Guo Tong, Chairman of CCTV Network and General Manager of Central Video Company: Promote the development of micro-short dramas, and the new media platform of Headquarters "Play the Future"

  On December 21st, the "Fine Micro-Short Drama Cooperation Seminar" was held in Hangzhou. At the meeting, it was announced that more than 20 media organizations will create excellent mini-dramas in the coming year around the three major themes of "Xiangyang, Goodness and Beauty" and the six directions of "Dream, Youth, Warmth, Revitalization, National Style and Imagination". The State Administration of Radio and Television, China Network Audiovisual Association and nearly 100 media representatives attended the seminar.

  Guo Tong, Party Secretary and Chairman of CCTV International Network Co., Ltd. and General Manager of Central Video Media Development Co., Ltd., attended the seminar and shared his speech.

  In his speech, he said that the reception desk has always maintained close strategic cooperation with Hangzhou, Zhejiang. At the beginning of this month, China Short Video Conference, a large-scale integrated media program originally produced by CCTV, Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department and Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government, held an award ceremony in Hangzhou.

  As the first large-scale project after the National (Hangzhou) Short Video Base was jointly established by the Headquarters and Zhejiang, the China Short Video Conference ended successfully with 1 billion+video broadcasts and 1.4 billion topic readings. During the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, the creators went to Hangzhou to produce 32 short quality video works, which showed many highlights in Hangzhou, and let the audience and netizens see warm stories of China in these works.

  "China Short Video Conference" brings together the top creators of the whole network in eight tracks, including plays, food, sports and fashion. It is worth mentioning that the drama track shows many excellent creators. Their short and exquisite works can not only meet the viewing needs of short video audiences, but also be full of creativity, appeal and positive energy.

  The creator who won the championship in the drama track "This is the story of TA", with 20 million fans on the whole network. In the proposition creation stage of the program, "This is the story of TA", with the title of "Xiajiang Xinyan", tells the story of young people’s struggle to start a business in Xiajiang Village, Hangzhou with a 4-minute short story. The release of this short film in Tik Tok was jointly released by Central Video Account and Creator Account, and achieved good communication effect. Among them, there is such a highly praised comment: "The stories of these two people explain what is positive energy, what is romance, and what is life, but also poetry and distance. The listener was moved and the listener shed tears. " This is the "boutique" recognized by the audience.

  Guo Tong believes that these vivid practices and explorations have made everyone see the example of short video quality, and also convinced everyone that there is much to be done in fine micro-short dramas.

  As an important platform for new media in the main station, CCTV and CCTV are also paying attention to the dynamics and development in the field of micro-short dramas. Guo Tong took the precious opportunity of the "Cooperation Seminar on Fine Micro-short Drama" to share some personal views and explore the road of fine development of micro-short drama.The following are the main contents of the speech:

  01. Focus on "excellent products" and lead the future.

  This year’s national conference on propaganda, ideological and cultural work formally put forward the cultural thought of the supreme leader, which is a milestone in the history of the development of the party’s propaganda, ideological and cultural undertakings and provides a fundamental basis for us to do a good job in cultural work in the new era. We firmly believe that under the guidance of the supreme leader’s cultural thought, the emerging short drama industry will keep up with the pulse of the times and continue to glow with vitality.

  (A) industry standards are improving day by day.

  In the past two years, the categories of micro-short dramas have been increasingly enriched, users have gradually cultivated, and the market scale has steadily increased. Micro-short dramas have rapidly grown from a "new force" in the field of network audio-visual to a "new force" that has attracted worldwide attention. We can see that micro-short plays have innate characteristics such as fragmentation, speediness and low cost, which not only brings about the rapid development of the micro-short play industry, but also brings some problems such as mixed content and deviation in value guidance.

  From the perspective of audience feedback, there are some problems in short drama works, such as homogenization of content, exaggeration of interpretation, low production standard, abuse of plot and lack of innovation, and the audience’s demand for innovation and change is increasing day by day.

  Judging from the development law of the network audio-visual content ecology, whether it is short videos, online movies or online dramas, they have all experienced the early period of "barbaric growth" and have all been guided correctly and reasonably before they finally achieve a double harvest of social and economic benefits. Recently, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued a timely notice on the content review of short plays. The review of short plays has the same standard and scale as the traditional long-term online film and television dramas, which has set a direction and escorted the rapid development of short plays.

  (B) Fine miniseries are promising.

  We can see that with the joint efforts of the competent authorities, platforms, creators and media, the short drama industry has achieved rapid iteration and aesthetic upgrading, and the quantity and quality of fine micro-short dramas have steadily improved. Escape from the British Museum, a popular explosion in the whole network, Grandma Please, and The Chaser, a spy war theme, have achieved breakthroughs in many dimensions, such as creative transformation, commercial customization, content derivation, and integrated communication, and also brought inspiration to the creation of fine short plays.

  (C) the mainstream media set a benchmark

  "Carrying forward the main theme and spreading positive energy" is the mission responsibility of mainstream media. Guided by the integrated communication of "thought+art+technology" of the main station, we will make full use of the new carrier of micro-short drama, and actively create and gather high-quality short dramas with "times, people and leading" with the attitude of courageously taking the lead and doing our best to set a model benchmark for the industry.

  Pay attention to "seeing the big from the small", show the "big times" with "short stories", show the "big themes" with "small incisions", record the real life of contemporary China, and depict the spirit of striving for progress in the new era.

  Pay attention to "cultural inheritance", spread Chinese excellent traditional culture, and make unremitting efforts to continue the Chinese context and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture.

  Pay attention to "integrity and innovation", constantly optimize and innovate the content creation and presentation form, and continue to help tell the story of China and spread the voice of China.

  02. Create "excellent products" and March towards the future.

  CCTV and CCTV strive to lay out the field of high-quality micro-short dramas in depth and comprehensively. We plan to launch large-scale projects of high-quality micro-short dramas such as China Micro-short Drama Conference and China Micro-short Drama Festival, so as to blow the "assembly number" of high-quality micro-short dramas on the whole network with the appeal of the new media of the main station, and boost the development of high-quality micro-short dramas. Around this series of format projects, we will make positive and beneficial attempts in the field of micro-short plays.

  (A) to create a "wind vane"

  We hope to join hands with all major platforms to create a new format of micro-short drama.

  We plan to set up the first national authoritative mini-short drama judging system, and gather nearly 100 experts, scholars and senior practitioners from content, technology, communication, market and other related fields to explore the industry standards of mini-short drama with practical actions.

  We plan to combine data and index media inside and outside Taiwan, such as "Elephant Dance Index", to create a "wind vane" for micro-short drama creation.

  (B) Build an "incubator"

  We hope to play the role of ecological "incubator" and explore industrial construction and ecological development.

  We welcome and invite all forces to join us, and jointly create a series of measures, such as the support plan for fine micro-short dramas, the excellent creator plan, and the local industry incentive plan, to give wings to creators with good content and strength, to continue to support the blooming of fine micro-short dramas, and to boost the high-quality development of the micro-short drama industry.

  (3) The combination of length and length is wonderful.

  We hope to gather the strength of all parties, actively explore new modes of cooperation, give full play to the advantages of the communication matrix of the main station, and integrate the multi-dimensional communication chain of the large and small screens of the main station, so as to build a bridge leading to thousands of households for the fine micro-short dramas, so that the fine content can stand, stay and spread, and help the micro-short drama ecology to achieve the unity of economic and social benefits.

  03. Explore "mini-drama+"and embrace the future.

  I also have some thoughts about the future of fine miniseries, hoping to "play the future" with all my colleagues.

  (A) explore "micro-short drama+central and local linkage" to empower urban cultural tourism.

  In recent years, the new media of Headquarters has accumulated many effective cases in the linkage between central and local governments, breaking through the traditional urban propaganda mode. From the standpoint of central media, we can see the importance of urban development and shape the soul of urban brand. From high-quality short videos, in-depth live broadcasts, tourism and cultural festivals to large-scale parties and seasonal programs, it provides a unique contact for the audience to understand the place. The China Short Video Conference is one of the excellent demonstration cases of the "central-local linkage" of the main station.

  We can also see that many cities have begun to try to develop the micro-short drama ecology in local areas. For example, many places in Hangzhou have developed film and television bases for micro-short plays, and many supporting policies have been introduced that are conducive to the production of micro-short plays.

  In the future, CCTV and CCTV will continue to innovate the cooperation mode between the central and local governments, flexibly use the creative means of micro-short plays, and closely integrate with the cultural tourism resources of various cities. Representative characteristic foods, folk festivals, history and culture, and people’s lives in the city can be the themes of mini-dramas.

  (B) explore "mini-drama +AI" and upgrade the mode of production.

  The development of technology has brought subversive changes to content production, and it is also continuing to empower artistic creation. Nowadays, the wide application of AI technology will make the production of miniseries more professional, industrialized and efficient. Making better use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI will hopefully further open up the imagination space of miniseries. Scene building, intelligent interaction and other functions are gradually improving the personalized needs of various creations.

  (C) explore "micro-short drama+overseas communication" to realize the "going out" of culture.

  Since the second half of this year, the pioneer fleet of China miniseries has sailed to the other side of the ocean with a swift and violent trend, and the miniseries’ performance in going out to sea is outstanding. We are also paying close attention to this trend. Although the quality of works at sea is mixed at present, the trend of high-quality products will gradually blow from China to the world. Based on a strong overseas market and a wide overseas audience, it is also the responsibility and mission of China as a media platform to create a good opportunity for China culture to spread abroad with fine and high-quality content with the help of micro-short plays.

  As the important platforms of new media in the main station, CCTV and CCTV encourage the exploration of new cooperation paradigms, and will establish and optimize cooperation mechanisms, and advocate the creation of a platform for the development of micro-short dramas with joint research, co-construction, sharing and win-win. We look forward to working with you to "lead the future", "March towards the future" and "embrace the future" — — "Play the future".