Trending on TV and Video: Summer of Suspense and Short Video Recaps
Plus: Louis Vuitton's Covid curiosity, Netflix mooncakes, and Tencent Music at risk?
Suspense has become one of the most popular genres for TV and video dramas in China, up there with romance and historical dramas. Fueled by compelling narratives that are often sourced from popular online novels with large readerships, they can bring an existing audience of passionate fans to small-screen adaptations, generating additional word-of-mouth publicity via social media.
While iQiyi and Youku have drawn much attention for their suspense “theater” models, Mango TV is also making moves with two series in its summer lineup: The second season of celebrity reality show “Great Escape” (密室大逃脱) and youth drama “Consummation” (拾光的秘密).
The concept of “Great Escape” revolves around locking stars in a space with some terrifying elements and watching them try to escape. The cast is full of celebrities who are among the China’s most commercially valuable, with numerous endorsement deals among them — perhaps the best known is actress Yang Mi, nicknamed the “goddess of goods” for her ability to boost demand for the brands she represents, such as Victoria’s Secret, Estée Lauder, Stuart Weitzman, and Mo & Co.
“Great Escape” has drawn more than 720 million views since its release, a boon for its sponsors, which include soft drink brand Mirinda as title sponsor, Huawei, Swedish beauty tech firm Foreo, and SKG massagers. One of the cast members, singer Huang Minghao, is a spokesperson for Mirinda, and he offered fans a chance to win some of the branded headbands that he wore on the show. Another guest, actor Deng Lun, represents Foreo, showing how brands are able to follow their celebrity ambassadors onto the shows they star in to boost their marketing.
“Consummation” stars a group of relative newcomers, and the plot revolves around a group of high school friends who come together 10 years after graduation to try and solve a mystery through a virtual game. It is sponsored by bubble tea chain The Alley, fashion inspiration and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu, and the interactive livestreaming app KeLaKeLa, which encourages fans of the show to engage with its stars through their personal livestreaming rooms.
Meanwhile, Dragon TV’s “Nothing But Thirty” (三十而已, also streaming on Tencent Video) has been the talk of the summer with its focus on the lives and loves of stylish urban women as they approach the critical age of 30, drawing a staggering 4 billion views and 237 hot searches on Weibo since its debut last month.
But audiences are not necessarily following the series on TV, with many viewers catching up on the show via the widespread sharing of “short clips” (短视频追剧). These are snippets of recommended content on social platforms — in particular short video app Douyin and the fashion- and beauty-focused Xiaohongshu — such as episode highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and the latest news and gossip about the stars, allowing those short on time to get up to speed on the latest plot twists.
“Nothing But Thirty” clips have been viewed 15.4 billion times on Douyin and 430 million times on Xiaohongshu. With a user base that is almost 90% female and a core of fashion and beauty content, Xiaohongshu’s success with “Nothing But Thirty” could mark a turning point for the app’s to serve as an important new channel for film and television content marketing.
On Douyin as well, film and television clips have consistently topped the popularity rankings, showing how audiences are increasingly viewing the latest hits in this fragmented fashion. Brands that are active as sponsors on TV and video streaming platforms need to align their related social media marketing efforts to capture these viewers who are not watching shows in their original form.
Although “Nothing But Thirty” was originally broadcast on satellite network Dragon TV, Tencent Video has put its own imprint on the series with its marketing, including a creative film that it made to promote the show. The video streaming platform also offers brands additional opportunities for integration with the drama’s content through its specially tailored offerings.
Tencent Video created campaigns around the concepts of a “Thirty Manifesto” (三十宣言) and “Thirty but Powerful” (三十而力), with inserted creative ads starring actress Yao Tong that align the theme surrounding women in their thirties with products from sponsors Vipshop, skincare brand Kans, and the English learning app ABCmouse.
- by Ginger Ooi, CCI Team
Mentioned in today’s newsletter: ABCmouse, Douyin, Dragon TV, Estée Lauder, Huawei, Kans, Keep, Louis Vuitton, Spotify, Stuart Weitzman, Tencent Music Entertainment, Vipshop, Xiaohongshu.
Was Louis Vuitton's Shanghai Show a Glimpse of the Future or a Covid-19 Curiosity?
Coming on the heels of an animated short film debut at the digital edition of Paris Fashion Week, this week Louis Vuitton showed off its new Spring/Summer 2021 menswear collection with a fashion show in Shanghai that was livestreamed globally — the first stop in a touring series of runways presentations. Adopting the “cloud living” trend that has swept through fashion in this coronavirus-hit year, the show — despite its obvious offline aspect, featuring celebrities and guests seated along the catwalk — promoted its online side via a heavily publicized livestream and full-court social media press.
As Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh explained to WWD, the goal for this show was to go against luxury’s reputation for exclusivity and show off the new collection to a “macro-audience.” That, in turn, influenced the new looks on display. As Abloh put it, “The collection is now designed with the idea of it being broadcast on hundreds of thousands of screens, so that’s having an effect on the clothes. I look at my studio as a mix between Disney and an art-making studio.”
Read the full story on CCI. And for more on how the event helped reimagine fashion marketing in China, check out this feature from Jing Daily presented by GQ China.
Today, August 13, from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT, join CCI sister publication Jing Travel for a webinar on “WeChat Optimization for DMOs & Cultural Institutions,” with insights from Lauren Hallanan, Head of Marketing at Chatly and Peter Huang, Managing Editor at Jing Travel, along with a panel discussion featuring Theresa Belpulsi, VP of tourism, sports and visitor services at Destination DC, Carly McCloskey, assistant director of tourism sales and marketing for The Museum of Modern Art, and Julie White, marketing manager at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The guests will share how their organizations have incorporated WeChat into their China strategy and what tactics they have found most effective for driving ROI.
Click here to register for the webinar
CCI Take: Is Tencent Music’s Global Expansion at Risk?
Tencent Music Entertainment’s growth depends on the company’s ability to ink exclusive deals with international partners as well as invest unimpeded in overseas markets. But recently, TME parent company Tencent — by way of its super-app WeChat — was among the companies singled out by the Trump administration as potential targets for a U.S. ban. (Following a vague announcement that has left Tencent investors and executives desperately seeking clarification.)
While it is unlikely that Tencent (which has a number of deep partnerships with American firms) will be banned from doing business in the U.S., even being mentioned in the same sentence as the word “ban” is bad press that Tencent and TME would prefer to do without as they continue making significant strides in both music and gaming.
This week, some eyebrows were raised with the announcement that Universal Music Group (UMG) had signed a multi-year direct licensing agreement in China with TME as well as its rival NetEase Cloud Music, a break with UMG’s previous exclusive agreements with TME.
Netflix Dips a Toe Into Content Commerce With Lady M Collaboration
Regular readers of CCI will be familiar with the wave of seemingly unrelated brand collaborations that have proven exceptionally popular in China, ranging from Pepsi x People’s Daily to Airbnb x HeyTea, but to date, we have seen relatively few content-commerce partnerships in North America that take the China approach of combining strong brands from disparate sectors to create something that just sort of works.
Yet this is starting to change as more Western brands look to unique models of content commerce designed to either promote new products or attract new audiences. The latest such attempt is a three-way collaboration between Netflix, the premium confectioner Lady M, and Pearl Studio on a limited-edition mooncake lantern that promotes the new animated musical “Over the Moon.”
The Lady M mooncakes included in the package are couched in a specially designed lantern package that includes scenes from the Pearl Studios-produced, Netflix-distributed film -- which adapts the Chang’e folk tale that is tied to the consumption of mooncakes (key pieces of the Mid-Autumn Festival).
Download Jing Daily and Content Commerce Insider’s white paper “Next-Level Livestreaming: How Luxury Brands Can Stand Out to Drive E-Commerce Sales” to discover the evolution of e-commerce livestreaming in the Chinese market. In the report, we break down everything luxury brands need to know – from successful case studies to best practices – to get ahead of livestreaming in China.
Brand Film Pick: Keep Fitness
For many, the first half of 2020 offered a tumultuous lesson in life's uncertainties. The ever-changing coronavirus pandemic, raging floods, and declining economic conditions have caused mass fear and confusion. When life presents us with such challenges, how should we respond? Last week, on China’s National Fitness Day, the sports technology brand Keep, which operates a popular fitness app, released a brand film series in collaboration with the team behind the acclaimed “Life Matters" (人间世) documentary series, which focused on medical cases and ran for three seasons. The set of four films, known as the “Impermanence Quartet” (无常四重奏), promotes exercise as a way to take control of one’s life.
"Spring Thunder” (春雷): The protagonist of the first installment is nine-year-old soccer player Zhang Jingyun, who has been training at the Putuo District Soccer School since the age of 6. Although she sometimes felt like quitting, after three years of hard training, Jingyun has become her team's superstar. While she does not know what the future holds, Jingyun feels confident in her ability to compete and succeed.
"Summer Fire” (夏火) details the daily life of 26-year-old Lu Wu, who dreams of becoming a firefighter. Every day, in addition to completing the fire academy’s drills, Wu pushes himself to jump rope, lift weights, and run. After becoming a firefighter, he will need a strong body and mind to save lives.
“Autumn Sword” (秋刀) takes us into the life of Zhao Weiguo, a neurosurgeon at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital. The 56-year-old averages three operations a day, and Zhao swims regularly order to improve and maintain the coordination of his hands. Abundant physical strength and superb medical skills make him better qualified for his job, and he applies the same determination from swimming to providing patients with care during surgery.
"Winter Wheel” (冬轮) is the finale, following Xu Changrong, a 74-year-old old man with a passion for bicycling. While he may not be getting any younger, Changrong maintains good physical health and is reminded of how much life he has left to enjoy by riding.
“Impermanence” draws inspiration from the “Life Matters" documentary series' touching real-life stories and in-depth portrayal of humanity and relationships. The quartet follows four people of different backgrounds and at different stages of life, each showing how to surmount the challenges and uncertainties of existence by working hard, following their passions, and eventually becoming stronger and taking control of their lives.
Keep uses its brand film to convey how exercise provides us with a degree of certainty in an uncertain world, introducing the slogan, “Keep can break through,” to suggest how life’s many obstacles can be overcome through self-motivation and self-discipline.
In producing “Impermanence," Keep succeeds at equating its company's values with those held by the series’ four protagonists. The film’s theme of hard work and perseverance, especially during life's most challenging moments, resonates with viewers who are currently confronting similar situations. China’s coronavirus experience increased consumer attention to health and wellness, and interest in fitness has been sustained in its aftermath. While there may be a serious shortage of traditional exercise and sporting venues, Keep offers to help its users overcome the challenge by continuing to provide more diverse exercise content through its online and offline technologies.
- by Ben Guggenheim, CCI Team
Report Corner
CBNData released its “Global Fashion IP White Paper” and Fashion IP 100 list, which sees Kanye West’s Yeezy brand top the rankings of the most commercially valuable label in the Chinese market.
WeChat mini-programs now have 450 million daily active users, with 12% of them shopping through these features, according to a comprehensive “bible” on the subject from Fabernovel and 31ten.
News in English
Tencent plans to create a gaming livestreaming giant with the merger of U.S.-listed platforms Douyu and Huya, although the move could draw scrutiny from Chinese anti-monopoly regulators. Caixin
Data sharing, coalition building, and cooperation on “super-app” platforms are three routes for digital collaboration that brands can leverage in the Chinese market. Harvard Business Review
A look at how group buying and subscription business models can help drive monetization and maintain customer retention. Parklu
Photo or video or livestreaming? An influencer shares her tips for the best performing content types on social media/e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu. China Marketing Insights
From “blind boxes” to “blind businesses”: A new company called Angry Miao has generated a lot of buzz with its exclusive Gen Z focus and mystery surrounding what product or services it will actually offer. Caixin
Shanghai’s West Bund Art Center is becoming a hub for luxury brand activity — it served as the location for the recent Louis Vuitton men's Spring/Summer 2021 show and will host an exclusive Swiss watch event next month. Fashion United
Chinese authorities have banned 40 livestreamers for illegal activities in the latest move to clean up the industry. KrAsia
Film studio Huanxi has ambitious plans to draw premium subscribers to its video streaming service with more international content, such as the British miniseries “Quiz.” Hollywood Reporter
Trump’s proposed WeChat ban would have an impact on American brands that sell to Chinese consumers outside China, although the impact on consumers in China would be minimal. Glossy
A day in the life of shooting a brand film for Siemens in China. SHPPLUS
We’ve Got China Covered
China Film Insider: Several Cinema Restrictions to Be Eased Soon, Starting from Major Cities Including Shanghai and Chengdu
Jing Daily: Luxury Brand Rivalries Heat Up During Chinese Valentine’s Day
Jing Travel: Relic to Replica: Can Blind Boxes Connect Chinese Museums With Millenials?
Thanks for reading - we’ll be back on Tuesday with more news and commentary. We love hearing from you, so if you’ve got any story tips, are interested in sponsoring a white paper or report, or just want to say hello, contact us today!