TikTok owner ByteDance bets on free web novels in challenge to Tencent’s China Literature
- ByteDance’s Tomato Novel relies on recommendations to keep users reading, but the advertising is a turn-off for many
- Tencent dominates the web novel industry with China Literature, which continues to attract top talent with its paid business model
Li Zhao was having a rough day. As the young, bearded man staggered home, he worried about the scolding he would receive from his mother-in-law. As he considered this in the middle of an empty street, a blue bolt of light streaked down from the sky, knocking Li to the ground. When he sat up again, with torched hair and a burnt face, he realised he was blessed with superhuman abilities.
The 50-second trailer from TikTok owner ByteDance is one of many videos online that promote stories with supernatural or mythical elements, often with wacky plots and flimsy special effects. The low production quality is by design because the trailers are not for upcoming films or television shows: these are for advertising web novels on ByteDance’s Tomato Novel platform.
Tomato Novel chief editor Xie Sipeng said in September that the short trailers work because they make the story’s conflict clear to viewers. Many follow a similar pattern: a downtrodden protagonist has a turn of fate and is revealed to possess extraordinary abilities.
After encountering the blue lightning, for example, Li arrived home only to be ridiculed by his mother-in-law for being unworthy of her daughter. Li decided he had enough and announced that he was leaving the family. But once a TV broadcast revealed Li to be a 24-year-old billionaire, his mother-in-law kneeled in front of him, apologised and asked him to return.
