Posters of two well-received Chinese TV series My Sunshine (top) and Legend of Miyue (bottom)

 

In the beginning of 2015, Chinese authorities announced a policy that stated one TV series could be broadcast on no more than two satellite channels at the same time. As a result, TV producers began to explore more broadcasting venues for their products. An era of cross-media transmission of cultural products led by technologies was therefore ushered in. During this process, the Chinese TV industry made remarkable progress in terms of themes, styles, genres and ways of expression.

 

Multi-screen solution
The integration of online video sites and traditional media in TV broadcasting allows service providers to deliver any content to any screen on any network. Namely, the multi-screen solution enables viewers to watch TV programs on mobile devices, the Internet and traditional TV channels almost at the same time.
 

TV stations were once the only broadcast method. The introduction of online platforms into this area generated a great upsurge in domestic TV production. The multi-screen solution enriched the content of TV and created the current prosperity. TV producers increasingly value the spiritual demands of viewers because they have to enter a larger market to be tested. Excellent works like The Disguiser, Nirvana in Fire and Legend of Miyue, became popular with viewers, and other shoddily produced programs were sifted out of the market.

The era of the multi-screen solution has also impacted content. 2015 saw diversified themes and content in TV series. Various genres achieved great success, including spy dramas, costume pieces, historical dramas and realistic dramas.

 

Performance of different genres
In the Internet era, TV series began to include more cultural elements and utilize multiple themes within a single program. For example, The Disguiser is primarily a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese invasion as well as the victory of the world anti-fascist war. In addition to being about a spy war, it also comprises elements like idols, youth and vigor, and campus life in military schools. The drama occupied the top place in TV series rankings for quite a long time and gained a huge click-through rate on the Internet.

Other programs like Wang Dahua’s Revolutionary Career, The Legend of a Hongan General, and Yangko Dance also were an artistic expression of people’s memory of this period of history. Among them, the drama Yangko Dance, in particular, evoked great emotional resonance within the audience.

In 2015, costume dramas and historical dramas topped the list of audience ratings, the most popular ones being The Empress of China, The Journey of Flower, Nirvana in Fire and Legend of Miyue. The latter two were exported to some Asian and American countries and well received.
 

What’s regretful is that in 2015, not many realistic dramas were screened. A few of them, such as Swan Dive for Love, My Sunshine and Two Families from Wenzhou were well received, but on the whole, realistic dramas didn’t become mainstream. The crucial reason, according to official statistics, is that most of them did not integrate the key qualities of depth, artistic quality and aesthetics. Rather, they were shallow, slow paced  and simply used good-looking actors while neglecting acting skills.
 

 
Quality works expected
The mode of cross-media transmission in the multi-screen era has greatly influenced the TV industry. As the threshold for entering the online video industry is relatively low, products in the industry vary a lot in terms of quality. Moreover, those born in the Internet era, who rely on the Internet every day, have become the major consumers of cultural products. But they tend to acquire fragmented information and try to avoid in-depth discussions. That is to say, they stress entertainment and form while belittling culture and content.

The Internet has expanded the value chain of intellectual property in the film and television industry. For example, many derivative products of The Journey of Flower have been developed, such as a mobile game, a cartoon and an online drama. Nevertheless, Chinese audiences still have great expectations in terms of aesthetics, cultural connotations and intellectual implications of TV dramas. Only those that are capable of penetrating into people’s hearts with their depth of humanity and beauty of art can cultivate the mind and help to elevate people’s wisdom and emotions.