Whether you understand it or not, the craze for web dramas adapted from 2D IPs has arrived.

2014 was the “first year of online self-produced dramas”; 2015 was the year of the booming development of online self-produced dramas; in the coming 2016, what kind of year will it be for online dramas?

According to statistics, in the first half of 2015, a total of 166 online dramas were launched online, which is close to the total number in 2014. At the same time, 2015 was another year of great popularity for the IP concept. The number of hits and views of super IP-adapted dramas such as Nirvana in Fire, Grave Robbers' Chronicles, and Swords of Legends repeatedly broke new records, and online dramas with over 10 million hits per day emerged one after another. The ability of the online drama charging model to attract money is shocking.

It can be predicted that in 2016, online dramas will break records in terms of quantity, clicks and revenue.

The adapted online dramas that have been announced to be released in 2016 include "Fantasy City", "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 2", "Star Dream", "The King's Avatar", "Ghost Blows Out the Light", "The Mystic Nine"... In addition to being super IPs, these adapted dramas also have another feature: they are all adaptations related to the second dimension.

The second dimension will occupy the market

Online dramas and two-dimensional IP adaptations have both risen in the past two years. It’s not that all parties suddenly changed their views on anime in this year, but the huge profits brought by the high-quality IPs produced by the two-dimensional world have forced the market to change its views on anime.

The adapted web drama "The Journey of Flower" has exceeded 10 billion hits, the online novel "The King's Avatar" has exceeded 5 million hits for a single chapter, and the animation "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" has raked in 956 million at the box office. How can investors not be excited by such results?

The emergence of this phenomenon is not only due to the rapid expansion of online dramas, but the increasing status of two-dimensional works is also an important factor.

Online dramas and two-dimensional works are the two big "outlets" of future entertainment. Station A and Station B were acquired by Alibaba and Tencent respectively, YouYaoQi was acquired by Aofei, Guangguang established Color House, and two-dimensional works were involved in the game of capital giants. Because of the resource integration of capital giants, two-dimensional works will be more and more closely connected with online dramas.

Literature is regarded as the foundation of all arts, and online dramas are no exception. Online literature, which is closely related to two-dimensional works, is developing rapidly.

Online literature is generally considered to be the source of IP. Adapting popular online literature into film and television dramas and games is not only low-risk but also easy to operate. It is currently the most common way of adapting dramas.

The price of online literature adaptations has also risen accordingly. Under the IP operation concept, good content has no worries about sales, and high-quality IPs are in short supply. However, the market demand for high-quality IPs is far greater than the supply, and there will be more high-quality IP-adapted online dramas in the coming year.

The second dimension adaptation drama will usher in spring

In addition to the IPs mentioned above that are older and have been around for a long time, there is another category of IPs that are entering the screenwriters' field of vision.

Danmei works have always been considered to be in a gray area, and many of them have been adapted into online dramas in the past two years.

Among them, "Counterattack: Falling in Love with the Rival" has received good reputation, with over 20 million hits on Tencent Video in just 4 weeks. Although it cannot be compared with other popular adapted dramas, such results are already very good for marginal works. There are several other BL web dramas that have been released online this year. The well-received "Phoenix in the Ninth Heaven" was sold to Yu Zheng, and its adaptation is also on the agenda.

Although purely BL web dramas are still in a state of limbo, in this era where audiences are supreme, "gay and homosexual" dramas are more likely to win the audience's favor.

There is another trend that is slightly different from what we usually know in the past. More and more IPs have a series of subsequent adaptation plans as soon as they are released.

In the past, two-dimensional works adapted into film and television dramas were often works that had accumulated for many years and are still quite popular today. However, due to the current popularity of online dramas and the fact that they are produced much faster than traditional TV dramas, related adapted online dramas are launched when the IP is in its rising period. This allows for rapid transformation while the popularity of the new IP has not faded, thereby creating linkage with the original work.

In the coming year, not only will classic IPs that have been around for many years be adapted, but some works that are on the rise may also appear on the screen at lightning speed.

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.