Culture news Netflix threatened by YouTube! The Chinese series The 3-Body Problem is free and much more faithful
The event series “The 3-Body Problem” has finally been released on Netflix, but a big surprise awaits science fiction fans. The Chinese adaptation, produced by Tencent, is available for free on YouTube. This bold decision marks a turning point in content distribution and offers a unique alternative to “series fans” around the world.
Two versions of the same story
Adapted from the cult science fiction work by Liu Cixin, “The 3-Body Problem” tells the story of a Chinese astrophysicist who finds herself at the heart of a conspiracy involving extraterrestrials and where the fate of humanity is at stake. Made by “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, the Netflix version promises a spectacular production with an international cast. The Chinese version, for its part, stands out for its more local approach and its fidelity to the original novel. Consisting of 30 episodes, it offers a deep immersion in Chinese culture and explores themes such as the Cultural Revolution and China’s place in the world.
The synopsis of the Chinese series “Three-Body”:
A nanomaterials expert sees a mysterious countdown appear superimposed in his field of vision and finds himself under military investigation. To unravel the mystery, he enters the VR game “Three-Body” developed by a secret organization and discovers the truth behind the deaths of dozens of scientists and a tragedy dating back to the time of the Cultural Revolution. – MyDramaList
Growing success
Broadcast on the YouTube channel 咪咕官方频道 (MiGu Official Channel), the Chinese version has already been a resounding success with more than 100 million views. And it is not the critical and general public reception received by “Three-Body” which will argue the contrary. On the social network specializing in dramas “MyDramaList”, the series produced by Tencent displays a score of 8.2/10 from 653 voters. It’s a real plebiscite!
A unique distribution strategy
The decision to offer the series for free on YouTube is part of an original distribution strategy aimed at reaching a large international audience and competing with paid streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+. This new approach could well change the global audiovisual landscape and pave the way for a democratization of this type of access policy to audiovisual content.
The free availability of the Chinese series “Three-Body” on YouTube is a small event. This unusual initiative offers a welcome alternative to Netflix subscribers wishing to lower the “SVOD” price at the end of the month. A new era for international content distribution could be upon us. The success of this strategy remains to be confirmed, but it opens up promising prospects for the audiovisual industry and spectators.