Since the premiere of “Joy of Life Season 2,” the drama's popularity and discussion levels have soared, leaving other shows behind. Scenes such as the Baoyue Lou and Fan Xian's wedding have continued to be hot topics, with Tencent's peak heat index breaking the 34,000 mark, solidifying its reputation as the “drama king.” From the first season of “Joy of Life” in 2019 to the second season five years later, the consistently high levels of discussion and viewership prove the success of “Joy of Life” as a male-oriented IP adaptation. More notably, the second season featured a large number of customized advertisements, demonstrating the market's successful bet on its hit status, adding commercial certainty to such male-oriented IP adaptations.
Before “Joy of Life,” adaptations of male-oriented dramass had not achieved landmark success. Many male-oriented dramas, after adaptation and airing, did not perform as expected, either due to issues with the plot adaptation or production quality. Therefore, examining the success of “Joy of Life” can outline a replicable commercial path for successful adaptations of male-oriented dramass. The double success of “Joy of Life” over five years has reignited market expectations for male-oriented dramas dramas. Who will be the next drama king?
The Industrial Thinking of Joy of Life
Rewinding to 2019, before the release of the first season of “Joy of Life,” the market was still exploring how to adapt male-oriented workss. Some opted for major plot changes, while others based casting on popular actors. Many attempts were made, but few were recognized, leading to unstable quality control in male-oriented works adaptations. A significant characteristic of male-oriented workss is their large scale, often involving millions of words in novels, which is difficult to fully encompass in dozens of episodes of a TV series. Moreover, due to the serial nature of the novels, many tangential parts inevitably exist and need to be selectively adapted.
“Joy of Life” chose a phased approach in its adaptation process. Instead of filming the entire novel at once, it opted to shoot the exciting parts first and then consider additional development if successful. This is a cautious approach to reduce risks in business. The high acclaim for the first season led to the return of the second season, maintaining the same cast and crew five years later, a pioneering move in male-oriented works adaptations. The casting, which combines young talented actors with veteran performers, ensures the quality of the series. This methodology is undoubtedly replicable.
The commercial value of works development extends far beyond the drama series itself. While “Joy of Life Season 2” was airing, Qidian Reading, which holds the original novel, launched a special “Joy of Life” section on its app. In addition to the usual limited free reading, it also added voting linked with Tencent Video, where the top-voted character could get a story supervised by the author, Mao Ni. The final winner was Ye Qingmei, Fan Xian's mother, and updates to “Ye Qingmei's Diary” followed. This synergy led to a surge in the reading volume of the original novel, effectively boosting the daily active users of Qidian Reading, thanks to the popularity of the TV series.
Moreover, “Joy of Life Season 2” saw the successful sale of perworksheral merchandise. The integration of various advertisements, through customized ads, drove the sales of co-branded products. For instance, Deyou's co-branded products with the “Joy of Life” works saw a 70% increase in traffic across all channels, with pre-sales exceeding 3 million. JD Supermarket's “Joy of Life” works merchandise and official blind boxes also achieved impressive sales. The advertisements for “Joy of Life” can be broadly divided into two categories: those that were custom-made in advance to fit the storyline, and those that were added after the broadcast began. The high proportion of the former indicates that brands have a very positive outlook on the show's prospects, and the increase in customized ads fully demonstrates the significant influence of the works, enhancing the certainty of commercial returns.
“Joy of Life Season 2” also achieved overseas distribution of its drama rights, being acquired by Disney and released on Disney+ for simultaneous broadcast. After its run on Disney+, “Joy of Life Season 2” has plans for rotation on other overseas television and streaming platforms, becoming an important step for Tencent Video's works to go global. It can be said that using industrial thinking to turn the adaptation of male-oriented workss into a systematic business, “Joy of Life” has set a good precedent.
Successful Adaptation of Joy of Life
Taking the broadcast of the first season of “Joy of Life” as a dividing point, the market's adaptation of male-oriented workss can be divided into initial exploration and gradual improvement, culminating in the broadcast of “Joy of Life Season 2,” which finally yielded a milestone work in the adaptation of male-oriented workss. Looking back at the adaptation journey of male-oriented workss in the market, some specific pain points have always been difficult to avoid. The first is the balance between the original work and the adaptation. During the initial exploration phase, there were several top male-oriented works adaptations such as “Fighter of the Destiny,” “Fights Break Sphere,” and “The Immortal Stone of Nirvana,” but they often started with a lot of hype and ended with disappointing results.
In 2017, “Fighter of the Destiny,” starring Lu Han and Gulinazha, with a 400 million yuan investment, set a record for domestic TV dramas at the time. However, it received widespread negative reviews after airing, with the actors' performances and the scrworkst being repeatedly criticized.
In 2018, “Fights Break Sphere” aired, a classic male-oriented works that was highly anticworksated, but it ended up with a score of 4.4 on Douban, leading to widespread criticism from fans about the drastic changes in the plot, a focus that subsequent male-oriented works adaptations could not avoid. Even in 2023, “Battle through the Heaven,” despite a cast overhaul and a better score of 6.6 on Douban, still faced accusations of dramatic changes to the plot.
Also airing in the same year was “The Immortal Stone of Nirvana,” reportedly with a 600 million yuan investment, starring Yang Yang and Zhang Tianai, directed by Zhang Li. Due to issues with costumes, props, and the same dramatic changes to the plot, it received the lowest score for a Zhang Li's work on Douban.
The major changes in plot are mainly reflected in the confusion of character relationshworkss, resulting in subsequent unreasonable plots and distorted character images, which has aroused the anger of fans of the original work. It can be seen that the opinions of fans of the original work occupy a significant proportion in the adaptation of early male-oriented works, and any slight mistake will lead to reputation issues.
It also proves that the model of “big works + young actors” is not feasible in the adaptation of male-oriented works. Male-oriented works often has a grand world view, and if the settings are not explained clearly, the follow-up cannot be developed, which is common in online literature, but TV series cannot follow such logic. The male-oriented works “Ever Night” in 2018, for example, began by elaborating on the world view. Although the restoration degree is quite good for fans of the original work, it may be confusing for new viewers.
Although the Douban score of “Ever Night Season 1” has stabilized at 7.4, which belongs to a mid-range level, compared with the large fan base of the original work, the TV series has not produced commensurate influence. In “Ever Night Season 2”, although the director remained the same, the lead actor was changed, and the overall texture declined compared with the previous season, resulting in a final Douban score of 5.4. This involves another major pain point of male-oriented works: the difficulty of serialized development is extremely high.
To achieve serialized development, it involves coordinating actors' schedules, whether the screenwriter's output can keep up, and issues such as actors' reluctance to play supporting roles after their popularity increases following the first season. The change of actors between the two seasons of “Ever Night” played a significant role in the difference in reputation. The same problem cannot be avoided in “Joy of Life”. Some characters in the drama, such as Yan Bingyun and Ye Ling'er, were replaced in the second season, and there were indeed some disputes among viewers about these characters. Fortunately, the main actors could maintain the original cast, which is indeed not easy considering the changes in actors' popularity over the past five years.
There is also the issue of typification in production. Both “Joy of Life” and “My Heroic Husband” are male-oriented works, but they have distinct differences. “Joy of Life” focuses on political intrigue and light comedy, while “My Heroic Husband” emphasizes light comedy. Obviously, it is not possible to discuss the adaptation direction using a one-size-fits-all approach. Finding the suitable adaptation path for the works is the correct way to approach it. Taking “Sword Snow Stride” as an example, the lead actor is Zhang Ruoyun, and the screenwriter is Wang Juan, which is similar to the configuration of “Joy of Life”. However, the Douban score after its broadcast fell to 5.9, obviously not meeting expectations.
The audience generally accreditation the drama scenes, but the main controversy lies in the fight scenes. As a martial arts and political intrigue costume drama, “Sword Snow Stride” lacks concise and smooth fighting scenes, and the slow-motion scenes are nearly abused, which have become the main reasons for viewers' complaints. It can be seen that it is not easy for “Joy of Life” to have come this far.
Male-oriented Dramas to be Broadcast
The tremendous success of “Joy of Life” is envied by many, and there are still many male-oriented workss of the same weight on the market, and there are also many adaptations to be broadcast. Will there be an opportunity for the next “Joy of Life” among these dramas? If they want to avoid detours, what kind of experience can they learn? Among these male-oriented works dramas to be broadcast, “Guardians of the Dafeng” and “The Immortal Ascension” are undoubtedly the top heavyweights.
Just like “Joy of Life”, the producer of “Guardians of the Dafeng” is also Xinli. The drama is led by Wang Hedi and Tian Xiwei, adapted from the homonymous novel by Maobao Xiaolangjun. Director Deng Ke has just broadcast a popular ancient drama “The Legend of Shen Li” this year, and the previously launched “My Heroic Husband” is also a well-received work among male-oriented workss, and “My Heroic Husband Season 2” is also being prepared.
“The Immortal Ascension” is produced by Youku, starring Yang Yang and Jin Chen, directed by Yang Yang, who has previous experience in adapting male-oriented works “Ever Night” and has also created female-oriented works such as “A Dream of Splendor”. Book fans hope that the director can balance the male and female perspectives, achieve a balance of strength and softness, and expand the female audience.
“Hero Legends” is highly renowned in the field of martial arts novels, the drama is led by Cheng Yi and Li Yitong, directed by Yang Wenjun. Due to the grand structure and tough style of the original work, book fans also have high expectations for it.
“Shui Long Yin” is adapted from Teng Ping's martial arts novel “Qian Jie Mei”. Since her works adaptation “Mysterious Lotus Casebook” became a hit last year, the market value of her works has also risen. The drama is led by Luo Yunxi, Xiao Shunyao, and Ao Ziyi.
“Zang Hai Zhuan” directed by Zheng Xiaolong may be the most unconventional among these male-oriented workss. It is derived from Wang Canghai, a character in Nanpaisanshu's “Daomu Biji”, and belongs to a derivative work of a popular works. The drama is led by Xiao Zhan and Zhang Jingyi. In the TV series, the plot about Wang Canghai's own background and other stories has been added, with a high degree of originality.
Looking at these works, there are various elements such as martial arts, fairy tales, adventure, and detective stories, which greatly enrich the market of male-oriented workss. Compared with the total market volume in the past, the number of male-oriented works productions has increased significantly now, which benefits from the changes in the audience and also relies on the production team trained during the exploration period in previous years. With directors such as Zheng Xiaolong and Yang Wenjun entering the market one after another, the quality of male-oriented works adaptations is also expected to reach a higher level. So, among these male-oriented works dramas to be broadcast, will there be the next “Joy of Life”? Let's wait and see.