Hit online drama sets new record for domestic crime shows

Day and Night, an online crime drama, broadcast the finale on Oct 11. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As Chinese viewers spend more time on video websites, network dramas are booming both in quantity and in quality.

The year looks like the golden time for domestic crime shows. Audience taste has shifted from time-travelling heroines with embroidered garments to rigorous-thinking detectives tracking serial killers.

Well-made internet series sprung up like mushrooms after the screening of summer blockbusters. Day and Night, Burning Ice, Line Walker II are three of the most popular ones recently released on video sites Youku, iQiyi, and QQ Live respectively.

Audience-oriented scripts, broad online exposure, and handpicked cast help network crime shows gain a strong viewership.

Day and Night, widely reckoned as the best crime drama of the year, got a total of 24.6 billion hits online by this Thursday.

"I watched the whole thing during the National Day holiday," Jia Xiaotao, a media analyst said. "I had to stay up late every night, but it was totally worth it."

It also set an impressive rating record of 9.1 (out of 10) on Douban, a major Chinese film and TV rating platform, graded by over one hundred thousand users.

Unlike most online hit dramas which are adapted from bestselling novels, Day and Night has no franchise to rely on. But it has made its own name.

Audiences are fascinated by the complicated yet watertight storylines weaved by playwright Zhi Wen, a former litigator with years of law practice.

"My habit is to confirm every single detail in the script," Zhi Wen said in an interview. "If I can test to verify, I don't just look at the appearances. If I can actually see it, I don't stop at hearsay."