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Chinese cartoon series earns 1.19m yuan on Internet
Source: Xinhua |
July 20, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A DOMESTIC cartoon has raised 1.19 million yuan (US$194,000) through online donations and payments, illustrating the power of the Internet and its role in the cartoon industry.
"100,000 Bad Jokes," a series that includes 11 five-minute-long episodes, has now had more than 500 million clicks after it premiered in July 2012.
The series is adapted from the traditional Chinese cartoon called the "Seven Brothers of Calabash." The new cartoon consists of seven characters that try to save their fathers from snake spirits. (The cartoon was created by netizen "Hanwu" and shown on the online platform "Youyaoqi.")
Neither Hanwu, an IT programmer, nor Youyaoqi anticipated such success.
Youyaoqi offers opportunities for those wanting to create their own animated cartoons. Nearly 10,000 cartoonists have registered with more than 20,000 pieces of work published.
Zhou Jingqi, 31, founder of Youyaoqi, calls himself as a "rule breaker" for not following in the footsteps of the country's cartoon industry, in which cartoonists traditionally have counted on magazines and then waited to see if they would be turned into film.
China's cartoon industry previously operated as a mere "manufacturer" of foreign animated products, winning little global recognition, according to Zhou. "Internet now rules," he says. "The Internet is a platform allowing authors to communicate with the audience directly."
On the site, the paying audience can watch the latest chapters in advance. They can also vote for favorites and provide comments, attracting more viewers.
Ads cause complaints
"Some people are skeptical of our business," Zhou says. "No one has ever done it. Do cartoon makers like to put productions online? Would they go on to do that? How often do you update your series?"
However, problems involving profit have emerged.
Zhou says revenue, most of which comes from reader payments, has trickled down into the pockets of contributors. But the website has had to look into financing to assure more cartoonists are paid.
Youyaoqi says "100,000 Bad Jokes" has successfully raised a huge pile of money through "crowdfunding," a collective effort of netizens to pool their money, via the Internet, to support a cause.
Meanwhile, commercial advertisements are popping up in episodes, which has caused complaints among netizens. Some mocked a five-minute anime that had three minutes of ads and two minutes of story.
Experts say the animation online platform lacks a mature business model so income from "embedding ads" is the only choice.
Gao Weihua, animation department director at the Communication University of China, says the Internet provides free access for individual creators, and offers alternatives from traditional patterns that are more costly and can make it harder for works to be published. However, supervision on the Internet is not perfect and producers should seek a proper business model, according to Gao.
Zhou is confident of developing a mature industry chain including animation-based games, saying the fledgling mobile Internet market has potential. "We believe it will be able to work. We keep telling our colleagues that we mustn't give up," Zhou says.
"100,000 Bad Jokes," a series that includes 11 five-minute-long episodes, has now had more than 500 million clicks after it premiered in July 2012.
The series is adapted from the traditional Chinese cartoon called the "Seven Brothers of Calabash." The new cartoon consists of seven characters that try to save their fathers from snake spirits. (The cartoon was created by netizen "Hanwu" and shown on the online platform "Youyaoqi.")
Neither Hanwu, an IT programmer, nor Youyaoqi anticipated such success.
Youyaoqi offers opportunities for those wanting to create their own animated cartoons. Nearly 10,000 cartoonists have registered with more than 20,000 pieces of work published.
Zhou Jingqi, 31, founder of Youyaoqi, calls himself as a "rule breaker" for not following in the footsteps of the country's cartoon industry, in which cartoonists traditionally have counted on magazines and then waited to see if they would be turned into film.
China's cartoon industry previously operated as a mere "manufacturer" of foreign animated products, winning little global recognition, according to Zhou. "Internet now rules," he says. "The Internet is a platform allowing authors to communicate with the audience directly."
On the site, the paying audience can watch the latest chapters in advance. They can also vote for favorites and provide comments, attracting more viewers.
Ads cause complaints
"Some people are skeptical of our business," Zhou says. "No one has ever done it. Do cartoon makers like to put productions online? Would they go on to do that? How often do you update your series?"
However, problems involving profit have emerged.
Zhou says revenue, most of which comes from reader payments, has trickled down into the pockets of contributors. But the website has had to look into financing to assure more cartoonists are paid.
Youyaoqi says "100,000 Bad Jokes" has successfully raised a huge pile of money through "crowdfunding," a collective effort of netizens to pool their money, via the Internet, to support a cause.
Meanwhile, commercial advertisements are popping up in episodes, which has caused complaints among netizens. Some mocked a five-minute anime that had three minutes of ads and two minutes of story.
Experts say the animation online platform lacks a mature business model so income from "embedding ads" is the only choice.
Gao Weihua, animation department director at the Communication University of China, says the Internet provides free access for individual creators, and offers alternatives from traditional patterns that are more costly and can make it harder for works to be published. However, supervision on the Internet is not perfect and producers should seek a proper business model, according to Gao.
Zhou is confident of developing a mature industry chain including animation-based games, saying the fledgling mobile Internet market has potential. "We believe it will be able to work. We keep telling our colleagues that we mustn't give up," Zhou says.
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