The short drama craze continues, Baidu's progress and ambitions
2024-08-24
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Around 2020, when film and television companies, MCNs and the media were still questioning whether short dramas were just a "hot topic", they probably didn't expect that the golden period of rapid development and explosive growth of short dramas would come so quickly.
Since last year, short dramas have been growing rapidly. According to the 2023-2024 China Micro-Short Drama Market Research Report by iiMedia Research, the domestic micro-short drama market size reached 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, achieving an astonishing annual growth rate of 267.65%. It is expected that its market size will double several times in 2027, breaking through the 100 billion yuan mark.
As the "dissemination field" for short dramas, Internet platforms have always been a key link in the development of the industry. At present, major companies are almost "all in", and regardless of whether their main business is directly related to content, they all participate in it in different ways - Youku, iQiyi, Douyin, Kuaishou and other long and short video platforms have played a leading role in promoting the industry from the beginning; e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Pinduoduo followed closely, and life service platforms such as Meituan also joined in; Xiaohongshu also began to launch a support plan specifically for short dramas this year, and Baidu has also started to actively deploy since last year.
Due to differences in business characteristics and organizational structures among various players, everyone has different layout ideas and rhythms. Although Baidu was a latecomer, it has grown rapidly: official data shows that since the layout of the short drama business, the number of short dramas uploaded to the Baidu platform has increased by more than 100% year-on-year for several consecutive quarters, and the number of daily active users of Baidu short dramas has exceeded 39 million. In the past six months, the user growth rate has exceeded that of the Douyin and Kuaishou platforms. What did Baidu do behind the growth? It is worth further investigation.
01 All in skits? Different strategies
Various Internet platforms entered the short drama business at different times, and different operating strategies directly shaped the current status of the short drama market.
Take Kuaishou as an example. It is one of the earliest platforms to develop short drama business. In the early stage, the audience of short dramas overlapped with Kuaishou's core user group to a high degree. From Kuaishou Star Short Drama to Drama Star Plan, Kuaishou has always been in a leading position in the development of the industry from the content level. It can even be said that the short drama industry started with Kuaishou. At present, Kuaishou's short drama business still retains its own advantages in terms of commercial realization.
Let's look at Baidu. In 2020, Baidu had already seen the trend of short dramas, but due to internal evaluation and insufficient resource investment, the business did not make much progress. In 2023, Robin Li made it clear at the annual meeting that "Baidu and short dramas are a good fit", and Baidu's short drama business began to accelerate. According to insiders, within MEG, the leadership will conduct strategic supervision of the business in the form of weekly meetings, and participants include Baijiahao, information flow, search, business, user growth and other related departments. It can be seen that although Baidu's short dramas entered the market late, the top-down promotion force is strong and the strategic importance is high, so the layout rhythm is naturally faster.
At present, Baidu has clearly defined its strategic positioning - taking "free short dramas" as its main development direction.
First of all, from a competitive perspective, if a player enters the market late, he or she must find a way to differentiate from the crowd. Baidu APP specifically defines and emphasizes the feature of "free", which will to a certain extent attract users' attention and establish a new image of Baidu APP as a short drama viewing platform in the minds of users in the competition with other platforms.
Secondly, from the user's perspective, the free model is more suitable for Baidu. Most of the users of Baidu APP come to search, browse information, or watch videos. When users are using the APP, they can naturally swipe and watch short dramas for free, which is obviously easier to convert. Moreover, APP GROWING has conducted a survey and found that the main group of users of Baidu APP are middle-aged users, 57.5% of users are over 31 years old, and 11.1% of users are 41 years old and above. Free short dramas can more directly and quickly make the original core users develop the habit of watching short dramas on Baidu, so making free short dramas is also very suitable.
In addition, the choice of free or paid is a matter of balancing cost investment and utility, as well as considering the characteristics of the product itself.
For example, as long and short video platforms have developed, users have become more and more demanding in terms of content quality, so platforms are willing to pay a high price to ensure high standards in content quality, which is why they are suitable for exclusive, paid short dramas. E-commerce and local life platforms deploy short dramas to establish immersive consumption scenarios. The core purpose of users coming here is not to watch dramas, so it is not appropriate to pay at this time. Information platforms have high distribution efficiency, so free short dramas have more opportunities - this is exactly the case with Baidu APP.
From the perspective of organizational structure, Baidu's content ecosystem was incorporated into the information distribution business at the beginning of this year, which has led to a closer linkage between content and distribution, and the breakthrough of short dramas has become a top priority. This year's Spring Festival is the first battle for Baidu's short dramas to break through. It is understood that one month before the Spring Festival, Baijiahao introduced short dramas on a large scale, launched a series of Spring Festival-themed customized dramas, launched a short drama entrance on the homepage of Baidu APP, launched multiple activities to subsidize users to watch for free, and even the recommendation strategy has carried out special attacks on the recommendation effect of short dramas. Baidu's comprehensive offensive is intended to seize the golden period of short drama consumption during the Spring Festival and enhance the market awareness of Baidu's short dramas.
At present, Baidu's short drama operation strategy is also being adjusted and gradually becoming clear. It is reported that Baidu has shifted from strong supply to strong operation, and has adopted the method of purchasing content from suppliers or introducing MCN organizations to operate short dramas on behalf of others. Baidu APP focuses on distribution to C-end users. As a national-level APP, it has fully utilized its advantages in content distribution. It is reported that Baidu has also recently focused on the layout of exclusive broadcasting of high-quality short drama content, hoping to gain a place in the high-quality short drama market.
02 Why is infrastructure so important?
As a medium and channel for the dissemination of short dramas, the role of the Internet platform is to connect rather than directly produce content. Therefore, whether it is a pre-planning or a follow-up, the platform must complete the construction of infrastructure to ensure that it can effectively carry, promote and promote the continued prosperity of short drama content on the site.
Douyin, which has invested the most in content ecology, is also one of the platforms that is most valued by the short drama industry. Accurate big data recommendations and direct jump diversion paths are the most important factors for commercial investment in Douyin. At the same time, Douyin is currently deploying both the native short drama business on the terminal and the independent application "Hongguo Short Drama". On the one hand, Douyin's commercial short drama investment revenue is growing rapidly, and on the other hand, Hongguo Short Drama is also creating DAU and duration myths, continuously improving the scale of mentality and cognition in the industry. It is reported that Douyin Short Drama is currently focusing on the IAA and IAP short drama models, and has been vigorously promoting institutions to try these two new monetization models. I believe that with the huge traffic blessing, the native monetization model of Douyin Short Drama on the terminal cannot be underestimated.
Other platforms are still coming on strong, so it is particularly important for Baidu to build a good infrastructure. Serving the source of content "upward" is the primary task in infrastructure construction.
Creators, platforms and users are closely intertwined, jointly building a content ecosystem, in which the platform plays a vital role: it must not only plan and continuously promote the improvement of the creator growth system, but also upgrade and iterate the product design and content distribution logic, and run through diversified monetization paths to bring real money benefits to creators, thereby further stimulating their creative enthusiasm.
Baidu's series of layout actions this year can be summarized as the "this and more" mentioned above.
The first is the launch of the short drama open platform. This is a one-stop management platform for short dramas, which mainly provides more convenient and low-threshold operation and management solutions by optimizing processes and simplifying operating tools. While maximizing the efficiency of short drama creators in publishing, it can also provide clearer insights into data change trends for creators to use in long-term operations on the site.
Secondly, Baidu APP has also launched a "Short Drama Partner" support plan. The plan provides copyright incentives of up to 100 million yuan. No matter what type of short drama you participate in, you can enjoy the support of Baidu's multi-terminal top resources, as well as high cash rewards and platform full-process business protection. This "inclusive" incentive measure can more efficiently attract a wide range of short drama creators to join in a short period of time.
Under this support plan, the monetization model of Baidu Short Dramas is also very clear.
Creators of free short dramas can choose between two modes: gambling and profit sharing. The gambling mode has a guaranteed bonus and subsequent income bonus, while the profit sharing mode enjoys a step-by-step income growth. Creators of exclusive dramas can enjoy high revenue sharing income, and will also have Baidu's multi-terminal head resource tilt, platform secondary creation resource joint publicity and promotion, and investment promotion and monetization assistance. Paid short drama creators can distribute and invite a large number of experts to mount with one click to increase the payment rate. They can also live broadcast trailers and Bai+ investment to increase the exposure of the original film and expand the paid conversion pool. The payment function also supports personalized pricing, as well as virtual currency and other gameplay.
It can be seen that these innovative measures have enriched the profit-making methods of short dramas and given creators more options, allowing them to flexibly adjust strategies according to their own circumstances and maximize their profits.
While serving the content source well upward, it is also essential to serve the users "downward".
Since entering the market, Baidu has gone through multiple rounds of optimization for the distribution mechanism of short dramas. After the short drama portal was launched on the homepage of Baidu APP, it was almost just a matter of time for C-end users to establish their minds and cultivate the habit of consuming short dramas. Now, in matrix products such as Haokan Video and Baidu Express Edition, it has become easier and easier for short drama content to reach users. It can be said that Baidu Short Drama's operation logic of strong distribution to the C-end maximizes the value of each short drama.
In terms of products, Baidu APP has launched a new homepage design, where users can freely set vertical content sections according to their preferences and interests, which greatly increases the reach of short drama content. At the same time, there is now a clear and fixed short drama entrance in the APP. After entering, users can also see the list and subject classification at the top, which not only simplifies the user's drama search process, but also creates a more immersive theater for watching.
Baidu has also planned a series of operational activities to attract users. For example, during this summer, Baidu APP launched the "Summer Free Short Drama" activity, providing users with 500 limited-time free short drama resources. At the same time, Baidu APP has also launched more exclusive short dramas, including the short drama "Bone Erosion" co-broadcasted with Blue Harbor Pictures, "The Most Familiar Stranger" co-broadcasted with Gu Ma Jiagang, and "Waiting for You to Go Home" co-broadcasted with Quanzhou Culture and Tourism, etc., to meet users' demand for high-quality short dramas with high-quality content of various themes.
03 Content ecology must score key points on the exam paper
Industry insiders analyzed that in less than a year, Baidu Short Drama was able to quickly expand its number and scale, and the platform was able to quickly clarify a series of layouts, which was beyond many people's expectations. In the Internet industry, when people mention Baidu's mobile ecology, they habitually call it Baidu's basic plate or ballast business. But many people know that Baidu's content ecology has been facing tremendous growth pressure in recent years. On the one hand, external competitors such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu have gradually established themselves in the market and even affected user search habits; on the other hand, under the background of AI reconstruction, how to reflect Baidu's technological advantages in innovative user experience is also a major issue it faces.
As a mature product, it is not uncommon to face development bottlenecks, and Baidu's actions and layout in the past year have also shown the market that Baidu will make more innovative attempts in content to further prosper its content ecosystem. This is like a big test for Baidu, and short plays are one of the key questions that must be scored.
Since entering the mobile Internet era, Baidu has quickly set about building a content ecosystem, giving birth to Baijiahao and achieving closer ecological synergy within the product system. Since then, Baidu's mobile ecosystem has begun a journey of continuous content enrichment and expansion. Although Baidu started a little slowly in the video ecosystem, which has made Baidu appear to be catching up in the content ecosystem, now with the continued growth of its information flow business and the continuous improvement of its monetization capabilities, both users and creators have gained more. Today's short dramas are a new content expansion. In the cruel market environment and fierce competition, Baidu has to make continuous innovation and the ability to quickly adapt to market changes its must-have options.
From a more macro perspective, we can indeed see that the current content ecological layout of Baidu APP is becoming increasingly rich. Although compared with short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, the Baijiahao ecosystem still does not seem strong enough, but according to public data, in 2023, the scale of Baijiahao creators has exceeded 9.7 million, and the daily posting volume has also achieved an 88% year-on-year increase. Such results are not easy for a platform that has been running for more than ten years.
Many people in the industry are used to calling Baidu APP a national-level application. Users are used to searching, browsing, and asking questions in its familiar companionship day after day. However, after entering the era of short videos and live broadcasts, Baidu has indeed slowed down its pace in content. Baidu's high-profile layout and rapid results in the short drama business have won a big score in the content ecology, which must have given the industry some confidence and given users new expectations.
Lu Yue
