This research paper aims to explore the audience's perception of the "transmedia adaptation" of the Chinese intellectual property (IP) TV series "The Bad Kids" on the popular Chinese social media platform, Douban.com. The study utilizes a quantitative content analysis approach to examine audience comments and sentiments regarding the adaptation. The research question focuses on how audiences perceive the "transmedia adaptation" and is supported by three hypotheses. The study begins by selecting a sample of 200 comments from the top 2000 comments on Douban.com, based on the number of likes received. The comments are analyzed in three stages: the first two weeks of the TV series' broadcast, the last two weeks of the broadcast, and the two weeks after the broadcast. Additionally, sentiment words in the comments are coded and categorized as positive, neutral, or negative.
The findings reveal that audiences perceive the transmedia adaptation of "The Bad Kids" as more interesting to watch compared to the original novel. The suspenseful storytelling of the TV series is also found to be satisfying to the audience. Moreover, the audience shows a significant interest in the "kids' crimes" storyline in the TV series. This research provides valuable insights into audience perceptions of "transmedia adaptation" and highlights the importance of narrative structure and engaging storytelling in successful adaptations. The study contributes to the understanding of the Chinese audience's preferences and interests in transmedia storytelling.

Authors:
Dashi Zhang, University of Melbourne, Australia
Jingxuan Luo, University of Melbourne, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Dashi Zhang is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of Melbourne in Australia

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