This "2024 Short Drama Overseas Industry Report" is released by Short Drama Study Room, providing a comprehensive analysis of the development status of short dramas going overseas. It details various aspects such as market size, industry status, supply and demand production, customer acquisition and monetization, and conducts in-depth analysis of major overseas markets. The report explores the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry, offering comprehensive industry information for practitioners.
1. Industry Overview and Development Background: The overseas expansion of short dramas began in 2022, representing the phenomenon of China's short drama business model extending to overseas markets. The domestic short drama market in China has developed rapidly, reaching a market size of 35.86 billion yuan in 2023. Overseas short dramas have also grown quickly, with some apps accumulating 148 million downloads and $252 million in in-app purchases from 2022 to 2024. The market has huge growth potential, with the long-term overseas market space expected to reach $36 billion.
2. Market Size and Status: The global market is widely distributed but highly concentrated, with leading apps occupying most of the market share. The US market is the largest, while Southeast Asia has the highest number of downloads. From August 2022 to June 2024, over 100 apps were launched, with strong growth in in-app purchase revenue and downloads. User feedback is mainly positive, but there are issues with pricing and advertising.
3. Industry Status: The industry chain covers multiple roles including platforms, producers, and traffic providers, each with their own characteristics and development trends. The industry is beginning to take shape but has not yet scaled up, with many platforms and producers entering the market.
4. Supply, Demand, and Production: Overseas short dramas are divided into local productions and translated dramas, with translated dramas currently dominating, though local productions have great potential. Popular genres include romance and revenge, with regional preferences varying. Local drama production is tight, requiring attention to script creation and localization; translated dramas have lower costs and sufficient supply but need quality improvement.
5. Customer Acquisition and Monetization: Customer acquisition mainly relies on paid user acquisition, with Meta as the core channel, while also utilizing free channels such as social media. Monetization methods are diverse, including in-app purchases, advertising, hybrid monetization, etc. Different regions and platforms choose different models based on user characteristics. Additionally, emerging methods such as brand placement and closed-loop monetization on short video platforms are being explored.
6. Major Overseas Market Analysis: The US market is large and growing steadily, with a high proportion of female users and great potential for local dramas. The Southeast Asian market is known as the "second Chinese market," with growth slowing but still holding potential; translated dramas and male-oriented content have room for development. The Japanese market has reached tens of millions of dollars and is growing rapidly, with Chinese companies holding an advantage and workplace themes being popular. The Korean market is smaller but growing quickly, with local companies actively entering and female-oriented content dominating.
7. Opportunities and Challenges: Opportunities include the global growth in video demand, good overseas user payment habits, technological development support, and changes in content consumption patterns. Challenges include balancing costs and revenue pressure, low user retention, cultural differences and localization difficulties, as well as legal regulations and copyright issues.
8. Development Strategies and Trends: Companies should choose content and regions based on their own advantages and focus on localization. In the future, short drama content will innovate, emerging markets have great potential, and technological innovation will drive industry development, such as AI technology supporting content creation and distribution.
