China, NRTA filing review tiers and the AI micro short drama classification notice

What it requires

Separately from the licensing regime that begins on 1 September 2026, Chinese micro short dramas are already sorted for filing review into key, ordinary and other titles by production budget. The thresholds reported for that system are ¥3m and above for key titles and ¥1m to ¥3m for ordinary titles, effective 1 January 2026; no official source has confirmed those figures. A management notice from the NRTA's online audiovisual programme department, reported by Xinhua on 25 June 2026 and effective 1 July 2026, sets lower thresholds for AI micro short dramas: ¥800k and above, or special subject matter, for key titles; ¥300k to ¥800k for ordinary; below ¥300k for other. The notice's own text describes itself as implementing existing tiered-management requirements, so it calibrates the filing tiers rather than running in parallel to them.

Why it bears on this field

AI-made titles cross into the heavier review tier at a far lower budget than live action — ¥800k against a reported ¥3m — so in China AI production draws more scrutiny rather than less. That bears on a supply base in which AI output dominates by count: the China Netcasting Services Association reports 128,000 new dramas industry-wide in the first quarter of 2026, of which 122,000, more than 95%, were AI-made, and DataEye records 221,900 new AI short dramas in the first half of the year, a count it has described both as network-wide in China and as on Douyin. Three tier systems now circulate in coverage of the Chinese market and only one of them is the licence regime: the key, ordinary and other filing tiers; the AI calibration of those tiers; and the class 1, 2 and 3 licence tiers that begin on 1 September 2026, whose thresholds have not been issued.

Open questions

• Do the reported filing thresholds of ¥3m and ¥1m to ¥3m hold? No official source has confirmed them.
• Will the AI classification notice be absorbed or superseded when the licence regime takes effect on 1 September 2026?

Timeline

• 2026-01-01The key, ordinary and other filing review tiers take effect, as reported.
• 2026-06-25Xinhua reports the NRTA management notice setting AI micro short drama tiers at ¥800k and above or special subject matter, ¥300k to ¥800k, and below ¥300k.
• 2026-07-01The AI classification notice takes effect.