Jia Ling received an investment of 10 million yuan, Xiaoguo Culture will raise more than 100 million yuan, but the gold owner is still watching the comedy

Whether it is directly investing in comedy companies or investing in comedy projects, the comedy market and capital are undoubtedly getting closer and closer. It is true that the presence of capital is a good thing, but it may also bring negative impacts such as quarterly financial pressure and certain mutual exclusions between business logic and content production rules to companies that focus on content. So, what kind of capital is suitable for embracing comedy? What can you gain from investing in comedy and what risks will you encounter?

Original title: Jia Ling received an investment of 10 million yuan, Xiaoguo Culture will raise more than 100 million yuan, has comedy and capital reached a sweet date?

"Principal (Wang Sicong)'s Price Capital is just our pre A round financing, and we are about to complete a round A round of financing three times its magnitude." He Xiaoxi, CEO of Xiaoguo Culture, who has created "Tonight's Post-80s Talk Show" and "Roast Conference", told reporters.

This is a typical case of the comedy industry having another close contact with capital this year. The last time that attracted the attention of the industry was Jia Ling's Big Bowl Entertainment that received a capital injection of 10 million yuan from Beijing Culture. More than three months after its establishment, Big Bowl Entertainment has entered a normal track.

On the other hand, Sunrise Media, which made a fortune last year by starring in two dark horse comedy films,"Pancake Man" and "Charlotte Worry", continues to have its layout in comedy films this year. The "short film""Love God", which will be staged during the Lunar New Year, is created by a new team of people in the comedy field. It is reported that the cost of this film is above medium (but not a commercial blockbuster with huge investment). Will it be as small as last year?

Whether it is directly investing in comedy companies or investing in comedy projects, the comedy market and capital are undoubtedly getting closer and closer.

There is also a team of comedians who still focus on content and say they have no plans to contact capital for the time being. Among them are the Da Pan team, which belongs to the new school of comedians like Jia Ling, and the Dapeng team, which has already become famous with "Diao Si Man" and "Pancake Man". According to staff, the Dapeng team still belongs to the Sohu system.

It is true that the presence of capital is a good thing, but it may also bring negative impacts such as quarterly financial pressure and certain mutual exclusions between business logic and content production rules to companies that focus on content. So, what kind of capital is suitable for embracing comedy? What can you gain from investing in comedy and what risks will you encounter?

The star effect of the comedy world: Jia Ling's Big Bowl Entertainment is valued at 50 million

yuan."Hello, Li Huanying" is the first work of Big Bowl Entertainment led by Jia Ling after it became an army. This sketch was won in the "Comedy Story" program that night. First place. Big Bowl Entertainment, a company with a valuation of 50 million yuan, has been established for more than three months.

Li Kun, partner of Big Bowl Entertainment, disclosed to reporters some of the company's current situation. "Big Bowl artists have a characteristic that they are all composed of editors and directors." Li Kun told reporters. Indeed, the screenwriting work of "Hello, Li Huanying" was completed by four people, who also starred (except Sun Jibin). This is also the norm for Big Bowl products.

The all-member shareholding system is Dawan's incentive to its employees. In order to quickly stir up the company's artists, Big Bowl Entertainment uses the most hit live broadcasts, Short Video and other methods at the moment."We are actually using the hottest fan-economy method to become artists." Li Kun said.

This seems to prove that Beijing Culture did not mistake the wrong person. Li Duoyu, director of quality promotion of Beijing Culture, revealed that the company decided on its willingness to invest in cooperation because it saw the soaring trend of the comedy industry in recent years, the potential of the big bowl led by Jia Ling, and the high degree of consistency in the concepts of both parties.

In addition to capital injection, Beijing Culture's three companies, Ferris Wheel, Century Partner, and Zhejiang Xinghe Culture, will also carry out in-depth cooperation with Big Bowl Entertainment from content to channels. In the past, Ferris Wheel has independently developed and produced "You at the Same Table", participated in "Heart Flowers on the Road" and "Rescue My Mr.", and has successful experience in film promotion. Li Kun told reporters that next year Big Bowl Entertainment will have its own comedy movie. From content to channels, Big Bowl seems to have been opened up in advance.

The variety show and film markets are booming, and comedy companies are favored by capital

. Big Bowl Entertainment is not the only comedy company favored by capital. In May 2015, the Hip Hop Baggage Shop led by Gao Xiaopan completed the A round of financing. Although the financing amount was not disclosed, the investor's representative Songcheng Performing Arts issued an announcement at the time stating that it had jointly initiated the establishment of an on-site entertainment investment fund with Qixian Investment., the goal is to raise 1 billion yuan. Kaixin Mahua, which was just listed on the new third board at the end of last year, was valued at 5 billion yuan at that time.

The Xiaoguo culture, which became famous for creating "Tonight's Talk Show Post-80s" and specializes in localized American talk shows, received a total of 40 million yuan in capital injection from several investors, mainly Wang Sicong's Puri Capital last year. The latest news is that Xiaoguo Culture is about to complete Series A financing with an amount of more than 100 million yuan.

Why is the comedy market so favored by capital?

One source is the prosperity of comedy variety shows, which has become the next red sea for variety shows after talent shows, blind dates, parent-child, and speeches. Including the most popular "Happy Comedian", provincial satellite TV's comedy variety shows have reached more than a dozen stalls at most.

The ratings and market response of these comedy variety shows are good. The ratings of "Happy Comedian" in the first season soared from 0.9 when it started to a peak of 2.9 when it started, and its market share doubled several times. In the first season, the show did not have a main title, but in the second season, Lianjia paid a large price. Won the exclusive title. The title fee for the second season of "Smiling" is also over 100 million yuan.

Comedy movies have also had a bumper harvest in recent years. A string of lavish box office numbers proves that comedy films are indeed coming to a good time. Investing tens of millions of dollars can return ten times the original number, it is indeed a good business that does not lose money.

Xinli Film, which earned a lot of money last year due to its investment in Pancake Man and Charlotte Worry, still has plans to invest in comedy films this year. The upcoming Love Saint is its latest work. When CEO Li Ning of Xinli Film accepted an interview with reporters, he did not disclose the investment cost of the film, only indicating that it was at a medium-to-high level. However, the film's starring lineup has many familiar faces. Xiao Yang, Yan Ni, Xiao Shenyang, Qiao Shan, Allen, Chang Yuan, Dai Lele and other laughing craftsmen are on the scene together. Obviously, he also wanted to play a good card with a mix of strange tricks.

Li Ning believes that it is of little significance to just talk about IP or originality in the field of comedy. The reason why "Pancake Man" and "Charlotte" are popular is not because of the previous popularity of Dapeng, Shen Teng, Ma Li, etc., but the success of the film itself. Comedy creation relies heavily on outstanding talents. The screenwriters of "Love Saint" are Li Xiao and Yu Miao, who are famous for their masterpieces such as "The Real Man" and "Good Mr.". This is an important reason why Xinli has high hopes for this film.

The homogenization is serious and the scale is difficult to grasp. The sweet period for comedy and capital has not yet arrived

. However, although the overall situation is improving, the comedy market is still in the developing stage.

In the field of comedy variety shows, the trend of homogenization of programs is becoming more and more obvious. "League of Comedians" was suspended, and the title vendor RIO withdrew its order halfway."Let's Laugh" was transferred from satellite TV to terrestrial channels. It was also deeply suspected of plagiarism."Let's Laugh" lost tens of millions of dollars... At the

same time, the production costs of comedy programs cannot be reduced. A TV veteran once told reporters that comedy programs are very popular and cannot be downloaded if no more than two to three million yuan is available. Both big names and program quality are required. Advertisers do not fully recognize this market. Some "bad debts" mean that comedy programs cannot be played just if you want to.

The boundaries and scale issues of comedy programs often arouse heated discussions. Jia Ling once apologized for the "Hua Mulan Incident" and caused a lot of controversy in the Spring Festival Gala program "Goddess or Woman Man".

It has been four months since "Roast Conference" was taken off the shelves. He Xiaoxi, CEO of Xiaoguo Culture, told reporters that the next three or four episodes had actually been recorded when the first episode was broadcast, but after it was offline, all recordings were immediately suspended. It is reported that the program is currently in the final review stage and will be launched again soon. But it definitely caused some losses to the producers.

The comedy film market has also encountered a "cold snap" this year. Since 2012, domestic films have had at least one phenomenal comedy movie that is sold well and highly topical every year. There has been no such "hit" this year. The movie "Clockwork City"(starring Wang Ning, Wang Zijian, Xiu Rui, etc.), which has the genes of "Happy Mahua","Tonight's Post-80s" and "Love to Smile Conference Room", ultimately earned only 11 million yuan in box office; although the recently hit "Donkey Deshui" has the title of "Happy Mahua's Second Big Movie" and has a good reputation, it took seven days to break through 100 million yuan at the box office.

Of course, this is also related to the slowdown in market growth this year.

"Comedy is the most difficult of all TV programs. It requires very strong creative ability and particularly good acting talents, so it cannot be expanded quickly with money. It requires good resources on hand to enrich this industry, so I don't think capital is the best factor." Dong Zhaohui, CEO of Joy Media, told reporters.

This three-year-old program production company has gained a foothold through three comedy programs: "Happy Comedian","Smiling" and "Comedy Story", and has become the "top product" that first-line satellite TV stations are competing for. However, at present, there is no willingness to engage with capital.

In the interview, Dong Zhaohui tactfully said that he needed to wait until the company's profit model and profit prospects were relatively optimistic before considering combining it with capital. It is reported that the current main profit model of Happy Media is still "investing in programs → sharing advertising revenue with TV stations → using the copyright revenue of programs to sell online platforms." At the same time, it will also develop some Internet content and Internet value attached to programs. Make transactions with online platforms. This model may still be a bit simple for capital.

"The growth of comedy itself is still slow. Comedy (program) is inherently short, 20 minutes, and there may be uncertain factors such as season broadcasting and fallow. We cannot destroy this rule just because we have money. Cultural production is still regular." Although the financing of more than 100 million yuan is about to be completed soon, He Xiaoxi is still very cautious about capital.

He believes that the arrival of capital is indeed a good thing first, which can inspire practitioners and ensure that practitioners can better create comedy while having no worries about the economy; second, it can integrate more and more advanced resources to allow comedy works to spread. The channels for external spread are more diversified.

He Zhijian, managing director of Price Capital, who once invested in Xiaoguo Culture, told reporters that Xiaoguo Culture and Heroes List were one of the most important investment targets in early cultural and entertainment projects in Price Capital.

But Price Capital has no plans to invest in comedy companies since then. At the same time, He Zhijian said frankly that the trend of consumption upgrades is obvious and the comedy market is hot, which cannot be directly equated to the popularity of the investment target. Cultural and entertainment industry projects are Price Capital's strategic investment industry, so we do not absolutely pursue fast returns.

This shows that for investors, investing in comedy is not the "main course" of most investors. This is because this business is risky and uncertain. Even if it can develop smoothly, it will be difficult to get rich returns in the short term. In fact, after sorting out by reporters, there are actually not many successful cases of capital investment comedies. Most gold owners are still in a state of waiting and watching, while most content creators are still trying to explore the laws of creation and An effective combination of business logic.

Editor: yvette