Paper Title
‘Big Phenomena’ And The Political Economy Of TV Production In China

Abstract
The Chinese TV production field has changed significantly since 2005, when big capital was invested in TV program title sponsorships, with investment peaking in 2014. Chinese TV production has entered a financial investment stage, rather than the professional production stage. The definition of a suitable TV program depends on how likely investors can profit substantially. However, these advancements underscore that to compete with TV stations and other online media companies, media companies are beginning to struggle to acquire big intellectual properties (IPs). This study investigates the effects of big capital investments and big IP phenomena on the Chinese TV production field from a political economy perspective. For this research, 30 traditional TV production field professionals, new media companies, and academics were interviewed between August 2013 and January 2016. The findings revealed that, first, professional TV workers have gradually lost their ability to confront commercial power under capital concentration conditions. Purchasing TV program formats from overseas has become mainstream practice for ensuring that TV programs succeed. Second, new media content production is based on big IPs, which represent large numbers of fans or supporters, who are amongst the critical reasons for success or failure. Attention management has become critical for raising a program’s popularity. However, the hunt for big IPs has produced high capital concentration, and has encouraged authors and agents to boast of their works to raise their profile. This study significantly contributes to Chinese media studies, through interviews with professionals and staying abreast of media developments in China. Index Terms- Big Capital, Big Intellectual Property (IP), Big Phenomena, Political Economy, Tv Production.