2.1.3 The Topic Selection Logic for Microdrama Scripts - Satisfaction Points and Resonance

The Three Metrics for Measuring a Story’s Engagement

Now, let’s talk about stories—these are the basic elements. We say there are three metrics that determine whether a story is engaging: Conflict, Change, and Empathy. Conflict, Change, and Empathy measure how engaging a story is.

Take a simple example: in a movie, there’s inevitably a protagonist and an antagonist force, or an opposing force—not necessarily ‘evil’ people, the antagonist isn’t necessarily bad. The opposing force and the protagonist’s force are in conflict.

Then there will be changes—our protagonist might be unable to defeat them, get beaten badly, then make a comeback and counterattack. There’s change. Then, we are moved by the story, generating common human emotions. Empathy refers to shared emotions. We say these are the three metrics determining a story’s engagement level.

Viewing Story Engagement Elements Through Sports Events

Take sports events as an example—I often say sports and arts are closely related. Class, sports events are also narrative products in the broad sense, not much different from microdramas. Broadly speaking, as narrative products, let’s consider a sports event. What’s your favorite sport event? Or subconsciously, what sport event do you like the most?

What does ‘subconsciously’ mean? When you’re scrolling Douyin, which sports content makes you pause the longest? I believe many guys often see clips of Tyson knocking out opponents in boxing, heavyweight fighters, or our own champions like Zhang Weili, right?

Conflict! We watch for the conflict. And in boxing, the heavier fighters often earn more because the conflict is more intense. Then, Change: we like seeing changes. For example, soccer, the world’s number one sport, also has intense conflict. But why is soccer more globally popular than basketball? Because soccer has more unpredictability—you often don’t know the result until the last minute.

Finally, Empathy. As I’ve said, we also enjoy sports events, but when do I find it even more thrilling? If you’ve placed a bet, you’ll watch more intently. Whether the match is at 3 AM or 5 AM, you’ll definitely get up. Why? You bought a soccer lottery ticket—you’ve developed empathy, a shared emotional investment.

This simple example shows that these three standards determine a story’s level of engagement.

The Core Elements of Microdrama Topic Selection

Here, we discover something important: Empathy is essentially immersion. Because empathy is the so-called resonance—this matter is relevant to me.

Among the three metrics determining a story’s engagement, for a microdrama, we care most about Empathy. Among the four elements, we care most about Satisfaction. Among the three metrics, we care most about Empathy.

Because our microdrama needs to achieve these three points: Stress relief relies on Satisfaction. Immersion relies on Empathy.

Finally, Stickiness. Why do we also need stickiness? We need the user to… top up.

Clarifying the Direction of Topic Selection: Satisfaction Points Plus Resonance

From this perspective, we realize that if we want to create a microdrama now and select a topic, the most important things we need are for it to provide stress relief and immersion, because that’s what topic selection should accomplish. As for stickiness, that comes after selecting the topic—it’s about how we construct the story to retain users.

In other words, for our current task of microdrama topic selection, we are focusing on Satisfaction Points plus Resonance. Satisfaction Points plus Resonance. That makes it very clear. So let’s identify what can generate satisfaction points for the audience, and what can create resonance for them.