Popularity of Chinese-made TV dramas fading

[krykrykrynunit]

Entertainment: Popularity of Chinese-made TV dramas fading
By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-03 14:29

Despite being the world's most prolific producer of television dramas, about 40 percent of the 12,000 episodes Chinese firms produce each year never see the light of day.

"Although China is a leading TV drama producer, it broadcasts only 7,000 episodes a year at home and has almost no overseas market share," Zhu Chunyang, a researcher at the Journalism School of the Shanghai-based Fudan University, said.

He was speaking at the launch of the 2007 Blue Book on China's Media published by the Social Sciences Academic Press.

Zhu said an imbalance in the revenue split between production companies, distributors and broadcasters was partly to blame.

In China, the producer of a drama gets only 20 percent of the production's overall income. The lion's share - 60 percent - goes to the broadcaster, Zhu said.

However, according to international practice, it is the other way around. The producer gets 60 percent, the broadcaster 20 percent and the remaining 20 percent goes to the distributor.

"How can you expect to make a good drama without the support of funds," said Zhang Qiang, a doctorate student of media studies at Tsinghua University.


In 2000, when the production of TV dramas was largely opened to private investors, China began to see a booming market.

Between 7 pm and 9:30 pm only Chinese mainland-made dramas were allowed to be broadcast to protect the industry from those made overseas.

By 1999, Chinese drama audiences made up 44 percent of Asian viewers.

"All the statistics indicated a solid foundation for Chinese TV dramas," Zhu said. "However, reality tells a different story."

Drama viewers outside China find it difficult to get updates on Chinese-made dramas.

"The problem is not lack of distribution channels but the content of the dramas which is not competitive," Zhu said.

Cui Baogui, a professor at Tsinghua University, said the tightening grip of censors had affected the attraction of Chinese dramas.

Few Chinese dramas arouse the interests of viewers outside China. Even Chinese viewers are fed up with the narrow-minded themes of the dramas, Zhu said.

credit - Liu Weifeng (China Daily)

[vagabond888]

I think the main reason is many audiences nowadays have more fond in Japanese and Korean Dramas.

[chiongster]

Their content is not up to par. Futhermore the usage of mandarin put off hard core Cantonese drama fans. Btw Hk drama also lacking in content during this few years back .

[hayashi]

agree with vagabond888
more and more Jdrama and Kdrama are out
so it will attract viewers morethan Chinese drama
but i think HKdrama is still OK ...

[1337rice]

you want to know why the target audiences is fading overseas? because the broadcasters here AREN'T WILLING to pay for broadcasting such new dramas. Dramas here are about 1-2 years after the true broadcasting dates. Rentals cost a lot of money and is a hassle to return the DVDs once theyre done. In fact, the market share is actually BIGGER than you think because you're forgetting that 90% of the immigrants DOWNLOAD their dramas or watch it LIVE on the internet via streaming. Who said it wasn't popular?

[delorian]

yo to tell you the truth, the korean dramas are really overpowering the asian market. even my mother who was a hardcore HK drama fan, is slowly drifting away... and the korean actors are supposedly really good, and the plots of the korean dramas good. I have not personally seen any, but i might soon.

[sonofabeep]

I think that the new generation of Chinese/ Hong Kong soap opera actors are not as good as previous generations. I know that because I have TVB (which shows a lot of soap operas).

[kagetsuki]

I think that the storyline just isn't the same as it use to be.

[Eiji]

I have to agree with you all. I watch more Korean and Japanese drama's. I like the plots a lot more than from Chinese dramas. I think that the only recent drama I watched are Lucky Star and HanaKimi, and the last one is because I knew the plot.

[Ice_Cream_Man]

most plots from korean dramas are the same.

the actor/actress dies by a cancer or hit by a car or something else xD

[*~Angel~*]

I dont watch CN dramas as much, mostly Kdramas, Jdoramas, TW dramas and some Hk series.

[gg.heato]

ive never seen any chinese dramas. just the fact that they are diminishing though makes me wanna start watching them.

[tin-can-man]

i have never seen many chinese dramas [hk or tw]
even though myself i am chinese hoho
i watch mostly jdrama, because i find them more interesting, kdrama are very good too i hear
but i think most plots are fairly similar for cdramas... and too long also!
one thing i like about jdramas that i watch, they are relatively short compared to cdramas..
tw dramas are supposed to be quite good too

~ m

[Calltometal]

Rice has a point. If they are not willing to pay for the rights to view a drama then that is definitely going to hurt them. I never knew China produces so much, its amazing. But it is very unfortunate how many of those dramas supposedly, "don't see the light of day".

[redsun615]

yea i agree....the filmography for chinese dramas are totally subpar compared to japanese/korean ones...they still mainly film on a set and not in real locations....the only thing that still holds audiences for chiense dramas are their storylines and plots