The streaming landscape in the U.S. has witnessed a major shakeup recently, with a new player making its mark - ReelShort. This Chinese-backed streaming app, available in the U.S. and numerous other countries, has managed to reach the top of the iOS app charts for three consecutive days in November, marking a significant shift in consumers' streaming preferences.
The app serves as a unique platform for producing and streaming low-budget, bite-sized werewolf series that offer compelling and concise storylines, packed in vertical videos of not more than three minutes each.
One of the most substantial factors contributing to ReelShort's tremendous success is its focus on the ever-popular werewolf series trend. The age-old fascination with supernatural beings has found a new expression in these fast-paced, engaging series that play on popular tropes like underdogs rising to prominence or romancing billionaires.
The blend of pleasurable indulgence and old-school storytelling has had a powerful appeal, leading to an unexpected boom in short vertical video werewolf series.
ReelShort’s success in the U.S. market is largely attributed to its innovative strategy that revolves around leveraging the popularity of vertical streaming, a model that has proven successful in China. The business model of ReelShort takes a contrarian approach to the likes of Quibi — rather than investing heavily on star-studded productions, ReelShort focuses on inexpensive productions featuring lesser-known actors.
The app emphasizes on short, cliche-filled, recurring narratives, ensuring ultra-short entertainment with extraordinary pace, which is tailored for today’s fast-paced smartphone users.
ReelShort has gained significant traction among U.S. audience with its unique entertainment approach. Fans have been drawn to the app's brief yet intense episodic content, each ending on a cliffhanger that compels users to pay for the next episode.
Through the mass appeal of their dramatic storylines, ReelShort has successfully marketed its series clips on apps like TikTok, generating millions of views worldwide - a strategy that has added significantly to its popularity.
While it might seem that ReelShort is an outsider in the Hollywood-dominated industry, the app's approach has surprisingly managed to link it to the heart of the Hollywood ethos - storytelling. The bite-sized series produced prefers to cast L.A locals, often graduates from city's film schools, creating employment opportunities within the industry.
However, unlike Hollywood's big-budget productions, ReelShort leverages the fast and affordable "assembly line" form of production, maintaining a budget cap as low as $200,000, which seems to be working well for the streaming app.
The vertical streaming industry in China has surged in recent years, evolving into a billion-dollar industry. This model caters towards the lifestyle of smartphone users who prefer bite-sized content over full-length television series or movies.
Vertical streaming is designed for on-the-go consumption, keeping viewers intrigued with swift-paced plots ending in cliffhangers, causing users to incessantly engage with the platform.
While Quibi aimed to revolutionize the mobile viewing format with its high-profile, star-studded short-form content, it faltered in maintaining user engagement and could not achieve intended success, ultimately resulting in its downfall within six months of its launch.
In contrast, the Chinese model, as adopted by ReelShort, emphasizes inexpensive production costs, utilizing unknown actors, simple special effects, and recycled, melodramatic tropes. The Chinese model proved to be a more viable option, offering instantly gratifying, hyper-dramatized narratives that resonate with modern day, fast-paced lifestyle.
Vertical streaming has proven highly successful in China, with some shows generating millions of dollars in revenue from subscriptions. These shows have shaped the new norm of content consumption in the nation, appealing vastly to hurried users who opt for brief, emotionally intense plots.
Apps similar to ReelShort, such as DramaBox, 99TV, and GoodShort, have been mirroring this success model, projecting the belief that if such a strategy could propel success in China, it could replicate the same success overseas.
The production process for ReelShort and similar apps is marked by cost-effectiveness. The focus here is to keep costs low while maximizing engagement. Instead of banking on high-profile names, these platforms hire relatively unknown actors, yet whose performances have proven to grip viewers' attention.
The production values reflect simplicity, with lesser focus on complex special effects, thereby keeping expenses significantly lower than traditional production houses. The scripts heavily incorporate recycled tropes, using familiar narratives like rags-to-riches stories or love tales featuring billionaires, which continue to remain popular among vast audiences.
One of the key aspects of ReelShort’s production process is its rapid turnaround time. Unlike other, more traditional productions, which may take several weeks or even months to complete, each series on the app is typically filmed within a week.
This fast-paced production model complements the need for constant content on the platform and keeps the viewers continuously engaged. The quick production strategy has proven effective for ReelShort and has contributed greatly to its growing popularity.
ReelShort's shows have seen a surprisingly warm response from viewers. The audience appears to be captivated by the melodramatic, quick, and engaging episodes. Some viewers have found appeal in the platform’s acknowledgment of its lighthearted, somewhat cheesy, content, making it more relatable.
The bite-sized format has resonated with viewers looking for short entertainment spurts, thus creating a unique niche that differentiates ReelShort from other streaming giants.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the U.S., ReelShort has made a significant mark on viewing charts. The app was the top-downloaded iOS entertainment app in the U.S. for three days in November, according to Sensor Tower.
While its position later slid, the initial rise and consistent popularity indicate an enthusiastic acceptance of these bite-sized shows by U.S. viewers.
While the response has been primarily positive, viewers’ opinions exhibit a broad spectrum. Some, like the actor Kasey Esser, who starred in one of the hit shows, treasure the opportunity given by the platform and take pride in the massive viewership. Others, like Sennie Ana, a call center worker, have confessed to enjoying and appreciating the goofy content.
However, some viewers have expressed fatigue over the recurring stories and lack of complexity. Kelsey Hamilton, for instance, stated that after the initial gimmick had worn off, she found herself wanting something of higher quality. This diversity in viewership response leaves room for growth and development in ReelShort's content strategy.
ReelShort, along with other Chinese streaming apps, is showing no signs of slowing down. With its vertical streaming model gaining traction overseas, the future production plans seem ambitious.
DramaBox, for instance, plans to produce around 10 series a month by 2024, highlighting a concerted effort to bolster the vertical streaming trend in English-speaking countries.
While the current response to these apps is encouraging, the long-term sustainability and profitability of these services remain uncertain. Despite recording millions of users since their respective launches, these apps have yet to disclose profitability details, reflecting potential uncertainties in the monetization pathways amidst their growth stages.
However, should these apps retain their audience engagement and manage to refine their revenue models, profitability might not be a far-fetched idea.
As these Chinese streaming services gain more international users, they are likely to face scrutiny from both home and host governments. In China, several vertical streaming platforms have already faced regulatory crackdowns for content deemed as promoting "money worship" or "unethical relationships."
It remains to be seen how these companies will navigate the regulatory landscapes in overseas markets like the U.S., which may pose a variety of challenges pertaining to content regulations, data privacy issues, and intellectual property rights.
ReelShort's entrance into the U.S. streaming industry has demonstrated a significant shift in viewer preferences. Its successful adaptation of the vertical streaming model, a trend popularized in China, provides an alternative approach to traditional TV series or movies' formats prevalent in the U.S.
This has not only expanded the diversity in content available to users but also revolutionized the way viewers consume media content. By focusing on affordable productions featuring bite-sized, dramatic narratives, ReelShort has captured viewers' attention and established its foothold in the entertainment arena.
Despite its unconventional and simple content, the werewolf series have proven to be a surprisingly big hit among the audiences. The concepts of these series, while falling into the category of 'cheesy' or 'clichéd' to some, have won over millions of viewers across the globe.
The recycled tropes, cheesy dialogues, and absurdly fast-paced narratives have turned the show into a guilty pleasure for many, further attesting to ReelShort's effective strategy in creating a distinct niche within the entertainment industry.
As ReelShort and similar platforms continue to churn out these series, the realm of streaming, especially mobile streaming, will be a space worth watching.
