The Variety Show Market in China

　　“Multi-platform viewing habits of young Chinese audience are expected to generate more and more variety shows, and these variety shows are produced by video sharing websites in China.” speakers said on a TV forum at the ongoing 21st Shanghai TV Festival.

　　Industry insiders and experts believe that variety shows in China will be more diversified, original and interactive because of the audience’s different tastes.

　　“Celebrity reality shows, mostly based on South Korean formats, are popular these days, but we want to produce our own variety shows catering for the considerable number of Chinese netizens.” said Ma Yankun, chief producer and deputy general manager of Tencent Video.

　　“Such shows telling real-life stories of ordinary people and displaying humanity and true emotions also have great market potential.”

　　This month Tencent will present The 15 of Us, a novel daily grassroots reality show which will run throughout a whole year.

　　In the show, 15 contestants, mostly city dwellers without much experience living in the wild, will live together in a remote mountainous area for a year.

　　They will have only a shed, an old-fashioned telephone, several cows and chickens and a small amount of money.

　　Veterans anticipate that online variety shows will see a strong take-up by young audience with two-way interaction. Traditional “viewers” will be converted into users.

　　Well-known variety show producer Zhou Dongmei said that original shows with realistic roots and powerful emotional connections with the audience will be particularly popular in China.

　　“However, the production of such shows should not be profit-driven.” Zhou added. “It usually takes a long time and big efforts to develop an innovative format.”


 

 

图说：The guests are discussing the development of Chinese variety shows freely. Pic by CFP