do programs", but the next step must be a relatively monopolistic market stage."There will be so few large companies accounting for 70% of the market." Share."

More and more TV people are realizing that high-quality content has become something that is hard to come by, and that the once "hot money" was not intended at the beginning. According to industry insiders, when "The Voice of China" was produced, the top three TV stations refused it because they thought "this program was not interesting." When "Where Are We Going, Dad" was first produced, Hunan Satellite TV hesitated whether to broadcast it on weekends or weekends, thinking that it might not have ratings on weekends. Liu Xichen said frankly: "When we look at the so-called hot movies, the future of China variety shows is the only way to adopt a more peaceful attitude and ideas that can truly continue to develop and operate."

Regarding the development of variety shows in China, Peng Kan predicts that as the audience's attention becomes more and more scattered and the program forms become more and more, the possibility of "hot movies" appearing in the mass market becomes less and less likely. In his view, another possibility is to find "hot products" in vertical segments, which may be a more realistic choice. At present, domestic TV producers have begun to try "niche" programs, such as Jiangsu Satellite TV's first domestic EDM electronic audio program "Heroes of Earth" broadcast last summer, and Anhui Satellite TV's folk song variety show "China" broadcast this year.

Editor: Mary