What is the completion rate for C-dramas by Chinese viewers? Probably lower than you think

Chinese drama viewers are not known for their high completion rates

Now, I have to admit I am not great at finishing Chinese dramas myself. Not when I have over 30 C-dramas hanging in limbo that I do plan on finishing, but haven’t done yet.

But.. according to data out of China, I am not as bad at completing C-dramas than most Chinese viewers, as at least I haven’t actually dropped them. I’m just taking my sweet time finishing them.

That recent data shows a much lower percentage of Chinese viewers complete dramas than, I would guess, non-Chinese viewers who, at least from data on sites like My Drama List (MDL), seem to do a better job at finishing what they start.

Here then is the data for the completion rate for C-dramas by Chinese viewers. And, yep, it is far far lower than I would have guessed. How about you?

What percentage of Chinese viewers actually finish a C-drama?

Based on industry data from major platforms and C-drama executives, the completion rate for Chinese dramas is very low.

For a “good” drama, for instance, only about 20% of viewers will watch it all the way through. 

For one that is deemed “a flop”, that completion rate drops to only 10% of viewers (word of mouth does have an impact, obviously).

Even worse, a very high percentage of viewers do not get beyond Episode 5 in the majority of dramas.

RELATED: What percentage of Chinese viewers watch C-dramas on a faster speed than normal?

Here then is the detailed breakdown from different stages of viewing, which vary depending on the experience of the executive talking about it and the platforms the dramas stream on:

As you will see from the table, according to an iQIYI executive, at least on his platform 40-50 percent of Chinese viewers watching shows on iQIYI have stopped watching by the end of Episode 1.

According to a Tencent Video executive, the drop rate on his platform is a solid 40 percent by the end of Episode 3, while a YOUKU executive points out the drop rate on their platform climbs to over 50% just two episodes later.

More viewers then drop the series as each new episode is premiered from Episode 5 onwards.

By the time a Chinese drama reaches its end, that usually leaves only 20 percent of those who started watching having stuck with it through till its close. The other 80 percent for almost every drama are now long gone.

If the drama is thought of as “a flop”, that 20 percent than drops to a pitiful 10 percent.

Abysmal numbers indeed, aren’t they? And why is that?

Too much choice and poor attention spans

Of course, the drop rate has been high in China for some time as, with so many dramas releasing every month over the last decade or so, there is always something potentially better to watch if the first episode of your latest choice isn’t quite hitting the spot.

Just this month alone, for instance, I can count at least 15 dramas I would be interested in watching but, at 30-plus hours of viewing each, there is no way I can get to all of them. And I write about Chinese dramas for a living.

Can you imagine then how why Chinese viewers quickly move on to something else?

As mini dramas have also become popular in China, the rate of drop-off for a typical 30-plus episode regular series has become even higher as viewers’ attention spans are shortening even further with every coming year.

One executive even pointed out that the typical attention span of a viewer had dropped from two minutes just a few years ago, to only 47 seconds today!

That means, if a new C-drama isn’t able to grab a viewer’s attention in that first 47 seconds of Episode 1 then, chances are it’s not going to.

Yes, I blame social media, but what can you do about it, eh

That also leaves me wondering, if most Chinese viewers have moved onto something else by the second half of every drama, why is there currently a new push by some production companies for dramas to feature more than 40 episodes, and sometimes over 50 episodes? (Case in point, the just-released The Heir is clocking in at 42 episodes, and Tencent’s The Lead has 48).

Especially when very few of their viewers will ever get remotely close to completing something that long?

I just don’t get their goals with this, do you?

About the Author

Michelle Topham

Editor

British-American journalist obsessed with C-dramas, a subject I have been writing about for more than two decades. How many C-dramas have I watched? Many many hundreds. How many are still in my backlog? Hundreds more.

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