We are in an era of content overload and pursuit of traffic.
This is both fortunate and unfortunate for the audience. On the one hand, the content that can be received has increased exponentially compared to before, and one's horizons have expanded infinitely. But on the other hand, there are many crude and shoddy contents under the "traffic thinking", which is extremely unfriendly to the audience.
In an age of abundant content, audiences are increasingly dominant. As early as 1935, Nobel Prize winner in economics Hayek proposed the theory of "sovereignty of the consumer", which is also the theory of "consumer sovereignty". It points out that in an era when supply exceeds demand, production should be determined by consumer wishes and preferences.
In other words, today’s content production should also follow the business logic of “demand drives supply” to truly create value for the market. These needs often exist in the minutiae of daily life.
The starting point of our day is opening our eyes. But how many people really know their own eyes? Last year, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country exceeded 50%, and even reached over 80% among high school students. Many people actually need to know about eye health knowledge. In addition, this year the Ministry of Education issued the "2023 National Comprehensive Key Work Plan for Preventing and Controlling Myopia in Children and Adolescents", which requires systematic planning and solid advancement of the prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents in the new era.
In the situation where there are demands from the top and demands from the bottom, under the guidance of the Department of Sports, Health and Art Education of the Ministry of Education, and jointly produced by Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV, and People's Daily Video Client Vision, the first eye health science documentary "Eyes" produced by Mango Bojing Story" was broadcast and achieved good ratings.
Behind these achievements, we need to re-examine the commercial effects and value logic of popular science documentaries.
The business effect of “demand drives supply”
The starting point for the creation of many excellent content often starts from the small needs around us.
Li Dongshen, the chief director of the documentary "The Story of Eyes" told "Yidiancaijing" that his uncle was diagnosed with glaucoma three years ago. However, he knew nothing about this disease. After learning about it, he realized that it was an irreversible disease. Blind disease.
In recent years, with the increase in electronic products and online education, myopia has become younger among teenagers. In fact, the number of cataracts and glaucoma among middle-aged and elderly people is also expanding. However, most Chinese people have knowledge blind spots about eye protection.
For example, many people think that poor vision means myopia. In fact, it may also be caused by glaucoma, cataracts, amblyopia and other problems. Many people still don’t know that diabetes may cause various eye complications such as fundus retinopathy, glaucoma, and ophthalmoplegia, which can even lead to blindness in severe cases.
People use their eyes every day, but they know very little about this "window to the soul." If we can better understand the eyes and carry out scientific and effective prevention and control, we can reduce the probability of many eye diseases. Many people actually have a relatively large demand for eye health knowledge. Meituan data shows that ophthalmology will rise fastest in popularity in 2022, with traffic increasing by more than 120%.
From a small detail in daily life, Li Dongshen discovered that the general public has blind spots in ophthalmology knowledge. This incident inspired him to make a documentary about eyes to a certain extent.
In essence, it was Li Dongshen's curiosity that drove him to do this. In the exchange with Li Dongshen, "Yidiancaijing" found that he is a very curious director, very sensitive to the subtle needs of reality, and can always derive further specific works.
There is still a long distance between need insight and satisfaction. During the filming and production process of the film, Li Dongshen continued to conduct market research and adjusted supply-side production based on demand-side preferences.
For example, as a director who has made many historical documentaries, Li Dongshen discovered that China actually had a very early history of cataract surgery. This was content worth popularizing to the audience, but he later deleted all this content. Because although these contents can broaden the audience's horizons, they are not what the audience most urgently wants to know.
Demand is the most critical anchor of supply.
Under the constant guidance of demand, "The Story of Eyes" directed by Li Dongshen has achieved outstanding results.
On the one hand, Meiland data shows that during the broadcast period, the influence of integrated communication ranked first among documentaries on the entire network, with the program disseminated more than 300 million times and a reputation of 95. The average ratings of the program on the CSM national network were 0.14 and the share was 0.65%; Huan.com’s non-drama projects ranked first among provincial satellite TVs in the same period.
On the other hand, the program also had additional effects. During the production of the film, a total of 18 professors and expert advisory teams and 21 doctoral/postdoctoral teams were invited to provide professional support. In addition, professors from famous hospitals such as Beijing Tongren Hospital and Aier Eye Hospital were also invited to serve as expert consultants for the program. Aier Ophthalmology's stock price continued to rise after the program aired and in the week after it aired.
It can be seen that "The Story of the Eye" has formed a very wide range of communication and commercial effects in fields related to ophthalmology.
The “TO C logic” behind business effects
It is worth thinking deeply about why "The Story of Eyes" can produce such a commercial effect?
In the final analysis, it is because of its documentary nature.
Li Dongshen told "Yidiancaijing" that most of the documentaries he has shot are of the TO B type, relatively niche, but this time he directed "The Story of the Eyes" for the first time to be TO C and for the public.
When facing the public, some features of documentaries can more deeply meet the needs of the audience and exert commercial effects.
1. Market education
First of all, the informative and authentic features of documentaries can effectively occupy users' minds and complete market education in a subtle way.
There is a saying in the market that “golden eyes, silver teeth”, because ophthalmology consumption space is relatively large, so ophthalmology medical services have formed a huge market. According to data from the Huaijing Industrial Institute, the industry size of China's ophthalmic medical service market will reach 219.8 billion yuan in 2023.
In this huge market worth hundreds of billions, sometimes users don’t know how to meet their needs, and the market often needs education.
For example, my country is the country with the most cataract patients. The number of patients has reached 1.39 billion in 2021. However, the CSR (cataract surgeries per million people) is only 1/2 of India and less than 1/4 of the United States. There will still be problems in the future. 2-4x room for growth.
Why is the cataract surgery penetration rate low in China? In addition to higher surgical costs and poor surgical quality in some areas, the main reason is that some patients have insufficient knowledge of cataract surgery and are worried about the quality of surgery.
Breaking through awareness is the key to increasing the penetration rate of cataract surgery and further opening up the market. The knowledge and authenticity of popular science documentaries are particularly good in market education.
For example, "The Story of the Eye" brings together authoritative ophthalmologists and is also officially directed and produced. It has been recognized by the audience for its knowledge and authenticity.
When more viewers watch "The Story of the Eyes", they will have a better understanding of eye health and a better understanding of cataracts and other eye diseases. This may increase the penetration rate of surgery, thereby driving the growth of the eye health market.
Although this process is carried out in a subtle way and may not be particularly fast, it must be a strong driving force.
2. Equal relationship
In addition to market education, popular science documentaries can also make the relationship between C-side consumers and B-side companies more equal.
Li Dongshen told "Yidian Finance" that although myopia surgery is now mature, not everyone is suitable for surgery. It has many prerequisites, such as age, stability of vision, etc.
Because of a documentary like "The Story of Eyes", C-side consumers learn more about B-side companies. They understand more business logic, see more boundaries, and can establish a relatively equal relationship with brands.
In the business world, equality in this relationship is very important.
If consumers are in a too disadvantaged position and do not have more "sovereignty" in the era of "consumer sovereignty", brands will relatively ignore consumers' needs for iteration.
In the end, it is easy to evolve into the fact that there are fewer high-quality products and services on the market that can truly meet demand, and consumers have fewer choices. The business process of "demand drives supply" will be hindered.
The documentary "The Story of the Eyes" relies on its authenticity and fairness to optimize the relationship between C-end consumers and B-end enterprises, and contribute to the development of the industry.
The “new communication path” emerging from the B-side
Most popular science documentaries are still commercial in nature, so their commercial value must be considered. With the help of commercialization, documentaries will go further.
Rao Xin, a member of the dual-platform advertising business management committee and head of the integrated marketing department of Hunan Satellite TV's advertising department, told "Yidian Finance" that the foreign documentary industry developed relatively early and is already very mature in terms of commercialization. In China, the commercialization of documentaries still needs to move forward, and at the same time it requires profound insights:
The needs of B-side enterprises.
1. Depth of communication
First of all, more and more B-side companies focus not only on the breadth of communication, but also on the depth.
In the exchange with Rao Xin, "Yidian Finance" learned that the cognitive level of China's new generation of young people, such as the 8090 generation, has improved a lot compared to the previous generation. They pay more attention to more in-depth topics such as the company's heritage and the future of the industry. Therefore, many companies have begun to pay attention to the depth of the brand communication process.
Compared with film and television content such as variety shows, popular science documentaries may be slightly inferior in terms of dissemination and popularity, but they have higher plasticity in terms of content quality and tonality, and can bring more quality improvements to enterprises.
For example, due to the rich knowledge and high-quality content in "The Story of the Eye", the public has a more positive and positive understanding of the authority and professionalism of the ophthalmologists in the film. This is also one of the key reasons why the stock price of Aier Ophthalmology, which was deeply involved in and supported the filming, continued to rise after the documentary was broadcast.
Hunan Radio and Television has been continuously exploring the depth of documentaries, and the awards speak for themselves. At this year's first China Documentary Conference, Hunan Satellite TV was rated as "Excellent Broadcasting Organization" and Mango TV was rated as "Excellent Production Organization".
The launch of more high-quality documentaries will also help improve the depth of corporate communication.
2. Sense of trust
In the exchange with Rao Xin, "Yidian Finance" learned that the greatest commercial value in the eyes of many companies is actually the sense of trust in the minds of users.
This improvement in trust not only requires companies to improve their products and services, but also requires companies to participate more in social development.
As Drucker, the management guru, said, enterprises are the organs of society. Any enterprise can survive better because it meets the needs of a certain aspect of society and achieves some special social purpose.
If companies want to gain greater consumer trust in the business world, they must be embedded in the social structure and provide unique value to the entire society, and popular science documentaries can play a boosting role by virtue of their social nature.
For example, "The Story of Eyes" radiates to some unique groups of people and shows social warmth. Currently, the number of people who are blind due to corneal diseases in China is about 4 million. Just relying on the number of corneas that the deceased is willing to donate is far from enough. Therefore, less than 10,000 patients each year have the chance to see light again.
In "The Story of the Eye", the scene of corneal donation transplantation by AIER Eye Bank is shown. At the same time, the program team collaborated with the Mango Charity Platform and the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation to launch the "Donate Light Action" to help more patients with damaged corneas find light.
This type of social welfare action can help companies that support documentary filming enhance their sense of value in the minds of customers. According to the "Positioning Theory", a brand must differentiate itself from competition in the minds of customers, occupy a truly valuable positioning, and use this to lead business operations, so that it can win better long-term development.
Popular science documentaries have this kind of "positioning ability" to help enhance corporate trust.
3. Long-termism
The ultimate goal of corporate communication is to establish long-term relationships with consumers.
In addition to the depth of communication, most excellent documentaries can travel through cycles and settle in the long river of time, bearing their own brand of the times and mission of the times. As Li Dongshen said:
Documentary is a very long-lasting imaging product.
For companies, documentaries can be regarded as a way to achieve long-termism, because after a long time, excellent documentaries will still have audiences, and related brands will still have audiences.
If the needs of B-side enterprises for communication depth, trust and long-termism can be continuously met, the commercialization of documentaries will become smoother and smoother.
Conclusion
Although the broadcast of "Eye Story" has come to an end, "Eye Health Story" has just begun.
Taking advantage of the broadcast of the documentary and the holding of the 27th National Ophthalmology Academic Conference in Changsha, Changsha continues to promote the process of building an "eye health industry capital". For example, the Changsha Municipal Government cooperated with Aier Ophthalmology to build the "Oriental Eye Valley" eye health industrial park and build eight major platforms including "Eye Health Medical Industry Research Institute and Eye Health Industry Public Service".
In fact, documentaries have many possibilities in promoting industry development. It can continue the business logic of "demand drives supply", gain insight into the operating nature of each enterprise and the development context of each industry, and then pass these essential things to the general public.
For brands, this means new communication logic. There will also be new development opportunities for content platforms and creators, provided of course that they have insight into the essence. There is a classic line in the movie "The Godfather":
"The fate of those who can see the essence of things clearly in half a second and those who cannot see the essence clearly in a lifetime is destined to be different."