China's short drama (短剧) industry: size, platforms and producers

How big is China's short drama market?

Estimates of the Chinese market differ by source and by what they measure. The figures here cover China and are kept apart from estimates for the rest of the world (microdrama market size).

The official figures come from the regulator and an industry association. At a State Council Information Office briefing on 17 September 2026, Wang Xiaoliang, director-general of the National Radio and Television Administration's network audiovisual programme management department, said the 2025 market exceeded RMB 100bn. The China Netcasting Services Association's white paper put the 2024 market at RMB 50.44bn, up 34.9% and larger than the film box office.

iiMedia Research published a lower 2025 figure the same day: RMB 67.79bn, up from RMB 940m in 2020, with a forecast of RMB 150.59bn by 2030. Neither source states its scope, so the difference cannot be attributed to a difference of basis (iiMedia against the NRTA).

Global vendors place most of the category in China. Omdia attributes about 83% of its $11bn estimate of 2025 global microdrama revenue to China, and Media Partners Asia forecasts the Chinese market at $16.2bn in 2030 (market table).

China short drama market estimates

How many people watch short dramas in China?

QuestMobile's 2026 short-drama marketing report, released on 28 July 2026, put de-duplicated short-drama users in China at 851m in May 2026. At its September briefing the regulator put the national audience at more than 800m users.

In QuestMobile's figures, standalone apps grew about three times as fast as WeChat mini-programs, while Douyin mini-programs fell 83.3%. Engagement on standalone apps ran at 26.9 hours a month across 125.6 sessions, which the vendor places above online video (QuestMobile channel data).

China short-drama users by channel, May 2026 (QuestMobile, estimate)

Which platforms lead China's short drama market?

ByteDance's Hongguo (红果) is the largest platform by users. QuestMobile put its monthly active users at 356m in May 2026, up 79.1% year on year, against 304m in February. It is free to viewers and funded by advertising, rather than charging per episode with coins (Hongguo). ByteDance also runs short drama inside Douyin under its Chenxing programme, on both in-app purchase and free models.

Kuaishou runs short drama in its main app and through a free standalone app, 喜番. Its interim results state that the supply of short plays on the platform, live-action and AI-generated together, rose more than fivefold between January and June 2026, and that marketing spend driven by short plays more than doubled year on year (Kuaishou filing).

The long-form streamers run their own strands. iQIYI's 2025 annual report counts about 20,000 micro dramas in its library against more than 40,000 long-form titles. Tencent Video and Youku pay producers on CPM revenue-share ladders, and Mango Excellent Media's filings show output at its Damang arm rising from 340 titles in FY2024 to 5,137 in FY2025.

The regulator's second 2026 list under its Microdrama Plus action plan, published on 22 September, shows where recommended titles run: counting platform entries across 165 titles, Hongguo appears 110 times, Douyin 61, iQIYI 37, Youku 21, Tencent Video 18, Kuaishou 17 and Mango TV three; a title may appear on more than one platform (Microdrama Plus list).

Who produces China's short dramas?

Some producers are full-stack groups that make titles, buy traffic and run apps. Dianzhong, the owner of DramaBox, has made more than 6,000 dramas at about 40 to 50 a month; it put group revenue at about RMB 5bn in 2023 with a segment net margin below 1% (company). Jiuzhou Culture, behind ShortMax and 99TV, made about 400 dramas in 2024 and ranks among DataEye's top three producers. Maiya is the producer behind NetShort. Tinghuadao made about 70 dramas in 2025 and held 24 of Hongguo's top 100 titles.

Established drama companies have added short form. Huace has more than 60 short-drama projects running at about 20 a month, and Linmon reported RMB 130m of short-drama revenue within FY2025 revenue of RMB 860m. China Literature, the Tencent-backed web-fiction group, is one of the main upstream IP suppliers.

Shooting concentrates in two production clusters: Xi'an, which accounts for about 60% of national output, and Hengdian. State media and press put the number of crews at 4,016 in 2025, up 237%.

By count, most new titles are now AI-made. The regulator said 430,000 microdramas went online in the first eight months of 2026, 13 times the 2025 total, with AI-generated dramas more than 90% of them; the figure counts titles brought online rather than commercial releases. DataEye counted more than 221,900 AI short and manga dramas launched in the first half of 2026, of which 1,055, or 0.47%, passed 100m views (DataEye). See AI in microdramas.

Listed companies with short drama disclosures

COL Group holds 49.24% of Crazy Maple Studio, which operates ReelShort, on the equity method, so ReelShort revenue sits outside its consolidated revenue (COL Group results). COL published plans on 1 October 2026 for an A-share placement of up to RMB 2.83bn, part of it for acquiring rights to AI short dramas, mid-length dramas and interactive dramas. In filings dated 8 October it said the board had terminated the placement and, on 7 October, ended its planned Hong Kong listing (COL placement dropped).

On 12 October 2026 China Literature proposed raising the caps on advertising commissions paid by Tencent for 2026 to 2028 to RMB 1,100m, RMB 1,900m and RMB 2,200m, citing the extension of the cooperation to short drama and AI-animated drama; the figures are caps, not revenue, and the revision requires approval by independent shareholders. Tencent named mini drama advertisers as a category in its AIM+ campaign tools in its second-quarter 2026 results of 12 August. Kunlun Tech, whose DramaWave and FreeReels serve audiences outside China, said monthly gross billings at those platforms exceeded $65m at the end of June 2026.

Selected filings

Regulation and state support

Since 1 September 2026 the sector has been governed by NRTA Order No. 16, which introduces three licence classes, a per-episode AI label and limits on algorithms that induce addiction or excessive consumption (China's microdrama rules; Order No. 16 tracker).

The state also supports production. A readout of 1 September 2026 said the annual plan of the regulator's premium microdrama programme covers more than 500 supported projects, with key platforms holding close to 600 more in reserve, and that seventeen provincial-level broadcasting authorities had committed fiscal funding; the figures are project counts. The regulator's 15th Five-Year Plan, published on 22 October 2026, sets out a programme for overseas expansion of micro short dramas that promotes live-action and AI-made series in parallel.