投稿類別 : 英文寫作類 篇名 : 難以抗 劇 : 台灣偶像劇的行銷策略與女性觀眾之研究 邱朝朋 員林家商 外二甲班 賴奕蓁 員林家商 外二甲班 賴雅詩 員林家商 外二甲班 指導老師 : 黃襦慧老師
I. Introduction I. 1. Background & Motivation We are at a senior high school where a great number of female students discuss 3Ps concerning Taiwanese idol dramas products, plots, and promotions. Taiwanese idol dramas come in various types, which loyally represent a kaleidoscope of all aspects of society. What is more, female audiences virtually play a central role in the explosive growth of Taiwanese idol dramas. Therefore, we strongly believe that it is worth exploring the depth of marketing strategy and female audiences in response to Taiwanese idol dramas. For instance, we are at the school that full of girls, seeing that they often binge-watch. It causes us to confuse about why it appeal to girls. Meanwhile, we wonder what they react to it after watching idol dramas. On the other hand, most people don t know how Taiwanese dramas earn money as well as what rating is, and so do we. In addition, we often from television that Taiwanese idol dramas are well-known abroad. We also wonder how businessman or Taiwan promotes them to other countries. As a result, we are curious about the marketing strategy of idol dramas. Owing to the reasons mentioned above, we consider it worthwhile to explore. I. 2. Purposes In this study, we primarily investigate the marketing situation and the influence on female audiences of Taiwanese idol dramas. This research will be strengthened by questionnaire analysis. First, we introduce the development of Taiwanese idol dramas. Second, we refer to what selling methods of Taiwanese idol dramas are and the market area. Next, we explore why female audiences are more than male audience, and how do idol dramas affect them? Finally, we will understand more about anything of Taiwanese idol dramas. I. 3. Research Questions Based on the above-mentioned observations, some questions come to our mind. By analyzing the questionnaire, we want to penetrate the following questions: 1. What motivates people to watch idol dramas? 2. How does marketing strategy promote idol dramas? 3. What influence do idol dramas have on female audiences? 1
II. Methods To complete this research of marketing strategy and female audiences of Taiwanese idol dramas, we regard literature review and questionnaire analysis as methodology. We not only look for as much information as possible online or from libraries but also invite 100 hundred students to participate in this study. The following discussion is coupled with figures to illustrate these questions convincingly and credibly: how support the idol dramas, why female audiences watch and in particular, what impact idol drama plays on students. II. 1. Participants The study subjects of this study are from three vocational schools and senior high school female students in the neighborhood. Each school has the same percentage of all respondents. We also pay attention to the ratio of those who watch over the past six months. They are in the first-year and second-year of senior high. By doing so, we conduct a thorough research by taking educational backgrounds and the preference of watching into consideration. II. 2. Instruments To help this research to be persuasive, we rely on credible resources and design a questionnaire (as shown in Appendix). The former means that we look for theses, journals, news reports and periodicals. The latter represents that the answers are made up of two parts. One is identity of respondents. The other is 8 closed-ended questions, coded on a five-point Likert scale, are as follows: Question (1-2) refers to why idol dramas often watch, Questions (3-5) are how they promote marketing strategy, Questions (6-8) show how it influence have on participants. All responses will be statistically analyzed in the following section. III. Findings/Discussion III. 1. The Popularity of Taiwanese Idol Dramas Recent years, there are many kinds of Taiwanese idol dramas on television programs nowadays. First, in 2000s, Meteor Garden, which is based on Japanese manga series, is the beginning of the popularity of Taiwanese idol drama. The media's historical positioning of the play is described as the "ancestor of idol drama", for it 2
was a popular drama and became a hit throughout the theater market in Asia. From then on, Taiwan idol dramas sprang up like mushrooms. After 2004, there has been 20 idol dramas produced on average in Taiwan every year. Second, according to Wikipedia, the success of Taiwan's idol drama is from four characteristics. They refer to gorgeous cast, the far-away-from reality plot of youth and love, beautiful scenery and romantic atmosphere, and adapted versions of bestselling novels. Nevertheless, in that adolescents don t have any experience of love generally, and their thoughts are superficial. Hence, this is the reason why they are easily attracted by their bright appearance as well as characters with outstanding images and prominent personalities. Finally, Taiwanese idol dramas blow up abroad. In 2017 52nd Golden Bell Awards, it mentioned Miss Rose and Lovestore at the Corner, the former was sold to 20 countries and the latter was 27 countries. Some of these dramas are not renowned in Taiwan at first, but they became a hit in other countries in the course of time. Picture 1. The achievement of Miss Rose and Lovestore at the Corner III. 2. Marketing Strategy and Taiwanese Idol Dramas We would talk about the business, products and transnational cooperation of Taiwanese idol dramas. First, an idol drama can affect the income of an entertainment company, TV station and manufacturer. As a result, they have different marketing strategies for Taiwanese idol dramas. When an idol drama becomes popular, TV station will sell advertising period regarding the drama. With the attraction of idol dramas to audiences, manufacturer will get the most benefit. In this way, a lot of TV stations will rerun the dramas. Second, the research shows that the idol dramas not only catch audience s eyes on the screen, but also lead fashion in selling the related commodity. From CD, books, book-signing events, and fan meetings has created a booming business. Eventually, transnational cooperation and selling copyright oversea are also the necessary marketing strategy. For instance, the strategic alliances can be used to make up for the shortage of its own resources, due to the lack of brand, manpower and capital of the production companies. It can not only allocate investment risks, but also reduce barriers to entry in the market, as well as expand the size of the market. On the other hand, the Taiwanese government has implemented the 3
Republic of China Outstanding Overseas TV Outlay ( 中華民國優質偶像劇海外輸 出 ) for three years. In 2017, A Good Wife which is the third drama in this policy is being broadcast in 14 countries around Latin America. Picture 2. An event of A Good Wife III. 3. Female Audience and Taiwanese Idol Dramas Every female audience have different habits of binge-watching and interests in dramas while Taiwanese idol dramas also have influence on them. First, there are two ways of binge-watching. Some female audiences like to see the finished drama and watch it in one sitting. They cannot stand that there is on dramas to see. Others are used to waiting for the next episode of updates. These habits may affect their health, such like staying up. Second, there are different kinds of Taiwanese idol dramas such as realism, love, reorganization, action, campus, and encouragement, but love is the most prominent one. Idol dramas affect the mate choice of unmarried women. For instance, Love Cuisine, it describes the love story of teachers and students in a cooking school. Many women choose to work instead of being a housewife owing to gender equity. It leads some women not to learning cooking. When they watch love cuisine, they may want to find a man who cook well to be her husband. Last, idol dramas have a great impact on female audience s ideas of life and career. Take Life Plan A and B for example, with all the uncertainties in their future, it forced a woman to choose between love and career. This drama reveals two kinds of lives. If women who have seen it face the same situation, the dramas would turn into a reference for them. Picture 3. Life Plan A and B 4
III. 4. The Result of the Questionnaire 35 30 29 29 33 32 25 20 15 10 20 13 11 11 11 11 5 0 The Cast The Media Strongly Agree Agree No Comment Disagree Strongly Disgree Figure 1. What Motivates Participants to Watch Idol Drama This table indicates what motivates participants to watch idol dramas. In fact, 58 percent of them responded that they choose the idol dramas owing to the actors. On the other hand, 46 percent of them follow the idol dramas due to the media. About 26 percent of them have no comments. Around 22 percent do not think so, though. It is obvious from the table indicates that more than 90 youths were influenced to watch idol dramas by the cast and media. For example, no matter what kind of idol drama Bii starred in, his fans will follow. On the other hand, people start to watch the idol drama in virtue of ubiquitous media. For instance, Back To 1989 was a popular idol drama in 2016. At that time, almost all the advertisements on TV were all about it, and the news also reported its popularity. Therefore, there were few teenagers disagreed with them. Anyhow, the disseminations have a great impact on public substantially. To sum up, the cast and the dramas popularity are the crucial reasons why they have tendency to watch this sort of idol drama. In case the cast of the drama is not good enough or there s no media publicizing it, the drama would have no audience. 5
Strongly Disagree 20 38 42 Disagree No Comment Agree Strong Agree 5 5 7 17 15 11 13 25 21 24 26 31 Buy the Idol Drama Tie-ins Watch Rerun Join the Activities 0 10 20 30 40 50 Figure 2. What Marketing Strategy Promotes Idol Dramas This bar chart obviously indicates the marketing strategy of the idol drama. Concerning Buy the Tie-ins goods. There are 21% have no comments, 63% against about it, and 16% will go to buy the goods which is about their idol. The second question shows that there are 15% have no comments, 73% against about it, and 12% are willing to participate in activities related to idol drama. In regard to rerunning the idol drama, there are 24% have no comments, 37% against about it, and 39% will watch rerun of idol dramas. It is obvious that the table indicates that more than 90 youths were influenced by idol dramas. Therefore, it is of great importance for them to watch it to feel relaxed from time to time. In other words, it is the cast and media that made a great impact on juveniles. For instance, Meteor Garden, which had been a big hit is a well-known idol drama. It not only rebroadcasts to go up in rating but also attract good publicity through sells their posts, clothes, pillows and cups and so forth. While a few teenagers disagreed with them all the same, for they may haven t watched idol dramas yet or did not want to cost for them. Hence, they won t follow the media or be effected by the cast. Anyhow, both of the disseminations have played a prominent role in today s world, causing a significant impact on public vurtually. In conclusion, the bar chart or Figure 2 highlights that the female audiences support the idol dramas by seeing it. Although they don't have enough money to buy some peripheral products, they still watch the idol dramas again and again. 6
Table 1. What Influence Idol Dramas Have on Participants My Idea of Love My Idea of Career Influence My Life Strongly agree 24 21 19 Agree 23 19 19 No comments 29 33 28 Disagree 12 13 18 Strongly disagree 12 14 16 It is crystal clear that the pie chart associate with What Influence Idol Dramas Have on Participants. Roughly 47 people agreed that idol dramas did truly change their idea of love by watching the actions in idol dramas. When it comes to idea of career, 40 teenagers agreed with theimpack that idol dramas brought. It is hard to imagine that idol dramas can be so powerful. Eventually, the effect of Influence My Life is not that evident, for the number of agree and disagree just between 4 people. Therefore, few youngsters lives will be affected by idol dramas. It is apparent from the table indicates that many of youths were influenced by idol dramas. First, many of them will change their concept of love. For example, they may fall in love with men who are lawyers because of Meet Me @1006. They are attracted by the valiant work attitude of the actors in the play. Second, they may learn about a job from dramas, such as police, nurse, detective, and so on. That may change their choice of job. As far as I concerned, Influence My Life is combined by Idea of Love and Idea of Career, for what teens have been affected is cause and effects. Consequently, it may be inferred that media of television play a crucial role in women's life style or career. And value of love is no exception. Most females usually desire to have a perfect romance like actresses in the idol dramas. IV. Conclusion Throughout this study, literature review and questionnaire analysis help us realize what Taiwanese idol dramas cause to the society whether it is about cognitions or thoughts of people. Based on the result of the questionnaire, over half of the participants indicate they go to watch an idol drama owing to the cast. In addition, most of the participants neither buy the idol drama tie-ins nor join the activities. Finally, almost half of people consider that they change their idea of love a lot after watching dramas. From here we can see that watching idol dramas has been the essential entertainment for female audiences but everyone has a different extent of 7
enthusiasm for idol dramas. Some of them buy goods, while others only watch idol drama and don't spend money to support it. Taiwanese idol dramas cannot meet the audience's needs because of the theme patterns, story arrangement, and character types. With the rising of TV dramas in Korea, the seller's market for Taiwan dramas is gradually declining. South Korea's entertainment business has been supported by the government in a short span of several years. Without a doubt, South Korea's entertainment business got so much money to promote their quality and amount of the dramas. Therefore, we suggest Taiwan Government learn the method from Korea, so actors as well as singers would not go abroad to seek better profits, which causes the Taiwanese entertainment industry to be at rock bottom. On the other hand, the writers of Taiwanese idol dramas should pay attention to drama trends and understand what the audience likes to see. Moreover, the audiences can make comments with entertainment companies and allow idol dramas to improve. V. References 1. John Storey. Cultural consumption and everyday life. UK: May 28. 1999. 2. Global Media 106 年 6 月 22 日,http://globalmedia.wikia.com 3. 曹蜀宜 (2005) 偶像劇對青少年消費行為的影響- 以本自製偶像劇為例 國立台北師範學院 4. Wikipedia 2018 年 3 月 17 日, 取自 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%e8%87%ba%e7%81%a3%e9%9b%bb%e8%a 6%96%E5%8A%87#%E5%81%B6%E5%83%8F%E5%8A%87 5. Erin Vasseur (2018) Q Seres Takes Taiwanese TV in a New Direction. English Digest,1,56-57. 8
VI. Appendix Dear Participant, We are students of Class 2A, Department of Applied Foreign Languages, National Yuanlin Home-Economics and Commercial Vocational Senior High School. We are currently carrying out a research on A Study on Marketing Strategy and Female Audience of Taiwanese Idol Dramas. We would appreciate it if you could complete the following questionnaire. There are no right or wrong answers. This has nothing to do with your grades, scores and privacy. Please answer the questions as honestly and thoroughly as possible. The questionnaire is anonymous and the result of the questionnaire would be designed only for this research. Your answers are vital for the successful completion of this paper. I. Personal Information 1. Identity: Senior High School Vocational Senior High School 2. Have you ever followed idol dramas over the past six months? Yes No II. Relative Questions Directions: Please answer each question by circling one of the numbers (1 to 5) that can best indicate your opinion. The numbers stand for the following responses. 1 = This statement is never or almost never true of me; I don t think so at all. 2 = This statement is usually not true of me; I don t think so. 3 = This statement is somewhat true of me; I cannot tell for sure. 4 = This statement is usually true of me; I think so. 5 = This statement is completely or almost completely true of me; I strongly think so. Please choose a number quickly after you finish reading each statement. 1. I follow the idol drama because of the cast. 5 4 3 2 1 2. I follow the idol drama because of the media. 5 4 3 2 1 3. I d like to join the activities related to the idol drama. 5 4 3 2 1 4. I d like to watch rerun of idol dramas. 5 4 3 2 1 5. I d like to buy the idol drama tie-ins. 5 4 3 2 1 6. My idea of love is reshaped by idol dramas. 5 4 3 2 1 7. My idea of career is reshaped by idol dramas. 5 4 3 2 1 8. Idol dramas, to a degree, influence my life. 5 4 3 2 1 Thanks for your help and cooperation. 9