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young people are tired of watching those cheesy skits and are now targeting middle-aged and elderly people.

a series of short dramas about middle-aged and elderly domineering presidents, such as "flash marriage at fifty", "flash marriage after fifty, the domineering president spoils me crazy", and "flash marriage mom", have dominated the short video platforms and started to target middle-aged and elderly audiences with wealthy wallets.

the male protagonist has changed from a rich second-generation and a son-in-law to a gray-haired domineering president. now the surface identity of the crooked-mouth dragon king is a retired driver, and the middle-aged domineering presidents fall in love with a fifty-year-old elegant aunt.

for couples who are in a flash marriage, the topics of conversation are retirement plans and inheritance, and the dating venues are not high-end restaurants or nightclubs and bars, but parks and squares.

the male and female protagonists, who are over a hundred years old in total, don't play any tricks or misunderstandings. they just get married and live together when they fall in love with each other. for them, living a good life is more important than anything else.

but short plays are still short plays after all, and the bloody routines remain the same, just like "the temptation to go home" launched a spin-off series about the story of the previous generation, and the protagonist of "the school beauty in white and the long legs" was changed to "parents' love".

young people who saw it for the first time were shocked:"such a familiar plot, such an unfamiliar age."

skits invade parents' phones

"my name is li xiuqin, i'm 45 years old, and i'm the lobby manager of jianghe hotel. i like to exercise and do square dance." a standard short play for middle-aged and elderly people started so vividly.

the short dramas that attract a lot of money cannot escape the reversal routine: the villains are snobbish and stereotyped to the extreme, and the protagonist or the protagonist's side happens to be a big boss with hundreds of billions of assets.in the early stage, he was humiliated by the villains around him, but in the later stage, he directly slapped the villains in the face and became the master.

there are three twists in one minute, and the whole process is full of slaps. the sad and exciting moments are flying together, which is aimed at mobilizing the audience's emotions. when the protagonists of the short play are replaced by a nearly 50-year-old widowed aunt and a gray-haired ceo, the plot routine is basically the same.

real-life contradictions such as discrimination against leftover women, dowry for blind dates, and children’s debts are infinitely magnified. the heroine is almost about to give up on herself, and she gets married to a ceo who falls out of the blue. all the contradictions are settled in an instant, and the emotional value is maximized.

the seemingly ordinary old partner is gentle, wealthy, and capable of both housework and cooking.

if the aunts have a sweetheart, it must be the middle-aged president in the short drama.

——he has thick eyebrows and big eyes, loves cooking, loves his wife and daughter, and is very wealthy.

changing the age and scene, the comparison of class reunion, dream-fulfilling bridal shop, and square dance bullying can still perfectly show the core charm of the word "sweet pet" and gain the attention of middle-aged audiences.

tv and film dramas with middle-aged and elderly people as the protagonists are already in short supply and rarely appear in the public eye. if they accidentally go viral, it is likely to be negative news.

the middle-aged idol drama "love at the corner" starring jiang wenli and ming dao was mocked by the entire network because of its awkward and embarrassing plot. jiang wenli herself was also given the ironic title of "nenli".

however, the stiff, awkward and even tacky film and television dramas for middle-aged and elderly people naturally have their audiences - middle-aged and elderly people who rarely express themselves on the internet and lack a sense of presence. they also like to watch short videos, live broadcasts, and pay for short dramas.

the only difference is that silver-haired women prefer the older version of the doting boss, love and hate in the square, and disputes between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and pay more attention to the emotional resonance in the details.

the heroine of "flash marriage at fifty" is not discriminating against the poor and favoring the rich. the reason for the blind date is not to start a twilight romance, but just to have a companion when she gets old.

the short dramas targeting senior men are obviously more tough in temperament, from "the return of old dad" to "father and son", which follow the same routine as "dragon king's son-in-law".

pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, the old ones are still the wisest, and teaching the arrogant and rude young man a lesson. the forgotten boss comes out again, and can solve all difficulties with just one stick.

it turns out that uncles and aunts are completely unable to resist this kind of plot routine that exploits human weaknesses.

some netizens found out that their mother recharged more than 6,000 yuan per month for short dramas. although the short dramas themselves are expensive, some short drama apps still have problems such as guiding payment and difficulty in cancellation.however, it also indirectly proves that the ability of middle-aged and elderly people to spend money should not be underestimated.

there are also some elderly people who have already put watching short dramas in the position of "daily must-do". they start watching dramas as soon as they open their eyes every day, and tend to be "addicted" to short videos.

"flash marriage at fifty" was on the top 3 of the short drama popularity list many times in june. its imitator "flash marriage with a rich partner" also successfully ranked first on the short drama popularity list two months later. the latter's related topic volume on the short video platform exceeded 1.5 billion.

people in the short drama industry also believe that middle-aged and elderly people are the "high-quality group" for short dramas because they are easier to satisfy.“i won’t look for pirated products, i will just click to pay”。

the short drama market will reach 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, and it is estimated that it will exceed 50 billion yuan this year, approaching the total size of the film market. according to beike finance, the short drama industry has nearly 70% of middle-aged and elderly audiences. the middle-aged and elderly group directly assumes the main consumption of this emerging large market.

in other words, the content consumption market for middle-aged and elderly people is a blue ocean that has rarely been exposed in the past but is extremely profitable.

short plays change the world first

short plays for middle-aged and elderly people, performed by middle-aged and elderly people, and aimed at middle-aged and elderly audiences. this model is actually a new phenomenon in china.

after all, the news that veteran actors have no more roles to play has repeatedly been on the hot search list.

if we look at the world, there are many tv dramas with middle-aged and elderly people as the protagonists every year, and actors can still play roles even when they are old. in the european and american film and television circles, stories of late success and immortality have been staged repeatedly in recent years.

tom hanks, who is in his sixties, is still bravely working in the entertainment industry, michelle yeoh has left her name on the hollywood walk of fame at the age of retirement, and aunt may, who is in her seventies, is still standing strong.

hollywood stars have a blooming period but no shelf life. even when they reach retirement age, they still continue to receive film offers and have the opportunity to compete for various awards.

however, in the domestic entertainment industry, high-quality works with middle-aged and elderly actors as the protagonists have always been quite scarce, as if older actors can only play supporting roles in film and television dramas, or star in sensational tear-jerker films that have received mediocre market response.

with the big failure of "love at the corner", acting young, love scenes and taking advantage of age seem to be the three minefields for middle-aged and elderly actors. song dandan, who played the "feudal patriarch" in variety shows, has announced her retirement many times. liu xiaoqing, who is over 70 years old, said in an interview that she could play daji, and was mocked for being unbearable to watch.

whether on the small screen or the big screen, most of the audience are young people full of vigor and vitality, and capital is more willing to pursue the public's preferences, always young, and always loving young actresses and fresh meat.

the cheesy short dramas that have always been criticized for being formulaic, melodramatic, and vulgar have taken the lead in accepting middle-aged and elderly actors, and have also recognized the content consumption needs of middle-aged and elderly audiences.

there are retired civil servants who are making use of their spare time by shooting short dramas in hengdian. as there are fewer middle-aged and elderly actors and a greater demand for them, as a special actor (a minor supporting role with a few lines), his salary is much higher than that of an extra in an ordinary short drama.

he has played the role of a domineering chairman, the protagonist's father, and an elderly prisoner kneeling and kowtowing, and can earn 500 to 1,000 yuan a day.

li ruotong, the former little dragon girl, has also found another opportunity to work in the short drama track. she has the script of a heroine who is a middle-aged mother returning to the workplace. she captures the emotions and the pleasure of the mothers.

the short drama industry has flexible output and is keen to follow hot topics. its content is all-encompassing, but the ultimate goal of short dramas is investment and return.what content will appear depends on what the audience likes to watch and what can become a hit with a high conversion rate.

now that there are middle-aged sweet pets and old guns coming out, the plots of old-age time travel, nursing home turmoil, being a socialite in the senior citizen university, and rebirth as rong mama/liu laolao are not far away.

on the other side of the mobile phone screen, there are many young people who are addicted to short dramas. according to data from questmobile,in march this year, nearly 40% of the users of the top short drama app were 46 years old and above, and nearly half of the users spent 1,000 to 1,999 yuan online every month.

the initial audience of short plays was the "three security groups", namely nannies, security guards and cleaners. this audience portrait may be outdated. now, it is more likely that people who are addicted to short plays are parents in their 40s and 50s who have money and free time.

in the public's impression, middle-aged and elderly people do not get along well with electronic products such as mobile phones. they prefer tv programs, outdoor mountain climbing, chess, cards and mahjong, and have no interest in the internet and short videos.

in this place where the internet penetration rate has reached 78%, the silver-age group is like non-magic muggles in the magical world. it seems that they will become targets of fraud as long as they go online.but what is counterintuitive is that many people born in the 1960s and 1970s are more experienced "phone-addicted people" than young people.

the internet is not necessarily just for young people

“the world is yours, and it is ours, but ultimately it is yours.”

people usually think that the internet belongs to young people. among the nearly 1.1 billion internet users, nearly 32.5% are over 50 years old, and there are nearly 300 million middle-aged and elderly internet users.

they are not only the people who like your posts on wechat moments and forward health articles in family groups, but they may also be strangers who play candy crush with you, or the super-successful people who have checked in on duolingo for more than 600 days and are always one or two places ahead of you in the tournament rankings.

some fathers also picked up new devices and played the old game "age of empires 2", which became popular all over the country when it was released in 2000. they spent hundreds of hours conquering every country in the world equally in the electronic world.

there is also a mother who wakes up early in the morning and turns on "animal crossing", fishing and catching insects on a peaceful and quiet island to earn pocket money, and finds a sense of purpose in the virtual world again.

at a time when short videos have basically penetrated young users, middle-aged and elderly users are seen as the "last incremental growth." it is said that in the early days of wechat video account, users over 45 years old accounted for more than 70%.

the silver-age group is not only an audience on the internet, but also a creator. on a domestic short video platform, more than a quarter of the landscape photography content is created by middle-aged and elderly people.

dating and love apps such as momo, soul, and baobao have attracted more and more middle-aged and elderly people. many netizens chat well online, but when they meet offline, they find that the other party is older than them.

from learning, gaming, socializing to browsing short videos for content consumption,in fact, the needs of the elderly for surfing the internet are no different from those of the young, except that the things they like have more distinct preferences and traces of the times.

when this generation of people born in the 90s and 00s gets older, men may still love to play "black myth", while women will still watch dramas and variety shows and be attracted by otome games.

according to the data from the national bureau of statistics, by 2023, the population over 60 years old will reach 296 million, accounting for 21.1% of the national population. according to the relevant classification standards of the united nations, we have fully entered a moderately aging society. concepts such as young people's "old-fashioned consumption" and the silver economy are gaining more attention.

as society moves towards aging, the turn of short plays may just be a small aspect that is first discovered under the tide of the times.