In just half a year, the revenue spent on internal purchases of overseas short drama applications has soared by 280%, and the number of downloads has increased by 222 % , creating a total revenue of up to 170 million US dollars. This vertical screen content that domestic audiences both love and hate is attracting funds and assets in overseas markets and has become an extremely popular way for China's cultural and entertainment industry to develop overseas.
Leading players lead the way, but the competitive landscape has changed
By the end of February 2024, more than 40 short drama applications for the MBTI personality test have been tried in overseas markets. Among them, "Maple Leaf Theater" owned by Chinese Online has shown results by virtue of its early start, contributing 52% of downloads and 48% of revenue in the entire track, taking the lead with its absolute advantage.
However, things are not rock solid for those in the lead. Among the data provided in February 2024, it was shown that the revenue of "Short Play Paradise" under Diazhong Technology in the US market increased by 82% month-on-month. This revenue already accounts for 72% of the monthly revenue of "Maple Leaf Theater". The gap between the two is narrowing at a rapid rate at this time.
Internet article manufacturers have become the main force in going overseas. Content ecology is the key
The leading camp in the field of overseas short dramas is almost dominated by online novel manufacturers. Chinese Online is a company that exports online articles to overseas markets, Diazhong Technology is a company that goes overseas with online articles, Xinyue Technology is a company that goes overseas with online articles, Anyue Network is a company that goes overseas with online articles, Jiuzhou Culture and Changdu Technology are all companies that go overseas. They rely on their rich content reserves and IP resources to quickly occupy the top ten revenue rankings.
These manufacturers have transformed the domestic mature online writing experience and script resources into advantages in terms of short drama content. For example, the relevant parent company of "Maple Leaf Theater", in the early years of 2017, laid out the application of female interactive story mobile games and romantic web articles in Silicon Valley. In this way, countless and massive popular scripts and user data were actually accumulated for the subsequent short drama explosion.
The U.S. market contributes 60% of revenue and users’ ability to pay is astonishing
There is no doubt that the United States is the core market for overseas short dramas. Sixty to seventy percent of the total revenue from top short drama applications comes from here. Data shows that the average pay per download of "Maple Leaf Theater" and "Short Play Paradise" in the US market is six times that of other markets.
This is deeply related to the consumption habits of American users, specifically because their willingness and ability to pay are extremely strong, and they are still in a state of wanting to spend money on the content they are passionate about. In February 2024, the revenue of Dianzhong Technology's "Short Drama Paradise" in the U.S. market showed a significant increase, which fully confirmed that this market has huge development potential.
The Japanese market in Southeast Asia has suddenly emerged and is growing rapidly.
In January 2024, Kyushu Culture's "Kyushu Short Play", which is deeply loved by users in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, performed extremely well in the Southeast Asian market. Its downloads in the regional market increased rapidly by 6 times month-on-month, surpassing "Maple Leaf Theater" for the first time and becoming the most downloaded short play application.
"Sakura Short Drama" owned by Jia Shu Technology accurately targets the Japanese market. In February 2024, its revenue increased by 110% year-on-year. On the Japanese entertainment application iOS download list, "Sakura Short Drama" is on a continuous upward trend. At the end of February, it has jumped to sixth place, surpassing the local video application "U-NEXT".
Popular content is the engine of growth. Differentiated positioning to avoid giants.
Producing hit short plays is the key to the success of "Maple Leaf Theatre". In 2023, with the launch of a series of popular short dramas such as "Fated to My Alpha" and "Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire", the single-day downloads and revenue of this application increased rapidly, completely changing the previous mediocre performance.
In the North American market, competition in the video entertainment industry is extremely fierce, with many giants among them. "Maple Leaf Theater" relies on its unique user positioning to avoid direct competition with strong competitors such as "Network". The data shows that there are significant differences in the profiles of the two core user groups. They are completely different in terms of their favorite mobile applications and favorite advertising categories.
Advertising-driven user growth material explodes into turning point
If short dramas want to achieve user growth, advertising plays a key role. Data shows that the paid downloads of "Maple Leaf Theater" accounted for 78% of the total, and the paid downloads of "Short Play Paradise" and "Kyushu Short Play" accounted for 80% in their respective sectors, which fully demonstrates the importance of the purchase strategy.
The advertising material for the popular short play "Fated to My Alpha" has exploded on the platform, which has become a key point for "Maple Leaf Theater" to open up the US market. In early July 2023, the traffic and cost of this creative increased sharply, which was highly consistent with the first surge in app downloads, thus confirming the powerful pull effect of high-quality creative.
Are you optimistic about the business of exporting short plays overseas? Which region do you think has the greatest market potential in the future? The United States, which has a strong paying capacity, or Southeast Asia, which is culturally similar. You are welcome to share your views in the comment area and like it so that more people can witness this new wave of overseas content.
