It’s tempting to discuss the current state of Netflix-like streaming TV in China. As a loyal viewer of web series, I have pretty much witnessed the development of streaming TV in China over the last decade. In the beginning, China’s now famous streaming brands, such as Iqiyi, Tencent Video, Youku Video and other video sites, were like YouTube, with content mostly coming from self-published uploads and few of their own episodes. Around 2010, the major video portals opened awareness and user reliance by buying the rights to many dramas (those that aired on various TV stations) to drive traffic to their platforms. It is a large amount of TV series. This is an internet business model known as the “long tail”, as suggested by Kevin Mc Donald. The most successful example of the long tail effect is the costume drama “Legend of Donnie Yen”. The publisher’s rights contract with the broadcast platform began in 2011 and expired in 2017, with a further ten-year contract with the broadcast platform from 2018 to 2027, as well as revenue from television and other platforms, generating an average of over $10 million per year for Flower Pictures. Over time, what was once a headline product will also gradually turn into a tail-end product and, because of the word-of-mouth it brought in its early days of broadcasting, still have viewers who will pay for productions from over a decade ago and generate long-lasting and stable revenues for video sites.

A variety of web series and dramas have emerged alongside the platforms’ launch of memberships. As Lotz points out in terms of VOD, users can skip 120-second-long commercials by opening a membership (2012), watch unaired episodes in advance (2014) and open a repertory show to be eligible to purchase the over-the-top VOD of the straight finale (2019, which is now regulated). Users have the freedom of choice. But equally, because of the growth of streaming, people now spend more time and money on watching this content, which shows that they are willing to pay for such services. Sometimes this can contribute to the growth of grey areas, like the over-the-top on-demand.

So all in all, the advent of streaming has improved the economics of the film and television industry and facilitated viewers in the same way. There is no longer a need to rent fragile DVDs and have a playback CD-ROM drive to watch episodes of films or video archives, which is largely convenient for people.

Ziting Hu

14.11.2022

Kevin McDonald and Daniel Smith-Rowsey (2016), The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21^st Century. London; New York: Bloomsbury.

Amanda D. Lotz, “Television Outside the Box: The Technological Revolution of  Television”, in: The Television will be Revolutionized, 2nd edition, NYU Press, 2014, 53- 94

Sanyi (2022) 《甄嬛传》又火了，视频网站啥时才能支棱起来, 百度安全验证. Available at: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1731354748524754860&wfr=spider&for=pc (Accessed: November 14, 2022).