Becoming a Billionaire after Divorce-Chapter 786 - 297: Concept for a Free Micro Short Drama App (Part 2)
"Take the film industry as an example. Our Star Point Media has continued to make large-scale investments in the film industry. However, the recovery of the film industry remains far off in recent years. Of the more than 100 cinema films invested last year, less than ten truly made a profit, and the only one that profited and gained critical acclaim is The Wandering Earth 3, which you personally oversaw the investment in."
At this point, Sun Dasheng interrupted, "By the way, I haven’t been following it closely lately. How much has The Wandering Earth 3 made at the box office?"
Sun Dacheng immediately recalled the figures and said, "After 23 days of release, the box office has reached 5 billion, completely surpassing the first one’s 4.687 billion and the second one’s 4.029 billion. It’s likely to obtain the key and experts predict it might break Changjin Lake’s 5.775 billion box office record, reaching the top of the domestic historical box office chart."
"Not bad." Sun Dasheng nodded.
It indicates his good judgment in investing in such a high-returning movie. Although the return rate on the box office might not be very high compared to its 2 billion production cost, it significantly benefits the company’s image.
This is an intangible asset.
And he was also happy for Guo Fan for having successfully pulled the sci-fi genre from the brink that those lousy directors had pushed it to.
Showing everyone that such films can still be made and profitable.
"So you’re saying that out of the hundred films the company invested in last year, only this one made both money and reputation, while the others are just worthless junk that can’t even be served at a feast?" Sun Dasheng asked.
Sun Dacheng wanted to argue but found himself unable to with a bitter mouth.
He had no choice but to explain, "It’s not just our company; the overall environment isn’t good. From last year to now, only The Wandering Earth 3 has been a good movie; the others aren’t remarkable."
"The overall environment isn’t good?" Sun Dasheng laughed in frustration.
This bunch of bastards doesn’t know how to make good films, but they’re good at coming up with excuses.
Is this really an issue with the environment?
Isn’t it the once glorious market and audience that spoiled them?
Randomly serving the audience piles of crap and the audience being willing to consume, thoughtlessly reproducing and converting a foreign series into a domestic film by buying the rights, and then having audiences pay at the cinemas.
Still achieving huge box office success.
Such crap can achieve such success, so in recent years, how many directors are willing to put effort into polishing good works?
The audience is easy to fool.
That’s why one mediocre hot movie can make the film industry a mess.
Now audiences have realized, "Do you really think we’re idiots?"
So they’re no longer playing along.
That’s why recent years’ box offices have been like Wang Xiao’er celebrating the New Year, getting worse each year.
To this, Sun Dasheng could only say, "Deserved!"
As a member of the entertainment and film industry, Star Point Media deserves it too.
This is also one of the reasons he decided to make changes.
"We’ve talked about movies; what about television dramas? What’s the situation?" Sun Dasheng continued to ask.
Sun Dacheng, with a bitter face, said, "Television dramas aren’t promising either. Doesn’t seem like audiences are much interested in watching them anymore. The effective click rates for TV dramas are low, and the effect on membership growth for those streaming sites is minimal. Many dramas’ purchase prices are continuously dropping, unlike a few years ago when dramas could sell for tens of millions per episode for hit series."
"As expected, the TV dramas being made now... What are they thinking? They’re worse than movies. Alright, what’s your contingency plan for these situations?" Sun Dasheng asked, tapping the table.
Asked about this, Sun Dacheng immediately perked up, "We’ve discussed this internally. Given the current slump in the movie and TV industries, we’ll reduce our investments in these two fields this year and redirect more investments back to our company’s roots in short videos, specifically Micro Short Dramas."
"Micro Short Dramas?"
"Yes, there’s a new term in the industry. We call these dramas released on short video platforms Micro Short Dramas."
Talking about Micro Short Dramas, Sun Dacheng was knowledgeable: "Micro Short Dramas are becoming the new force in the film and TV industry, with the market size expected to exceed 80 billion by 2026, and potentially reaching 200 billion by 2030. Just in January 2026, the registered number of Micro Short Dramas reached 395, surpassing the total production and distribution of TV dramas for the entire year of 2025, which was 356."
"This growth is explosive and quite astonishing. Even for a company like ours, deeply entrenched in Micro Short Dramas, we didn’t anticipate its potential reach."
Sun Dasheng, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, said, "It seems like the lower-tier market in the country is a vast blue ocean."
"Indeed, according to our statistical data, most viewers of these Micro Short Dramas are from third- and fourth-tier cities and fifth- and sixth-tier counties, as well as the middle-aged and elderly in rural towns. While their individual purchasing power isn’t high, their sheer numbers and high repeat purchase rates make this field promising."
Sun Dacheng said excitedly.
"These middle-aged people overlap significantly with the empty nest elders whose children have gone to study or work elsewhere. They don’t have many skills, unlike city elders who can play chess or dance. Apart from playing cards, they don’t have many hobbies. So consuming Micro Short Dramas to pass time naturally makes it appealing to them."
"This demographic is willing to spend money quickly and has high stickiness, making them very loyal users."
"Loneliness, lack of companionship—weren’t these people the target customers for health products?" Sun Dasheng asked thoughtfully.
"Very likely," Sun Dacheng answered.
"Rather than wasting their money on useless health products, isn’t it better to spend a little on spiritual nourishment to add some color to their boring lives?"
Sun Dacheng seemed to be getting philosophical here.
Sun Dasheng chuckled after hearing this, "You speak so nobly, but isn’t it just for making money?"
But actually, he’s not lacking money. Hearing Sun Dacheng, he fell into deep thought, wondering if he should do something for this demographic.
"Do you think we can make a free Micro Short Drama app work?"
Sun Dasheng’s question left Sun Dacheng dumbfounded.
My brother, what are you talking about?
"Short videos require more bandwidth than text. Novels can be turned into free apps with ad-generated revenue, but short videos probably can’t."
Sun Dacheng dismissed the idea.
Sun Dasheng neither agreed nor disagreed with this.
How much can it cost?
From what he knows, the national-level video platforms like Youku, Tencent spend around tens of billions on bandwidth and servers annually, with the major costs coming from IP acquisition fees, or the cost of buying dramas.
If a free Micro Short Drama app were created, could it deliver a blow to the paid content market, similar to the way Douyin’s free novel app affected its competition?
Okay, calling it a blow might be an exaggeration.
But at least it could attract users who are usually reluctant to spend money, and even convert some paying users.
Free may mean lower quality than paid, but it’s free, after all.
That’s what’s important, right?
Like free novel sites, which may not have many captivating works, but they’re free.
It can still draw a large target audience from lower-tier markets.
With that thought, he suddenly felt this idea could be implemented.
Because he owns the country’s largest Micro Short Drama production company.
Capable of continuously supplying this free drama app with relatively good content, the costs should naturally be offset by advertising revenue. Some ads in free dramas are tolerable, right?
Those who don’t want ads can purchase an app membership.
As for making a profit, he never intended to use this app for earnings.
Just like Sun Dacheng’s previous high talk, meeting the spiritual needs of most of the country’s empty nest elders is a significant achievement.
So he immediately assigned Sun Dacheng the task of developing a free Micro Short Drama app and then starting to plan a large number of Micro Short Drama shoot tasks to provide content for the future app.
"Aren’t you serious, brother?" Sun Dacheng still couldn’t quite believe it.
