Poster Talk丨Sweet pet short drama "controls" parents? The world of middle-aged and elderly people needs to be seen
2024-08-20
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Recently, the elderly version of the short play "The Overlord Falls in Love with Me" has become popular and has been on the hot list: "Flash Marriage at 50", "After Flash Marriage, the Overlord Spoils Me Crazy", "When I Turn 50, I Get a Flash Marriage with the Overlord"... The marriage, emotions and life stories of the elderly have become the "new traffic code" for the creation of short plays, and many netizens have gone to watch and check in. According to statistics, on the Douyin platform, "Flash Marriage at 50" has been played 89.99 million times, and related topics have been played 470 million times.
When all kinds of new things flash on the mobile phone screens of young people - new Chinese-style clothing, Internet celebrity check-in stores, niche travel guides... have you noticed that your parents' emotions and attention have been quietly attracted by short dramas about middle-aged and elderly people.
What do our parents like to watch?
According to the DataEye short drama popularity list and the WETRUE short drama popularity list, in the past three months, short dramas with middle-aged and elderly themes have occupied 4-5 seats in the TOP10 of the monthly list of investment flow popularity value.
Looking at the short dramas for the elderly on the market, they can be divided into two categories according to the labels: male-oriented and female-oriented. However, the essence of the story still revolves around emotional trivia, incorporating elements such as children's education, growth, family reunion, marriage and career. Male-oriented dramas use dual identities to increase the sense of excitement, while female-oriented dramas always use the heroine's sacrifice for the family to pull emotions.
For example, in the short drama "Flash Marriage at Fifty", which has been played more than 460 million times on Douyin, the two protagonists who are over 50 years old decide to go on a blind date because "I hope to have a companion when I get older." The simple and straightforward lines just express the thoughts of most elderly people today.
It is not difficult to find that the stories of these short plays are basically the topics that the elderly group is most concerned about today. The life experiences, emotional stories, and family choices of the male and female protagonists always have content that allows middle-aged and elderly audiences to project their emotions and see themselves in the short plays.
Middle-aged and elderly people have become high-quality audiences for short dramas
Many emotional needs of middle-aged and elderly people are often ignored. In China, parents often play the role of "giving". When they are young, they work hard for their families and children, and rarely pay attention to "self" awareness. When they retire, they lose the focus of life and the right to speak in the family. They begin to feel empty and ignored, and need a carrier to release and carry.
Short plays fill this gap.
QuestMobile data shows that in March 2024, the penetration rate of people over 50 years old will reach 26.5%, and the population size will reach 320 million people, with huge emotional consumption needs. At the same time, the "China Aging Industry Development Report" predicts that by 2050, the consumption potential of China's elderly population will increase from 4 trillion to 106 trillion.
Compared with young people who work overtime every day, have limited income, and "look for resources" everywhere, middle-aged and elderly people often choose to pay with one click. Therefore, in the eyes of many practitioners, middle-aged and elderly people are "high-quality audiences for short dramas."
They need to be seen behind the phone screen
The census shows that by the end of 2023, the number of people aged 60 and above in my country will reach 290 million, accounting for 21.1% of the national population. According to experts' predictions, this number will continue to grow in the future. The new generation of elderly people will be those born in the 1960s and 1970s, and will no longer be the stereotyped elderly who cannot use smartphones and watch TV every day.
As more and more middle-aged and elderly people "play around" with their phones and immerse themselves in the joy of watching short dramas, various problems have also arisen. Young people complain that their parents save money but end up spending tens of thousands on short dramas; middle-aged and elderly people complain that they are tricked into watching dramas, where they are asked to pay at a low price first, then the renewal option is checked by default, and then the price returns to normal after a few episodes. When they come to their senses and want a refund, they can't find the refund entrance.
It is a good thing for the elderly to be "seen" in short videos, but they cannot only be seen through short videos.
What we should reflect on is whether we, as children, can understand their needs, pay attention to their emotions, and give emotional feedback like the short video producers? After all, the love and companionship, understanding and respect of family members are the ultimate way to help them find their self-worth in the real world.
(Poster News Editor Zhang Qingbin compiled from The Paper, Upstream News, China.com, etc.)
