Text | Entertainment Unicorn, by | Akagi Jarko, editor| Mia
The short drama may become a new "talent show" of domestic entertainment.
2月21日，短劇演員趙柯淳登上的《費加羅MODE》二月刊創下開賣不到一小時銷量超8000本，開售24小時銷售額突破70萬的紀錄，不久前，其參加《無限超越班》並透露2萬日薪。今年春節期間，趙柯淳憑《好一個乖乖女》晉升“短劇頂流”，迅速躥升的流量與適配內娛的“基礎建設”，讓短劇演員的“飛升”更具實感：粉絲見面會、站姐機場接機、接代言等等。
The popularity of short dramas not only makes great use of the life cycle of actors, but also adapts to the needs of domestic entertainment for rapid production and continuous consumption of content, becoming a new way of "star-making". is different from the singing and dancing business in traditional talent show variety shows, short drama actors really rely on their works to "eat", and the "contrast" inside and outside the play also helps them maintain their popularity.
According to the estimate of DataEye Research Institute, in the past, it took 2 or 0 billion yuan for the platform and capital to become a popular film and television star. In the micro-short drama industry, this number has been compressed to the millions. However, with the increasing homogeneity of the content of short dramas and the character of actors, short drama actors have gradually carried more industry expectations and become the "key point" to break the game. Behind the rapid star-making, will short dramas be able to maintain their innovation and diversity, continue to bring freshness and depth to the audience, or will they fall into a traffic bottleneck?
Skits are gradually becoming the ticket for non-professional and newcomer actors. Jin Chao, a short drama actor who appeared in "Infinite Transcendence Class 2" last year, became the captain with his solid acting skills; Cheng Lei, who came to prominence in the short drama "False Face", has successively passed the second male protagonist of "Cloud Feather" and the male protagonist of "Jinyue Like Song" to achieve a short to long career jump.
However, "short to long" doesn't always work. Li Fei, who debuted as a micro-short drama actor, starred in a long drama for the first time 2024 years after her debut, but it did not cause a lot of splashes, until the short drama "Give Her a Handle" starring her before the Spring Festival in 0 years became popular and ushered in a turning point in her career, and Li Fei followed a crazy increase in fans.
In terms of actresses, there are also many actors who have completed their transformation and broken the circle through short plays, such as Wang Daotie, Sun Yue, and Li Muchen. Li Muchen's performance as a supporting role in "Sito" and "Menghualu" was not outstanding, but she successfully "broke the circle" by starring in the short drama "Provocation" and became the "first sister" in the short drama industry.
On "Infinite Transcendence Class 3", she emphasized that her anxiety was "the drama throws her face and is not recognizable", and her mentor Wu Zhenyu retorted that "this is an actor", while being reminded that the two had also acted in rival plays. This shows that short dramas are not only a platform for actors to test the waters, but also an important leap for them to make from "small roles" to "protagonists".
Most of the "male gods of short dramas" are labeled as non-majors, but from the perspective of appearance conditions and professional ability, the standards are not low, and it can be said that appearance, figure and professionalism are indispensable. Ke Chun, the "male god of short dramas", is a typical representative of this phenomenon. was not born in a professional class and was engaged in the clothing industry before entering the industry, but with his good appearance and iconic acting skills such as crying scenes and brokenness, he quickly became one of the top shorts.
Specifically, behind the jump of short drama actors, there is instant market feedback of their internal and external strength, but the competitive pressure of "traffic first" comes faster and more fiercely, and the rapid iteration of short dramas and the instant feedback of the audience's word-of-mouth make actors accumulate a large number of fans in a short period of time through a work and quickly enter the public eye. In any case, as part of the systematic "star-making" path of short dramas, it will present a complete picture of the survival and development path of short drama actors for the industry.
隨著短劇產業的提速，短劇演員的晉陞通道也正逐漸加速。隨著柯淳等短劇現象級演員的出現，越來越多的短劇演員開始跨界進入長劇領域。2026年待播長劇的網路釋出演員名單里，就出現了不少短劇演員的身影。比如大包大攬一批頭部短劇演員的長劇《玉茗茶骨》，《我在八零年代當後媽》女主滕澤文、《好一個乖乖女》女主餘茵、《步步引誘》男主舒童、《呦呦鹿鳴》男主劉擎，均出現在《玉茗茶骨》的角色名單中。
Ke Ying, the heroine of "False Face", participated in "Five Blessings", and Zhao Yiqin, the male protagonist of "Provocation", participated in "Mu Xu Ci". Among them, Liu Qing and Teng Zewen have been signed by Yu Zheng into Huanyu Film and Television. Li Muchen signed into Yuekai Entertainment, which is the entertainment company where Yang Yang and Song Qian worked.
Compared with the competition for the position of the traditional film and television drama circle, the "title promotion" in the short drama circle is unpretentious, fast and direct. The promotion of actors no longer depends on complex resources and time accumulation, but on the popularity and flow of the work itself, and short dramas can maximize the number and popularity of works.
The "short country" has been lively for a long time. The short production cycle and low cost provide more opportunities for new actors to practice, and also meet the current fast-moving demand for content in the entertainment industry. With the gradual diversification of the content of short dramas, short dramas have become more in line with the current trend of flexible employment and have become a new "star-making factory" in the entertainment industry.
Last year's hit interactive skit game "Finished! I was surrounded by beautiful women" may bring inspiration to the short drama star-making, compared to the idea of quickly raising the impression of the actor in the audience's mind through strong characters, and strengthening the label of "star-making" through the series of characters of the same type. After all, short dramas are a product of the era of online content, so compared with long-form actors and stars, it has a characteristic that is more suitable for the Internet: interactivity.
The same is true from a phenomenological point of view, the emotional connection between the skit actor and the audience is more down-to-earth, and the fans of the skit actor are also accustomed to establishing an emotional connection by "accompanying" the actor. Skit actors should not only impress the audience in the play, but also interact with fans through social platforms, live broadcasts and other means to form a "companionship" emotional connection.
Ke Chun is a representative figure of this model, and his "sense of reality" outside the play has become an important means for him to attract fans. The audience is "snorting to death" about his image as the boss in the play, and outside the play, he either responds to the needs of netizens as an "electronic boyfriend" or as a "sugar expert".
Looking at Ke Chun's live broadcast, this kind of bold and real presentation is difficult to happen to the top actors in long dramas. not only asked for marriage in the live broadcast room, but also generously responded to the "taboo topics" of the rising actors. In a live broadcast, Ke Chun munched on the fruit while responding to netizens' questions about his ex, "If my ex finds me to get back together, I will tell her that now is the rising period of my career, you wait a while." When I don't catch fire one day, let's get back together", judging from the comments of barrage netizens, not only did it not cause discomfort, but it became a circle of fans. "Understood, the paying personality + was dumped + still thinking about getting back together". Even its star-chasing status on reality shows is #柯淳拐彎抹角打聽趙麗穎#也登上熱搜.
The business is working hard in the drama publicity stage, and the single live broadcast is even more responsive. forcibly called the female lead in the live broadcast of the return interaction, and the natural communication live broadcast like a phone call, made it very easy for netizens to substitute the characters in the play into the outside of the play, and they screamed. In the solo live broadcast, in response to netizens' "Why is there no girlfriend who is so good at filming kiss scenes", Ke Chun clenched his fists without saying a word and kissed his hand affectionately.
To a certain extent, the head short drama actors have the characteristics of "Internet + content", relying on works-driven and paying attention to market feedback, while also deeply integrating the anchor star-making ecology. At present, it seems that short dramas have a certain ceiling limit on the rise of actors, but as authentic online content, short drama actors do not need to be restrained when accumulating popularity and broadening their career development paths. Live streaming through social media and short video platforms to maximize their personal charm. A large number of non-professional backgrounds also make it retain a certain degree of "grassroots" attributes, and it also makes short drama actors an antidote to the entertainment industry that fills the serious lack of "living people".
Short dramas have greatly affected the supply and demand of film and television content. In the past, the links such as project initiation, multiple rounds of auditions, and reading the script have been further compressed, and the delivery of new faces to the audience can be completed in a month or two, or even a week or two. One work after another, one face after another, constantly impacts the audience's senses. Although skits provide a broad space for actors to develop, the limitations of skits are also more obvious.
On the one hand, the boundary between short plays and long plays is gradually blurring, the cross-border phenomenon of actors is becoming more and more frequent, and the career development path of short drama actors is also constantly expanding. On the other hand, grassroots attributes are stronger. As authentic online content, skit actors do not need to be tied down when accumulating popularity and broadening their career development paths, and broadcast live through social media and short video platforms.
At least for now, every time the "long and short" meet, the two performance ecology also usher in a head-on collision of the "ecological wall". On "Infinite Transcendence Class 3", Ke Chun used his signature crying technique in an improvisational performance, and was rated as "technical tears" by his mentor, (immersed) in his own world, and had little communication with rival actors. Under the framework of sinking market, vertical screen form + short, flat and fast content, it is about the homogenization of scripts and characters, market saturation, aesthetic fatigue and other phenomena.
Its rise and the collapse of the character are speeding up, and He Jianqi, one of the former short drama male gods F4, collapsed overnight and was removed from the new drama "Jade Tea Bone" by Yu Zheng.
In the future, as the boundary between short dramas and traditional film and television dramas gradually blurs, short drama actors will face a more diversified development path.