Chinese Films Performed Poorly in Overseas Markets in 2018
In 2018, China box office totaled over 60 billion yuan with local films making 37.9 billion yuan. While local films performed well in the domestic market, their performance in overseas markets are less than ideal. The Chinese film bureau hasn’t released any official figures regarding Chinese films’ box office earnings in overseas markets. But overseas ticket sales of domestic box office hits should give us an idea. As the highest-grossing film in the China market in 2018, Operation Red Sea made $1.54 million in North America. Detective Chinatown 2, which is the box office No. 2 in the domestic market, earned 1.98 million in North America. Dying to Survive, which became a hit in China for its storytelling and social significance, was barely released theatrically in any international markets. In Southeast Asia, Chinese films also have little influence. Decades ago, Chinese language films produced by Hong Kong were dominant in the region. In the Japanese market, Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat made 106 million yuan ($15.64 million), which is ranked No. 30 on the list of highest grossing 2018 films in Japan. However, it’s worth noting that Legend of the Demon Cat is adapted from a hit Japanese novel. Read more on Mtime
Youku Stops Revealing Viewing Figures
After iQiyi stopped revealing viewing figures last year in September, another leading Chinese video platform Youku just announced on Jan 18 that it would stop showing views of each video to its users. Similar to iQiyi, Youku will replace the number of views with a number that indicates a video’s popularity, which is calculated based on number of views, viewing duration, frequency of fast-forwarding among other metrics. In the past, some video producers as well as marketers buy fake views in order to receive more revenue share from a video platform, which has caused unfair competition and other negative results. Read more on entgroup.cn
Douyin to Be the Exclusive Social Media Partner of 2019 Chinese New Year Gala
Recently, a press conference for the upcoming 2019 Chinese new year gala took place in Beijing. Several executives from China Central Television (CCTV) attended the event along with Douyin President Zhang Nan and Douyin Marketing Head Zhi Ying. It’s announced at the press conference that the CCTV Chinese new year gala will launch a new media campaign titled “Another Happy Year.” And Douyin will be the exclusive social media partner of this campaign. Strategies have been designed to encourage Douyin users to create short videos that relate to the Gala or simply show beautiful life moments, such as Chinese new year reunion. Read more on entgroup.cn
