"Dear, Princess Syndrome" has been viewed over 500 million times. Zhang Chaoyang: Online dramas will revolutionize the way Chinese people entertain themselves

When it comes to domestic idol dramas, the "old drivers" who like to follow the dramas must have endless complaints, because they have long been accustomed to the traditional routines of domestic idol dramas, Mary Sue and shocking plots, but in the end the lovers must get married.

At present, the homogeneity of domestic idol dramas is quite serious, and the innovation needs to be further improved. However, under this background, some high-quality idol dramas can still stand out from the crowd. For example, the Sohu-produced exclusive drama "Dear Princess Syndrome" was called the strongest "pink mudslide" in this summer season by netizens. Its total playback volume on Sohu Video exceeded 500 million, and the number of Weibo topic readings exceeded 1 billion.

So how did "Dear, Princess Syndrome" subvert domestic idol dramas?

The debris flow in Mary Sue's drama

"Mary Sue, Tom Sue" has been the creative trend of domestic idol dramas in recent years. Many popular IPs have eventually become traditional routines, which has disappointed the audience. The most attractive thing about the idol drama "Dear, Princess Syndrome" is that it does not follow the traditional idol drama settings. The audience exclaimed that idol dramas can be played like this: the male protagonist is a knight, the female protagonist is a princess, the second male protagonist is a prince, and the second female protagonist is Cinderella. In addition, various sweet tricks such as "patting the head", "hugging", and "wall-dong" are also performed in turn in the play. The romantic interactions between the male and female protagonists have melted a lot of drama fans.

Rather than saying that "Dear, Princess Syndrome" is an anti-traditional idol drama, it is better to say that "Dear, Princess Syndrome" is telling all girls the right way to survive. The heroine Lin Xingchen in the play has exchanged her hard work behind the scenes for the glamorous appearance in front of people. Even in the face of rumors and difficulties, she can always adjust her mentality and find a way out of the haze, and she does not rely on others to change her fate. The "real princess" Lin Xingchen in the play did not choose the prince who was well-matched, but followed her true heart and came together with the "Bear Knight" who had been silently accompanying and caring for her. This kind of pursuit of the true self, not being conceited because of nobility, and not retreating because of difficulties. I believe that every girl will have some insights after watching it. It can be said that the reason why "Dear, Princess Syndrome" is so popular is that in addition to the high-value leading actors and the unique painting style, the positive energy contained in the play is also an important reason why it can be so popular in this summer season.

Industry insiders believe that "Dear Princess Syndrome" has a "milestone" significance for videos, domestic web drama creation, and even the development of domestic idol drama themes. As a self-produced drama produced by a video website, "Dear Princess Syndrome" is not a "big IP" favored by the market, but the drama still gained super high popularity, which is closely related to Sohu Video's insistence on the "high-quality route" and continuous investment in self-produced dramas in recent years.

Online dramas will revolutionize the way Chinese people entertain themselves

Zhang Chaoyang, CEO of Sohu Group, once said, "Sohu Video is a video website with high emotional intelligence." In recent years, Sohu Video has proved that online dramas have a certain influence on the audience with a series of successful works such as "Diaosi Nanren", "Fleeting Time", "Wu Xin: The Monster Killer" and "He's Coming, Please Close Your Eyes". "We will select the best IPs in the market and use our own funds and external funds to create online drama content that may not be broadcast on TV. In fact, the traffic brought by this online drama is comparable to the traffic brought to us by the hit dramas of those large TV stations, but the cost is much lower, so we are working harder on self-made content."

Another point worth noting is that in addition to achieving good results in terms of playback volume, "Dear, Princess Syndrome" has also achieved over 1 billion readings on Weibo, nearly 150,000 searches on Baidu, and 560,000 comments on Bilibili.

Previously, the fake Weibo reading volume incident had caused quite a stir in the media circle, causing people to re-examine the so-called Internet data. In the face of this situation, Zhang Chaoyang said that in the current environment where the number of views of a web drama video can easily reach billions and the authenticity of the data is widely questioned, Sohu sticks to its principles and the viewing data of "Dear, Princess Syndrome" is absolutely true, without any water injection or fraud. He believes that this is an era of CP, and the popularity of "Dear, Princess Syndrome" also shows that web dramas produced by the Internet will become an important way for Chinese people to entertain themselves in the future.

As a self-made online drama, Sohu Video gave "Dear, Princess Syndrome" an extremely precise positioning, locking in the most effective audience, and successfully ignited the enthusiasm of netizens to complain on Sohu Video and Bilibili. According to statistics, the number of bullet comments in a single episode of "Dear, Princess Syndrome" totaled more than 50,000, far exceeding other popular dramas this year, and was called the king of bullet comment dramas by netizens.

This is also the reason why online dramas are more flexible than traditional TV dramas. They can be closer to the audience, and producers also pay more attention to the interaction with the audience. How to break the last barrier between tradition and the Internet from the perspective of viewing habits and audience groups will become the final hurdle in the creation of online dramas. And watching online dramas is becoming a new way for Chinese people to entertain themselves.

At present, my country's TV series and online self-made dramas have entered the fast lane of development, but behind the seemingly prosperous and high-yield, there are many problems in the scriptwriting, actors, production, broadcasting and other links. The real situation is that the entire domestic film and television industry is still in a bottleneck period. The emergence of high-quality domestic online dramas like "Dear, Princess Syndrome" and the close interaction with the audience indicate that the network platform has made new breakthroughs in the development and production of dramas.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.