China’s recent moves to reduce the amount of foreign drama on-air will leave producers in Korea and Japan hardest hit while providing a boost to the local indie sector, according to one Chinese distributor.
The ruling laid down by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) states that overseas dramas can now be no longer than 50 episodes and cannot air in primetime between 19.00 and 22.00. Imported series should also not exceed more than 25% of a channel’s overall output each day.
Jean Dong, MD of London-based Zespa Media, which identifies international programmes and formats suitable for the Chinese market, said series from Korea, Japan and Thailand would be most affected by the new regulations.
"The most popular dramas in terms of imported series, are Korean, then Japanese,” she told C21. “Korean drama has always been very popular in China because of the similarity of culture and history. It’s mainly historic and family drama that is particularly popular in China.
Regarding western drama series, she said: “Unless they’re highly action-packed, such as Prison Break, they actually don’t have a huge following in China and aren’t shown on mainstream television channels. They’re all available in DVD box-sets and it’s quite cheap to get them but they don’t have mainstream popularity as they do in Western culture.”
However, while drama acquisitions in China will be reduced by the new regulations, they are also are designed to see more Chinese-originated content get on air.
"Chinese drama has been improving,” said Dong, “and one thing that’s quite interesting is that independent production in China has always been led by drama production. It’s one genre where independent producers can really showcase their ability and get their production broadcast, more likely than any other genre, so people see this as a good investment.”
Last November, SARFT previously banned advertising from appearing during dramas lasting longer than 45 minutes, after earlier implementing a policy to reduce the number of entertainment programmes on air.