[Abstract] In 2023, the short video industry in China entered a stage of deep development after rapid development and innovation. The supporting industrial chain of the whole industry tends to be mature, and the emerging forms such as network micro-short dramas are growing explosively. The deepening of vertical segmentation has promoted the popularity of short videos of cultural tourism, and the improvement of live e-commerce has accelerated the commercialization process of short video industry. At the same time, after entering the stock maintenance, the competition in the short video industry has intensified, industry chaos has occurred frequently, and copyright infringement has become an urgent problem to be solved. Facing the future, the development of short video industry shows the trend of quality turning, national creation and social expansion, and short video will gradually become an important force in social construction.
[Keywords:] short video micro-short drama commercialization of the whole people
【 Chinese Library Classification Number 】 G206 【 Document Identification Code 】 a
【DOI】10.16619/j.cnki.rmltxsqy.2024.16.009
[Author Brief Introduction] Huang Chuxin, vice president, professor and doctoral supervisor of School of Journalism and Communication, China Academy of Social Sciences, secretary general and researcher of New Media Research Center, China Academy of Social Sciences. The research direction is new media communication and media integration. His major works include Evolution and Reconstruction: the Present Situation and Trend of IPTV Development in China, New Media: Micro-communication and Media Integration Development, and New Media: Integration and Development.
Hot Spots in Short Video Industry
In 2023, the short video industry in China entered a mature period and a deep development period from an outbreak period and a transition period on the basis of standardization of policy guidance, stabilization of market scale, maturity of content ecology and diversification of industrial structure. On the basis of the growth of user scale and the improvement of industrial chain, the mainstream media short videos are constantly innovating, and new forms such as network micro-short dramas are emerging. Short videos are gradually deepened in the vertical segmentation field and effectively combined with the cultural tourism industry to promote the wide spread of the city image. Under the multiple influences of policies, users and technologies, the commercialization process of short video industry is also accelerating.
The growth rate of user scale has slowed down, and the supporting industrial chain has matured. According to the 53rd Statistical Report on Internet Development in China issued by China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 2023, the number of online video users in China reached 1.067 billion, including 1.053 billion short video users, an increase of 41.45 million over the same period in 2022, accounting for 96.4% of the total netizens. [1] Although the scale of users has continued to grow, its growth rate has gradually slowed down, and the dividend of user growth has gradually subsided, and the industry has truly entered the era of stock competition. While the growth of user scale is slowing down, the stickiness of short video users is increasing. In 2023, the average daily usage time of short video will reach 151 minutes, especially the head effect of short video application platforms, with Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker accounting for 95.3% of the total share. [2] Short video platform provides rich content supply and diverse scene experiences for network users, thus promoting the continuous growth of network users and driving the expansion of the whole industry. According to the survey data of Mob Research Institute, the short video market scale was nearly 300 billion yuan in 2023. In the network audio-visual industry market covering content creation, network audio, network live broadcast and integrated video, the short video market accounted for 40.3%, and the market scale was 292.83 billion yuan. [3]
On the basis of expanding market scale, the supporting industrial chain of short video has gradually matured, covering upstream content production end, midstream platform publishing end and downstream user group terminals, forming a "production — Distribution — The industrial closed loop of consumption. At the upstream content production end, it mainly includes the head short video platform, mainstream media short video production, MCN(Multi-Channel Network) institutions, individual users and other multi-production entities. In November 2023, Tik Tok launched a video content payment test to explore a new content realization model; The WeChat video number also activated the content ecology through high-quality original content and recreational activities, and the monthly release number of head creators increased by 55.6%. [4] At the same time, the creators’ ecology of short video platforms is increasingly diversified. On the Tik Tok platform, the number of active talents continues to grow, and the proportion of pan-life talents has increased significantly. At the release end of the mid-stream platform, it mainly includes the head platforms such as Tik Tok, Aauto Quicker, and Bi Li, and there are also short video platforms with social media attributes such as the newly emerging WeChat video number. In the downstream user group terminal, China’s short video user group still shows a rapid growth trend. Among the people who have gained more than 1 million fans on Tik Tok platform in 2023, the account types are mostly life and entertainment, and the types of fan groups are constantly expanding. Multi-dimensional precipitation of users has become an important way for short video platforms to obtain traffic.[5] The integrity and maturity of the short video industry chain cannot be separated from the interaction and integration of upstream, midstream and downstream. In particular, MCN institutions are deeply involved in the production and distribution of short videos, UGC (user-generated content) and PGC (professional-generated content) are gradually integrated, PUGC (professional-user-generated content) is gradually layered, KOL (key opinion leader) model is innovated, the vertical segmentation of short video platforms is improved, and the industrial modules such as news information, social interaction and entertainment are expanded and opened, which makes short video platforms gradually embedded into the social industrial structure in the form of media.
The mainstream value boutique creation, the network micro-short drama becomes the main position. Micro-short plays and short plays have emerged on short video platforms, and they have quickly become a new force in network audio-visual with their light weight, short period and people-friendly plot design. In 2023, the industry scale and development enthusiasm of micro-short plays increased rapidly, and the market of micro-short plays in China showed a hot trend, with all kinds of themes, creative subjects, user groups and industries around micro-short plays achieving a spurt growth. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of national policies and the participation of mainstream media, micro-short plays have moved from early entertainment to mainstream, and gradually developed in the direction of quality, specialization and systematization, becoming the main position of ecological construction of network content.
In terms of market scale, network miniseries show a rapid growth trend. According to the data of China Micro-short Drama Market Research Report from 2023 to 2024, the market size of China’s online micro-short drama was 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, up by 267.65% year-on-year, and it is expected to reach 100.68 billion yuan in 2027. In the third quarter of 2023, the official circulation of online micro-short drama reached 150, nearly twice the total in 2022. [6] According to the latest data from the Research Report on the Development of Internet Audiovisual in China (2024), there were 384 key online mini-dramas in 2023, more than double the number in 2022 (172). [7] Judging from the current market situation of miniseries, most miniseries in short video platforms revolve around themes such as crossing and love, and are mostly adapted from online literature, with centralized content themes. From the broadcasting platform of miniseries, Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker are in the leading position. In 2023, the average daily users of mini-dramas in Aauto Quicker were 270 million, and the cumulative broadcast volume of mini-dramas in the whole year was as high as 8.6 billion. At the same time, the "Xingmang Short Drama Plan" was launched; Tik Tok Platform has launched the "New Short Drama Plan" and other incentive projects for institutions and talents, creating an ecological environment for the production of short dramas, and driving short dramas has become an important way for short video platforms to increase revenue. In the profit model of miniseries, most miniseries are mainly divided into platforms.Followed by advertising placement, single episode payment and small program payment, e-commerce live broadcast, IP derivative sales and so on. [8] In addition to Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker, other online audio-visual platforms have also entered the mini-short drama market and launched support plans for mini-short dramas (such as "Ten Theater" launched by Tencent Video). From the user level of miniseries, the user stickiness of miniseries is in a period of rapid growth in 2023. According to the survey data, the proportion of users who often watch miniseries is as high as 39.9%, and 31.9% of them have paid for miniseries. [9]
Micro-short plays quickly became popular in the field of network audio-visual by virtue of their low input cost and attracting many users. In addition to Tik Tok, Aauto Quicker and other short video platforms, relevant state functional departments have also begun to give positive guidance to mini-dramas, and mainstream media have invested in the development, production and dissemination of mini-dramas. As early as 2022, the State Administration of Radio and Television set up a special program of "network miniseries" in the annual selection activity of excellent online audiovisual works, and in January 2024, it issued a creative plan of "traveling with miniseries", proposing to create and broadcast 100 miniseries with excellent themes in 2024, and promoting a group of entities to follow the popularity of miniseries [10], through "miniseries+" In the mainstream media, CCTV and CCTV planned to launch large-scale projects such as China Mini-short Drama Conference and China Mini-short Drama Festival, and Mango TV "Big Mang Project" launched many excellent mini-short dramas, among which "Aunt’s World New Year’s Eve" was broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV, with an average audience rating of 0.19%, ranking first among provincial satellite TV stations at the same time, further promoting the effective interaction between mini-short dramas and TV screens. After the mainstream media joined, the theme of online mini-dramas gradually moved from traditional entertainment and crossing to mainstream and boutique.Including the story of Gaobeidian, which reflects the theme of rural revitalization, the bone whistle of Hemudu, which was jointly developed by the Central Radio and Television General Station and Ningbo Radio and Television Group, and the secret between us, which is a city roaming TV series launched by Mango TV, etc., it shows that the theme content and theme range of miniseries have changed from traditional online literature to focusing on realistic themes, and then the realistic themes gradually occupy the mainstream, and the network miniseries are gradually moving towards a new development track of spreading mainstream values.
The vertical segmentation has gradually deepened, and the short video of the travel has continued to be popular. 2023 is a year of economic recovery and development after the smooth transition of epidemic prevention and control in COVID-19, and it is also a year of cultural tourism industry recovery and accelerated recovery in China. In March, 2023, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Opinions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Online Travel Market, proposing "to promote the digital marketing of online travel and support online travel operators to carry out online travel exhibition activities by using webcasting and short video platforms … … Promote new progress in rural revitalization, cultural and tourism integration, civilized tourism and tourism public services. " [11] Under the background of economic recovery, accelerated social mobility, increasing consumer confidence and increasingly frequent travel, China’s cultural tourism industry has shown new growth. Driven by the short video platform, the "Village Super" event in Guizhou helped the development of cultural tourism, the "special forces tourism" of college students helped Zibo barbecue become the top stream, Tianjin "Diving Uncle" took fire to Tianjin Lion Forest Bridge scenic spot, and "Southern Potato" ventured into Harbin, and other cultural tourism industries were presented, which quickly became a network landscape.
With the help of short video and other online audio-visual platforms, the cultural tourism industry presents the effect of interaction between offline experience and online experience. At the same time, the technology empowerment of "5G+smart cultural tourism" has effectively promoted online consumption, rural consumption and scene expansion. For example, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Heilongjiang Province launched the small program "Play Longjiang with One Click" and actively explored the innovation of online travel forms. The Research Report on the Development of Internet Audio-visual in China (2024) shows that in 2023, 44.4% of Internet audio-visual users often watch short videos of tourism/scenery, which is 16.3 percentage points higher than that in 2022, and 27.9% of users "will travel somewhere because of watching short videos/live broadcasts". [12] With the help of policy guidance, industrial expansion, scene marketing, platform boosting and user participation, innovative travel modes such as short video platform, e-commerce platform and social media have accelerated development, effectively stimulating users’ willingness to travel. Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker have launched various programs to support cultural tourism creators. Through topic flow support, innovative marketing methods, shaping the image of city brands and network celebrities, attracting mainstream media and pushing authoritative information released by cultural tourism departments, they have gathered social multi-subjects, such as platforms, users, talents, cultural tourism enterprises and new government media, to jointly build an ecological system of cultural tourism content.
On this basis, many enterprises have also entered the cultural tourism industry through live broadcast with goods and "immersive" cultural tourism live broadcast. In July, 2023, New Oriental announced the development of cultural tourism and the establishment of cultural tourism company. Oriental selection live broadcast room promotes the rapid popularity of cultural travel mode on short video platform through topic participation, travel recommendation and live broadcast of talents. The layout of short video platform shows different emphases in the cultural tourism industry. For example, through the form of "topic+live broadcast", Tik Tok cooperates with cultural tourism institutions, scenic spots and hotels to attract users to purchase products and services on the Tik Tok platform; Aauto Quicker combines the market culture to create regional hotspots. According to the statistics in October 2023, the number of literary works created by Aauto Quicker increased by 42% year-on-year; Deeply cultivate young people’s preferences and combine multiple IP with cultural tourism, and the number of cultural tourism works increased by 64% year-on-year; Xiaohongshu aggregates young people through scene raiders to create an online "encyclopedia of cultural travel"; Wechat video number promotes product transformation through the combination of "live broadcast+private domain traffic". [13] Generally speaking, the combination of short video industry and cultural tourism industry has become a hot phenomenon in 2023, and different short video platforms are exploring new development models with their own superior resources, user groups and content resources.
Live e-commerce helps consumption, and the commercialization process of the platform is accelerated. After the COVID-19 epidemic, "short video+live broadcast" has become an important media way to stimulate consumption in society, and the commercialization process of short video platform has also been accelerated. According to the Research Report on the Development of Internet Audiovisual in China (2024), in 2023, 71.2% of internet users bought goods by watching short videos or live broadcasts, over 40% of them thought that short videos and live broadcasts had become their main consumption channels, and 53.7% of internet users often watched live broadcasts of e-commerce or live broadcasts with goods. [14] According to the data of Tik Tok platform, its popular live broadcast related products usually cover fast-moving consumer goods such as food and beverage, beauty, fresh food, etc. Among the popular live broadcast rooms, 43% live broadcast rooms belong to live broadcast with goods [15], which is closely related to live broadcast e-commerce. With the increasing penetration and driving force of short videos to various industries and industries in society, the diversification trend of live e-commerce has also become increasingly apparent. In 2023, there were more than 800 new four-level categories in Tik Tok platform. The vertical subdivision of categories expanded the diversified consumer demand of network users. The diversification of e-commerce products and the diversification of user demand formed a fit relationship, which jointly promoted the commercialization process of short video platforms.
At the same time, the business model and profit structure of short video platform are also influenced by relevant policies, user groups and digital technology. First of all, the development of live e-commerce industry and short video platform cannot be separated from the support of policies and regulations and effective supervision. In recent years, various relevant departments in China have issued a number of policies and regulations to regulate the live broadcast e-commerce, with a view to promoting the live broadcast e-commerce industry to gradually enter a standardized development stage. Secondly, the strong penetration effect of short video users has cultivated a large number of consumers for the commercial development of live e-commerce industry and short video platform. By the end of December 2023, the number of live e-commerce users in China has reached 597 million, accounting for 54.7% of the total netizens. [16] Live e-commerce has become one of the important channels for online users to buy goods. Finally, digital technology leads the live e-commerce industry to digital and intelligent transformation. The empowerment of technology is reflected in the whole process of live broadcast, such as AI algorithm price comparison before live broadcast, intelligent product selection, intelligent advertising, and AIGC (Generative Artificial Intelligence) to generate product selling point copy, etc. In live broadcast, AI digital people are used to realize live broadcast data visualization and real-time monitoring of product data, and after live broadcast, intelligent means are used to evaluate, analyze and feedback, predict product sales trends, and analyze consumer behavior. [17]
Under the influence of multiple factors such as policy guidance, user demand and technology empowerment, the commercialization of short video platforms has gradually accelerated, which has also promoted the innovative development of short video platforms and e-commerce platforms. In February, 2023, Aauto Quicker E-commerce put forward the development direction of "global operation", and put forward two aspects: content planting grassland with "short video+live broadcast" as the core and pan-shelf field with "search+mall" as the core. [18] In 2023, Tik Tok mainly focused on e-commerce and local life, and served the social life of the general public through short videos, live broadcasts to help farmers and other comprehensive formats. Through the "Chuanliu Plan", the barriers of live broadcast of talent distribution and independent live broadcast of brands were eliminated, and the integrated marketing innovation of "talent+brand+platform" was realized. At the same time, in the process of the short video industry from "two giants" to "two super-strong", the live e-commerce model of WeChat video number achieved remarkable results in 2023. The data shows that the live delivery scale of WeChat video number in 2023 increased significantly year-on-year, and the growth of GMV (total transaction amount) was nearly three times that of 2022, forming a business model of "e-commerce+advertising". [19] In addition, the traditional e-commerce platform has accelerated the effective integration with the short video industry.For example, in early 2024, the person in charge of content ecology in JD.COM said that 1 billion cash and 1 billion traffic would be used as rewards to implement the "creator incentive plan" to subsidize talents in 20 short video creation fields, such as 3C digital, household appliances and furniture, maternal and child, fashion and so on [20].
Difficulties and challenges faced by short video industry
In the process of communication mode expansion, industrial chain improvement and business model innovation, the short video industry in 2023 ushered in new development opportunities. With the mature and in-depth development stage, the short video industry is also facing multiple dilemmas in the systematic and diversified development. Faced with the transformation of social structure, diverse user needs and changeable market environment, the short video industry has some problems, such as intensified competition among multi-platform and seizing market share. At the same time, due to the development of AIGC, it is a general trend for intelligent technology to empower short video innovation, and the infringement and copyright chaos caused by technology application are increasingly prominent. On this basis, the national industry supervision policy on short videos has gradually tightened.
Competition for short video platforms has intensified. Compared with the development momentum of the two short video head platforms in Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker in the previous two years, commercial platforms such as WeChat video number and mainstream media platforms such as CCTV video have gradually matured, platforms such as Bili Bili and Xiaohongshu have gradually emerged by means of circle communication, and traditional network audio-visual platforms such as iQiyi and traditional e-commerce platforms such as JD.COM have laid out short video fields one after another. In 2023, the platform pattern of short video industry will show a development trend of "two super and more powerful". By virtue of their own content advantages, user advantages or technical advantages, various platforms strive for users, data and other resources through vertical segmentation, differentiated layout, mainstream focus, etc., thus forming a situation in which the competition among multi-parties of short video platforms is intensified.
According to Tencent’s financial report in the second quarter of 2023, users of WeChat video number use for more than 50 minutes a day, which is more than half of the main station in Tik Tok, and it is still growing rapidly. Based on the port advantage of WeChat video number, the number of users accumulated by WeChat gradually depends on the video number, which poses a certain challenge for short video platforms to tap the incremental groups of users in third-and fourth-tier cities and silver-aged users. At the same time, after years of development and accumulation, the traditional short video platform has gradually developed based on its content advantages. According to the data of enterprise research platform, nearly 30% of users in Tik Tok and 40% of users in Aauto Quicker think that the homogenization of short video content is more serious. Many Internet experts or short video bloggers have the situation of "making once and handling many times", that is, a content product is repeated, distributed and spread on different short video platforms for many times, and it is not changed according to the development and characteristics of the platforms. From the short video communication of mainstream media, news content and authoritative information of some mainstream media also exist the phenomenon of multi-platform distribution and communication. In the face of intensified competition in the industry environment, the production capacity of many MCN institutions is becoming increasingly weak, which leads to the homogenization tendency of content. It can be seen that from platforms, media, institutions to users, the multi-creative subjects in the short video content ecology are in a weak state in different degrees in the competition. In addition to the increasing content competition, the business development of multi-party entities has also entered the deep-water competition area. In 2023, the live broadcast e-commerce re-emerged, and the live broadcast e-commerce on platforms such as Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker accelerated their layout.Continue to exert strength in terms of talent, content, traffic, interaction and service. However, in this process, it also brings about some related problems, such as chaotic commodity prices, frequent quality problems, low prices on different platforms, too many live advertisements, mixed content, declining brand effect and reduced user experience.
The chaos in the short video industry is prominent. In recent years, with the vigorous development of short video, its comprehensive management has also achieved remarkable results. However, due to the intensified competition of short video platforms, there have been some problems in terms of information content, value orientation and business tendency. Due to the deviation of value orientation, some short video bloggers shoot and produce short videos by designing scenes, posing and faking, deliberately fabricating and other forms to attract traffic and gain users’ attention. Short videos such as "Give instant noodles to the hospitalized mother-in-law" at the end of 2023 and "Qin Lang lost her homework" at the beginning of 2024 have aroused widespread concern in different degrees. These false short videos have attracted public attention and discussion in a conflicting and dramatic way, which has affected the public’s correct judgment to some extent, challenged the bottom line of moral civilization, and even induced social contradictions, resulting in conflicts between social prejudice and public value cognition. With the rise of the live broadcast mode of short video platform, many vulgar and "marginal" contents have appeared one after another. For example, some bloggers adopt meaningless live broadcast forms such as "soft pornography", showing off their figure, exaggerating and showing off their wealth, and vulgar PK, engaging in the production and dissemination of bad content, and even touching the legal red line, which has seriously affected the content ecology and value orientation of short video platform.
In 2023, the relevant departments of the central government promoted the comprehensive management of the short video industry from many aspects such as laws and regulations, policy standards and industry supervision. In 2023, the Central Network Information Office launched a series of "Clear and Clear" special rectification actions, all of which focused on short videos, focusing on rectifying "spreading false information, displaying improper behaviors, spreading wrong ideas and other chaos": in March, focusing on short video platforms, cracking down on prominent problems such as rumors, counterfeiting and illegal profits; In July, the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Self-media was issued, clarifying the requirements of "standardizing the labeling of information sources" and "labeling fictitious content or controversial information"; In September and December, the chaos in the field of short video, such as the loss of value orientation and the frequent occurrence of bad content, was rectified. [21] On the whole, the short video industry has been on the track of paying equal attention to development and supervision. Due to the constant changes in digital technology, media forms and innovative subjects, the problems in the development of short video have become the key regulatory content of the network audio-visual industry, and the multiple supervision of the subject, platform and industry of short video is gradually improving.
Infringements occur frequently in the field of short videos. From the characteristics of infringement in the network audio-visual industry, short video infringement is more manifested as copyright infringement. Due to the quantification and fragmentation of short video content creation and the diversification of content creation subjects, it is difficult and controversial to define the copyright ownership of short video. At the same time, due to the weak awareness of rights protection of relevant subjects, an effective short video copyright protection mechanism has not really been formed, and short video copyright disputes occur frequently. How to promote the short video industry to form a good awareness of copyright protection and promote the formation of a scientific and effective rights protection system has a long way to go.
In the short video format, due to the use of intelligent algorithms, AI video generation and other means, a large number of TV dramas edited without permission, copying other users’ content, "secondary creation" and so on are increasing, and short video head bloggers’ works and popular film and television variety works have become the "hardest hit" for infringement. There are many forms of short video copyright infringement, including unauthorized publication of works without the permission of the copyright owner, adaptation of works without the permission of the copyright owner and profit from online communication. With the rise of Sora and other technical applications, the network audio-visual works generated by artificial intelligence will also pose a risk of infringement on the copyright of existing short video content. In view of the copyright infringement of short videos, the National Copyright Administration and other departments are also constantly cracking down on the chaos of infringement and piracy through industry supervision. In 2023, the National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Internet Information Office jointly launched the special campaign "Jianwang 2023" to crack down on online infringement and piracy, and proposed to strengthen the copyright protection of the whole chain of works with the focus on online videos, online news and audio books, and promote the establishment of a good network ecology; At the same time, we will carry out in-depth copyright supervision of key video websites (APP), focusing on rectifying short video infringement.
Prospect of short video development trend
The development of media ecology, the change of media pattern and the change of users’ needs all put forward new requirements for the development of short video. Especially in the process of deep media integration and the construction of all-media communication system, mainstream media and short video platforms compete and interact, and short video has also changed from extensive production to quality production and mainstream production. With the expansion of users’ media contact channels and the improvement of content production capacity, the popular creation and sharing of short videos has gradually become a trend. On this basis, short video will also move from media to industrialization, and integrate media logic and industrial logic into social construction, becoming an indispensable and important force for social development.
Boutique turn. With the change of users’ demand for online audio-visual content products, high-quality, high-quality and personalized content production has become the future direction of short video development. Short video provides a new path for the transformation and upgrading of the network audio-visual industry and becomes an important force for the deep integration of media. It is an inevitable trend for short video to turn into high-quality products, which is mainly manifested in the following three aspects: First, the short video industry will gradually shift from incremental market to stock market, which will promote Tik Tok, Aauto Quicker and other platforms to upgrade and optimize the traditional content structure, eliminate vulgar information and low-quality content, and create a new ecology of content production through comprehensive management of the industry; Second, mainstream media and online audio-visual platforms, such as CCTV, Sichuan Watch, Elephant News, Mango TV, iQiyi, Tencent and other platforms and clients, have provided users with high-quality, professional and high-quality content products; Third, network experts and "grassroots" creations are gradually becoming professional, and short videos are gradually moving from pan-entertainment to pan-knowledge, mainstreaming and value.
In recent years, the national radio, television and network audio-visual industries have innovatively implemented the short video "first screen first push" project, and the creation of short videos in the fields of excellent cultural heritage, theoretical propaganda and interpretation, series of theme propaganda, mainstream value communication and so on has become increasingly prosperous, and the production of short video masterpieces has gradually become the vane of the industry. In 2023, the Central Radio and Television General Station promoted the high-quality development of short videos with authoritative, objective, accurate and true comments, and built an evaluation system of short videos with the brand of "Elephant Dance Index", focusing on five aspects: content production level, information aggregation level, technology leading level, user service level and platform operation level, and accurately evaluating short videos’ ability in content originality and production quality, which also promoted other mainstream media and networks.
Popular creation. Relevant data show that in 2023, the average daily usage time of short videos reached 151 minutes, accounting for about one tenth of people’s daily life time. One of the important reasons for the continuous improvement of short video users’ stickiness lies in the continuous expansion of the field of short video content creation, from traditional pan-entertainment to pan-knowledge and pan-life, involving content and categories with multi-level needs such as people’s life, study and travel.
At present, users of short video platforms are no longer satisfied with watching and commenting, but are keen on creating and sharing as subjects. The empowerment of digital technology and the popularity of various production and sharing apps have greatly lowered the threshold for users to participate in short video creation. In the fragmented time and scene, users gradually changed from "brushing short videos" to "making short videos". At the same time, the professional creative groups of short videos are also expanding. The number of creators who benefit from short video creation has been growing steadily for many years, and the proportion of professional creators in the total number of creators has gradually increased, which has further promoted the creative enthusiasm of ordinary netizens. In this process, the decentralized feature of short video content creation has become increasingly prominent, and the enthusiasm of users to participate in creation has been continuously improved. Short video has become an important form for ordinary people to record their lives and express themselves [22], and will gradually build a network landscape created and shared by all people.
Socialization and expansion. At present, short video is no longer limited to a new media form or a new media platform, but has become a media ecosystem in which multiple elements such as media, media, technology and platform fully interact. As an emerging audio-visual communication format based on the mobile Internet scene, short video has become an important channel and means for the general public to receive information and carry out social communication. At the same time, the short video and the political, cultural, economic and other elements in the social system are widely interacted and integrated, and gradually developed into a competitive industry, and its value chain and innovation chain are continuously extended through network audio-visual to speed up its layout in diversified industries.
In the future, short video will gradually become an important driving force in the social industrial structure. Driven by digitalization and intelligence, it will gradually become the main engine of the audio-visual industry, and will be fully linked and integrated into the social system through media mode, immersion mode and embedded structure, and will be accurately connected with all aspects of politics, economy, culture and social life through data, audio-visual and services, so as to continuously empower social and economic development and promote the digital transformation of social industries. On the one hand, the short video platform will be deeply integrated into the localized life service of the city, and closely integrated with the lives of grassroots people through live broadcast and e-commerce, providing a new experience of "short video+service". On the other hand, the short video platform will meet the national strategy and social needs, actively serve the regional strategy, help rural revitalization, and provide innovative means and methods for agricultural products sales, rural spiritual civilization construction and grassroots cultural communication in the vast rural areas in the form of "short video+new farmers", "short video+helping agriculture" and "live broadcast+helping agriculture". At the same time, the modes of "short video+cultural tourism" and "live broadcast+cultural tourism" are deeply explored to provide media-driven and technology-driven for the cultural tourism industry through media.
(This paper is the phased achievement of the funding plan of "Dengfeng Plan" for discipline construction of China Academy of Social Sciences, with the project number: DF2023YS40).
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Report on the Development of China’s Short Video in 2023
Huang Chuxin
Abstract: In 2023, China’s short video industry has entered a stage of deep development after rapid development and quality improvement innovation. The supporting indust rial chain of the whole industry tends to mature, new forms such as network micro-short dramas have shown explosive growth, the deepening of vertical segmentation fields has brought the popularity of short video of cultural travel, and the improvement of live e-commerce has also promoted the commercialization process of short video industry. Meanwhile, after entering the stock maintenance, the competition in the short video industry intensifies, the industry chaos become frequent, short video copyright infringement phenomenon has become an urgent problem to be solved. Facing the future, the development of short video industry also shows a hot trend of turning to quality, national creation and social expansion, and short video has gradually become an important force in social construction.
Keywords: short video, micro-short dramas, commercialization, popularization
