In the 2023 Chinese television drama market, in addition to realistic themes such as “The Knockout”, “Our Ordinary Days” and “The Long Season” leading the trend of binge-watching, ancient costume dramas that have been silent for a long time are also regaining their vitality. Currently, the lingering effect of “Till the End of the Moon” is still present. The latest release of the ancient costume Xuanhuan drama “Back From the Brink” has once again sparked a frenzy among viewers.
In this upcoming summer season, ancient costume dramas will be taking center stage on video streaming media. New works such as “Gone with the Rain”, “The Scent of Time”, “The Legend of Anle”, “Story of Kunning Palace”, “The Longest Promise” and “Lost You Forever” have all appeared in various broadcasting schedules across major video streaming platforms; it seems like everyone is trying to make headway into this genre.
With the overall TV series market entering a positive cycle where good content prevails, coupled with improvements in film and television environment and relaxed government policies, creative modes for ancient costume dramas are also beginning to change. The past pseudo-exquisite products produced from an assembly line have been abandoned by both markets and audiences alike. After experiencing several breakups and restructuring efforts during its darkest moments, ancient costume dramas are speeding up towards rebirth through nirvana state.
01 Accelerating the recovery
Looking back at the 2022 Chinese TV series market, there are clear signs of recovery for ancient costume dramas. “Love Between Fairy and Devil”, “New Life Begins”, “The Blue Whisper”, “Immortal Samsara”, “A Dream of Splendor” and “Love Like the Galaxy” all have remarkable ratings.
Compared with previous years when the quantity and popularity of ancient costume dramas shrank in the winter of film and television industry, major platforms last year saw a significant increase in the presence of this genre among their top-selling products.
After “Love Between Fairy and Devil” became a nationwide hit, “New Life Begins,” which was released at the end of that year, broke through 10 thousand views at an unprecedented speed thanks to its light-hearted tone, excellent production quality and unconventional plot development.
In addition, “A Dream of Splendor” and “Love Like the Galaxy” also stood out with their excellent production quality and fresh east aestheticism. They have become the annual hot dramas that combine both critical acclaim and popularity.
Last year, continuous inputs of good content became the most important tag for TV series market. With stable output from major platforms' top-selling products, ancient costume dramas naturally cannot be absent from this trend. Their overall performance last year was impressive as they adapted to industry trends towards high-quality productions.
In the first two quarters of this year, “Till the End of the Moon”, with its explosive start has taken over the entire network, leading multiple data charts in the market and continuing to drive up enthusiasm for Ancient Costume Dramas. As July approaches, various streaming media platforms are gearing up for summer season by scheduling a large number of ancient costume dramas.
For a long time now ancient costume dramas have always been given priority during summer seasons broadcast schedules; being one of the most beloved genres among audiences means that every summer an Ancient Costume Drama is likely to surprise markets with viewership numbers once again.This influx in quantity combined with improved quality levels ensures that many people will enjoy their summer binge-watching experience once more!
On the part of iQiyi, female-oriented works such as “Love You Seven Times”, “Destined”, “Qi Ye Xue” and “A Moment But Forever,” as well as male-oriented ancient costume dramas like “Blocking The Sky” and “The King of Light in Zichuan” will be released one after another.
As for Youku, viewers can look forward to adaptations of classic puppet shows like “Wrong Carriage, Right Groom”; starring popular actors Gong Jun and Dilraba Dilmurat in “The Legend of Anle”. There are also more than ten ancient costume dramas slated to meet audiences this summer including “Go Princess, Go!”, “Lang Jun Bu Ru Yi”, “Su Ji”, “In Blossom”, and “Love Under the Floral Rain”.
Compared with iQiyi and Youku, Tencent Video has always been betting on female-oriented works; S-level ancient costume dramas have always been their strong suit. Among the upcoming TV series, Xiao Zhan's and Ren Min's drama “The Longest Promise” is getting most attention. The original work of this drama has a larger fan base compared to that of “Till the End of the Moon” which means both fans of the novel and those who admire Xiao Zhan are eagerly anticipating its release. In addition, there are also many expectations for other highly anticipated TV series such as “The Legend of Shen Li”, “Lost You Forever “, “Wonderland of Love”, and season two of “Joy of Life”.
In the upcoming summer season broadcast schedule, it is hoped that these TV series can bring out their best performances so they can further enrich the market while bringing better viewing experiences to audiences.
02 New perspectives & new theme
Ancient costume dramas have always been one of the most popular TV series among audiences, and they often easily become top. Judging from the current list of upcoming TV series on the three video streaming media platforms of China, there is no shortage of ancient costume dramas in 2023. The market competition remains fierce with many highlights in terms of themes, actor lineups, and content. While competing for market share, these platforms also reveal their desire and determination to seek breakthroughs in ancient costume dramas.
Since 2020, S-level ancient costume dramas have fallen one after another; the formula for traditional ancient costume dramas has started to lose its effectiveness. The last batch of old-style ancient costume dramas such as “The Song of Glory”, “The Rebel Princess”, “Legend of Fei”, and “The Sword and the Brocade”, all performed poorly with most hovering around passing grades without achieving any dazzling results.
From the perspective of story elements, these old ancient costume dramas include historical events, power struggles, strong female leads, love stories and palace intrigue, among other elements. However, none of these elements has a unique charm. These dramas lack realistic backgrounds and are deficient in well-constructed worldviews. Under the uniform plot routines, viewers cannot see more interesting connotations.
In today's market competition for Ancient Costume Dramas, key factors no longer rely on resources or cast lineups; rather they depend increasingly on fresh content innovation to bring new excitement to audiences.
Starting from last year, a group of new and lightweight ancient costume dramas have emerged one after another. These new works are no longer limited to grand narratives such as palace intrigue or strong female leads. Instead, they expand in multiple directions and focus on characters, legends, love stories and growth elements. They place narrative emphasis on common people's lives and popular culture while injecting more meaningful content into ancient costume dramas to bring changes and improvements.
“New Life Begins”, which became popular at the end of last year, is an exemplary innovation for new perspectives ancient costume dramas. Firstly, the character settings in the drama are reasonable and coherent; each character's personality is closely related to their original family background rather than appearing out of nowhere. The plotline focuses on current young people's emotional outlooks, social views and workplace situations while presenting an ancient costume drama shell that hides modern core values within it.
Another popular offering this spring was “A League of Nobleman,” a detective story set in ancient times with large-scale mysteries interwoven with smaller ones that build up suspenseful tension through tight pacing providing viewers with fresh overall impressions of the genre.
The popular fantasy drama “Till the End of the Moon” also benefits from its meticulous and refined work in terms of character and core values. Character portrayal is done well with almost every single role having a clear and complete growth trajectory. The story and emotions break through the general view that Xianxia dramas are overly focused on romance, which brings an ultimate sense of destiny to the plot, providing this work with long-lasting appeal.
After two years of experimentation, the model of using talented actors plus lightweight IP has become mainstream in today's ancient costume drama market due to its low cost, high quality and distinctive style. It can still succeed without requiring heavy capital investment or large-scale productions as it has been recognized by audiences. Ancient costume dramas that focus on being youthful, small but beautiful while portraying characters with arcs better cater to viewing habits among Generation Z audience members along with current trends within the TV series market logic.
03 The globalization of Chinese costume dramas
In recent years, Chinese audio-visual programs have been going global and bringing rich audio-visual experiences to audiences around the world. At the same time, they have also injected vitality into the international content market.
Prior to the outbreak, ancient costume dramas were an important breakthrough point for China's domestic dramas going abroad. “Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan,” “Nirvana in Fire,” “Eternal Love of Dream,” “Story of Yanxi Palace,” “The Untamed” and “Joy of Life” among others had previously led a new wave of foreign popularity.
In 2011, shortly after its premiere domestically, “Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan” was uploaded to YouTube where it quickly attracted countless overseas viewers who clamored for updates. The sustained popularity brought this drama success when it became first Chinese TV drama available on Netflix's paid channel three years later following its initial broadcast run.
Subsequently, many costume dramas familiar to Chinese audiences went abroad and brought stories with Chinese characteristics to the world. In 2015, “The Journey of Flower” was especially popular in Southeast Asia. Overseas media previously reported that the drama's click-through rate on Vietnam's Zing TV quickly exceeded 20 million views while its costumes became a street fashion trend among Thai youths. This year, Ancient Costume Dramas' overseas momentum has begun to recover strongly, accelerating the overall pace of international distribution for domestic productions.
Soon after “New Life Begins” became popular in China, it was launched on streaming platforms across North America, Europe, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia among other regions. When you open Vietnam's largest local video website Zing TV today, “New Life Begins” and “Till the End of the Moon”, are prominently displayed as recommended options on their homepage. Last year's breakout hit ancient costume drama “A Dream of Splendor” even had broadcasting rights purchased by South Korea for simultaneous airing online and over traditional television networks there as well.
China has a very long and profound history, which has created many stories whether they are true historical events or legendary tales. There is much to be explored in terms of Chinese history, exquisite costumes and makeup reflect a Chinese aesthetic while showcasing Eastern charm. Historical stories with rich cultural heritage and legends are easy to attract overseas audiences.
As the themes of ancient costume dramas become increasingly diverse, covering more types of genres with improved quality, it is foreseeable that more excellent productions will go abroad in partnership with multiple countries' viewership as fan favorites.
More importantly, these dramas will gradually expand into other categories such as family drama, youth drama, suspense drama etc., allowing international audiences to pay attention to current lifestyles and development speeds among China's people.
Ultimately this shift from being solely focused on ancient costume historical themes towards diversity across all genres will make Chinese TV series' foreign distribution even more youthful and representative of modern-day China's unique characteristics.