The recent surge in Mango SuperMedia's popularity, fueled by the success of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," has been reminiscent of its heyday ten years ago.
On August 31, Mango TV and Hunan Satellite TV broadcast "Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King". As the first AI long drama to air on satellite TV's prime time slot, the first "edge review and broadcast" drama after the Radio and Television 21 regulations, and with production costs estimated to be only a fraction of those for similar top-tier dramas, these strong concepts directly ignited the capital market. The stock price of Mango SuperMedia rose to the daily limit on both August 31 and September 1, surging from 14.15 yuan per share on August 28 to 20.52 yuan per share at the close of trading on September 2.
In other words, as a long drama, the data of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2" is absolutely unpopular and self-sustaining, but as a concept, it has triggered a surge in market value of over 10 billion yuan.
Who is watching "Journey to the West" is the question. On one hand, Mango Super Media stated that "after the first five episodes were broadcast, the mythological theme and movie-level AI visual presentation brought in new users, especially the male user group, with a growth rate that exceeded our expectations," making it a explosive hit among male users.
It seems that the male user acquisition is indeed real. Unfortunately, the stock speculator brothers are not as dedicated as the fans, and they refuse to provide data for "Monkey Brother".
If the celebrity and IP concepts of a decade ago at least had passionate fans to show for it — real money from the user side — this AI film and TV wave is pure imagination. Cost reduction is asserted with confidence; efficiency gains are left conspicuously vague. The whole play is built on the information gap between capital markets and domestic entertainment audiences. So the real problem with our entertainment industry is that it can't mass-produce content like a bumper harvest? And here I thought the problem was a lack of good content to draw audiences in.
No Adult Can Finish Watching
The first five episodes of "Journey to the West" are about what story. Probably only Ying Gao can honestly tell you about it. For adults who haven't watched cartoons on TV in years, it's probably difficult to sit through 40 minutes of it.
The art style is a combination of the realistic depiction of monkeys from Mount Qianling and the wild style of Planet of the Apes, plus the unique AI-generated forest landscapes at various elevations, switching between deciduous forests filled with peach trees and dark, humid coniferous forests, with Huaguo Mountain unable to fully showcase these trees within a mere 2-3 kilometers.
Because monkeys are already like humans, even AI can't make them more human-like. This makes most of the plot developments within the monkeys seem like dubbed narration for a wildlife documentary. How can the monkeys of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits be made to seem more spiritual? The approach taken by the Yang Jie version of "Journey to the West" was to have real people wear monkey costumes and jump around. Although there were instances where actors' headpieces were knocked off, the advantages of traditional craftsmanship were still evident - the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits is home to spiritual monkeys, who are humans that have not yet shed their monkey fur.
The episode begins with a grand celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the deification of the Great Sage, Qi Tian Da Sheng, with the 10 elders of the Flower and Fruit Mountain inviting several great sages who had sworn brotherhood with Sun Wukong to attend the banquet. However, during the banquet, the 10 elders suddenly all drop dead, throwing the Flower and Fruit Mountain into a state of panic. The 10 elders had all been wiped from the records by the Great Sage in the underworld, so how could they die again? Meanwhile, the Demon King of the Mischief also seizes the opportunity, ordering his subordinates to disguise themselves as the Bull Demon King's troops to loot and burn the Flower and Fruit Mountain.
This situation reminds Hard Candy of the current state of humanities in domestic universities. As long as the big shots are still alive, their academic status remains. But once the big shots pass away, others will no longer take them seriously and may even try to seize their resources. When the Flower Fruit Mountain faced a crisis, the Bull Demon King and the Green Lotus Fairy took on the responsibility. The old ancestor challenged the Bull Demon King, but was seriously injured and died. The Green Lotus Fairy sacrificed herself to protect the Monkey King's child, and was secretly attacked by the Macaque King's underlings.
Just when everyone thought Huaguo Mountain had lost its academic leadership, Qitian Xiaosheng, inspired by Dashi, came to Shuilian Cave and grasped Dashi's stick method and abilities. At the critical moment when the Monkey King was about to destroy Huaguo Mountain, Xiaosheng rode a seven-colored auspicious cloud, wearing a red armored robe, and killed the villain with a few sticks. Huaguo Mountain returned to peace, and young backbone Xiaosheng became a promising academic star with a bright future.
In any case, "Journey to the West: Legends" as a children's animation can still educate young people. After the grand battles are over, what is left for the young is the question of whether it is the happiness of being laid-back or the shadows under honor. Qi Tian Xiao Sheng has his own questions to face: how are you different from the Great Sage, and what can you do for the Flower and Fruit Mountain?
How Long Dramas Are Ultimately Paid For
However, that's apparently not enough. Hard Candy needs to first educate the stock speculators about the business model of long dramas.
There are currently three recognized indicators for identifying a hit drama: viewership data, advertising sales, and social media buzz.
This raises the issue of attracting investors. So-called S-level and S+ dramas are usually determined by the lead actors, IP, and production team. In particular, the male and female lead actors are directly linked to advertising investment, such as this year's "Zhū Yù", which can recover a significant portion of costs through advertising investment. AI-generated dramas do not have stars, and the first few episodes of "Hòu Xī Yóu Jì" also did not have ads, so this aspect can be ignored. In fact, as an important source of revenue for long dramas, the question of how AI-generated dramas without stars can attract investors is a problem that cannot be avoided.
Social media buzz is related to the long-tail effect of episodes, such as creating stars and derivatives. Head AI short dramas have already made money from endorsements, but are also facing advertising laws head-on. As a stock-speculation themed drama, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was barely discussed after its premiere, let alone having a long-tail effect.
However, "Journey to the West" unexpectedly made Hard Candy aware of the issue of padding in long AI dramas. Currently, the market's attention is focused on AI dramas and live-action dramas, but in fact, the more fundamental difference lies between long and short dramas, which represent two business models, 2B and 2C. As a result, once a drama becomes "long", all the old problems associated with long dramas resurface, and AI is not exempt from this issue.
In comparison to the short video's "Puti Old Ancestor beating up the big shots of various factions" that appears every three steps, it's even more obvious where "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" falls short.
AI short dramas emphasize 30 seconds of dialogue for every 3 minutes of action, with fighting breaking out at the slightest provocation. Before the audience can feel bored with the dialogue, grand scenes of earth-shattering action arrive in rapid succession, constantly re-stimulating attention before it has a chance to flag.
The "Journey to the West" sequel has serious padding issues, with unnecessary scenes that drag on for 10 minutes without advancing the plot. The fight scenes also lack thrilling moments, failing to deliver a satisfying punch. The scene where Tongbi Old Ancestor challenges the Bull Demon King is particularly dragging, with the bull constantly launching sneak attacks only to be repeatedly knocked down by the old ancestor's staff. These fight scenes lack progression and meaning, similar to the repetitive fight scenes in "Journey to the West: The Sequel".
Currently, the AI content that ordinary users are willing to actively share and finish watching often has characteristics such as being short in duration, having large emotional fluctuations, strong curiosity, and high secondary creation attributes, with almost one reversal every two or three minutes. The long narrative of "Journey to the West" is not as thrilling as AI short dramas, and the effective content is as watered down as long dramas, much like overly diluted "Three-Flower Mild Milk". It has lost the concentrated and refreshing essence of cutting-edge technology, and also lacks the simple and pure flavor of slow-cooked content. Now, cutting a 40-minute episode into 15 minutes doesn't make much of a difference.
Content Enters Era of Nihilism
The stock price myth created by "Journey to the West" is reminiscent of another magical peak in the summer season, "Niu Lai". The former is a rough, hand-drawn animation, while the latter is a heavily capitalized AI production, but the logic of going viral is highly consistent - the work itself takes a back seat, performance art takes center stage, and individuals and creators engage in a symbolic carnival.
Search for "Journey to the West" on social media and the screen is filled with K-line charts and analysis of limit-up boards. No one cares if the Monkey King can become a great figure, everyone only cares about whether the stock price can return to its highs. Mango SuperMedia's historical highest stock price once reached 91.96, and investors who entered at that high point back then are probably still hoping to break even. A drama's discussion forum has turned into a stock trading group, a level of realism never achieved by past long dramas.
But the so-called "concept" is probably just a misplacement. With Hard Candy's meticulous accounting, what's the point of getting excited, as everything is predictable. The satellite TV golden slot has long been in a precarious state, but relying on stock investors' nostalgic memories is enough to drive up the stock price. The old brothers who speculate in stocks don't watch long dramas or turn on satellite TV, yet they flock to invest because of the "AI drama series landing in the golden slot".
In a poll on Cailianshe's Xiaohongshu account, 43.4% of respondents said they don't watch AI-generated dramas, saying they can't get immersed without real actors, while 30.2% chose the option that they enjoy watching them for the novelty. Resistance to AI dramas has clearly waned from earlier levels.
The frightening aspect of this void is that the quality of the content is no longer the primary measure. Audience word-of-mouth and narrative quality can take a backseat, as long as a iconic event is created, it is enough to spark imagination. Of course, the merits and demerits will be left for future generations to evaluate, but Hard Candy is worried that even if future generations search through all the materials, they still won't know what "Journey to the West 2" is actually about.