How did it become a hit? A look at the development model of Sohu Video's self-produced dramas from "Fox in the Screen"

Since 2012, Sohu Video has been making further and further progress in producing original domestically produced dramas, from the highly-clicked and well-received online comedy "Diaosi Man" to "Fleeting Time" and this year's "Dear, Princess Syndrome".

From dozens of online dramas in 2013 to more than 100 new online dramas in 2014, and then to more than 3,000 episodes in 2015, Sohu Video has been developing towards the diversification of online drama themes, whether it is comedy, romance, suspense, or mythology. The success of Sohu online dramas also reveals this truth: the emerging network will gradually replace traditional entertainment media and become the most popular viewing mode for young people.

How to make a web-made drama popular? See how Nextflix does it

The House of Cards, which became popular in 2013, showed us an important theory, the 4C theory, which is to reset the marketing mix model according to user needs and ultimately achieve user satisfaction. The four most important elements are Customer, Cost, Convenience and Communication. Companies usually put cost reduction first, based on consumer convenience, and determine their marketing model based on communication with consumers and their preferences.

How can we adjust according to consumer preferences?

At that time, Netflix conducted data analysis on nearly 30 million users. They compared users' search habits, drama evaluations, and viewing data to understand what the audience was most interested in and wanted to watch. This was the first step. Secondly, Netflix also actively introduced some technical means to ensure that terminal viewing devices have multiple playback modes. Users can watch videos smoothly on computers, laptops, Pads, mobile phones, including Blu-ray players, which greatly stimulated consumers' desire to watch.

At the same time, Netflix also made corresponding adjustments when considering paying users. Users only need to pay $7.99 per month to watch more than 100 million hours of high-definition programs. Compared with traditional cable TV and online paid channels, this relatively low price is more attractive to customers, especially young users. To some extent, it also implicitly laid the user foundation for the launch of "House of Cards". At the same time, Nextflix also offers users a free trial of one episode to attract regular users to transform into paying users.

Of course, this trick is now common on major video websites, but it was still very attractive at the time.

Promotion strategy is also very important for the ratings of the series. For this reason, Netflix has opened Twitter and Facebook accounts specifically for the series, and gradually promoted it among young people through information on social platforms. While setting up Facebook's "Like", you can also directly see the overall evaluation results, thereby promoting exchanges and communication among the audience.

In addition, Netxflix also paid a large sum of money to invite Kevin Spacey, a movie star who is well-known in the United States, to play the leading role. The reason why Kevin agreed to participate in the show is that the strength of the editor and the behind-the-scenes team made him very confident in the series. The quality of the script can be absolutely guaranteed by the supervision of James Frey and David Fincher. Due to the competition mechanism of American TV series, Netfilix and HBO and other cable pay channels also compete for ratings at the same time, which also stimulated Nextflix to spend more than 100 million US dollars to create this TV series.

The drama became the ratings champion in North America that year. It was not only loved by netizens, but also recognized by the industry. This is inseparable from the creation of the Nextflix team.

Will Sohu's self-produced dramas shine in 2016?

As the economic market, especially in an era where online dramas are everywhere, we should take the theme of marketing activities from the perspective of customer first, based on customer cost considerations, by making it convenient for customers to buy products to attract more consumers, and by finding content that best meets customer needs to plan the best marketing methods for products.

The biggest difference between online video and traditional TV is the importance of "big data", especially for Sohu. Through data analysis from Sohu input method, Sogou search engine, Sogou browser, etc., it can monitor what types of programs Chinese users like most, which provides a sufficient mass foundation for researching user content selection.

Sohu Video has been continuously developing its own dramas in recent years. The success of the "Diaosi Nanren" series proves that customer demand is a panacea for ratings and box office. Good IP elements will attract users to watch, and more importantly, as Sohu's highly recommended original self-made dramas, Sohu's early selection of content, actor selection, script adaptation and filming team are all based on consumer demand as the first leading force. Not only are they close to the lives of young audiences, but they also quote a lot of online fashion terms to make the dramas more vivid and interesting.

Taking the currently filmed "Fox in the Screen" as an example, the main theme of this drama is "high-value fantasy idol drama". Not only does it use new generation actors like Luo Yunxi and Liu Xinqi as the protagonists, but the screenwriter is also Cao Xiaotian, a post-90s screenwriter who was among the top 18 in Guo Jingming's new competition and the top 36 in the Manke MKT literary competition. It fully takes into account the characteristics of young audiences, especially those born in the 1990s.

In terms of directing, Zhou Haijun, a director who has been in the industry for 19 years and once studied under the famous Taiwanese photographer Dabao (Xiao Bicun), is the director of this drama. He was once called the King of Small Jibs for his superb use of small jibs, and has shot many costume dramas, including "Wulin Waishi" and "The Emperor of Han Dynasty II". The strong cooperation ensures the shooting quality of this drama.

In 2016, Sohu plans to broadcast up to 200 new TV series throughout the year. Especially in terms of self-produced TV series, Sohu Video will continue to expand the subject matter innovation, such as "Forensic Qin Ming", "Dear, Princess Syndrome", "My Intimate School Beauty" and other new series.

In addition, several self-produced online dramas such as "The Obsession Master", "Wuxin: The Monster Killer", and "He's Coming, Please Close Your Eyes" have upgraded their IPs, and major theatrical movies are also being planned.

Faced with the fierce competition among video websites for online dramas, Zhang Chaoyang, CEO of Sohu, believes that "in the past, online dramas were like using basins to collect the leftover water from TV stations. Now, online dramas can develop independently, with traffic of over 1 billion, and become works that have made a big splash in the city." His words fully show his confidence in Sohu's online dramas.

In the future, we will have to wait and see whether Sohu's self-produced dramas can continue to advance step by step and become the leader in domestic online self-produced 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.