According to a report from First Financial on September 11, a mainland AI short drama production company is facing losses of around 90%, with a large number of works struggling to gain viewership. In the first half of this year, Douyin added over 221,900 native AI dramas and animated dramas, among which only 1055 pieces managed to surpass a hundred million views, accounting for less than 1%.
The term “animated dramas” refers to short video series produced in a comic book style with subtitles and voiceovers. Out of the mentioned works, only approximately 0.48% surpassed a hundred million views based on the disclosed data, translating to about 1 out of every 200 pieces. About 80% of the works accumulated less than a million views in total. If the benchmark for breaking even is set at 50 million views as reported, less than 1.3% of the works meet these criteria.
The report also highlighted that around 90% of AI short drama companies are operating at a loss. In the first quarter of this year, the number of active companies and teams involved in AI animated drama production decreased from 1216 to 698, representing a drop of about 43%.
One viewer mentioned that despite browsing through hundreds of AI short dramas in the past month, she only managed to finish watching a little over ten of them. Many of the characters in these works share strikingly similar features, with dialogues and backgrounds seemingly coming from the same template. “It’s not that I don’t want to watch them, it’s just that they all look the same.”
An industry insider revealed that some production companies have shifted towards mass production, even demanding production teams to create 10 short dramas in a day.
With the decrease in earnings from every ten thousand views per platform, dropping from 30 yuan to 100 yuan in the second half of 2025 to 5 yuan to 10 yuan this year, the revenue for creators has significantly reduced.
In one case, a design company in Shenzhen invested around 200,000 yuan to produce 11 AI animated dramas, but only earned a few hundred yuan after being online for a month.
While revenue from views is declining, production costs are on the rise. According to a video modeling professional, the production cost of AI animated dramas per minute has increased from about 100 yuan to 200-300 yuan, while high-quality AI short dramas usually cost 800-1500 yuan per minute to produce. By this calculation, a 100-minute high-quality AI short drama would cost between 80,000 and 150,000 yuan to create.
Lin Qiwenz, Vice President of DataEye Ju ChaCha, stated that although AI has lowered production barriers, the cost of acquiring viewers has more than doubled, resulting in over a 50% decrease in earnings. Huang Chujie, an AI media professional, indicated that after numerous subcontracting layers, some orders fail to even cover the costs of computing power.
An article published on September 11 by Titan Media analyzed that following the decrease in production barriers due to AI, a large influx of works flooded the market, vying for the limited viewing time of audiences. The similarities in character faces and repetitive plots such as post-apocalyptic themes, revenge, and face slapping have caused audience fatigue.
Cheng Yang, the founder of a short drama studio, estimated that the total cost of a 100-minute production is around 130,000 yuan, with approximately 100,000 yuan being spent on acquiring viewers, and the remaining costs for visuals creation, human resources, and editing totaling around 30,000 yuan.
Cheng Yang believes, “Currently, 99% of teams in the industry haven’t made any money. It’s considered great to break even, and only 1% can actually make a profit.”
Starting from September 1, the Chinese Communist Party has implemented the “Regulations on the Development of Micro-Dramas,” requiring all micro-dramas to undergo screening before being aired, and to be labeled with a distribution license number or program code.
AI-generated or produced short dramas must add markers in a prominent position within each episode. Works shot in mainland China and aimed at overseas distribution are also now subject to filing and content review.
Political commentator Tang Jingyuan previously told Dajiyuan that the CCP’s reinforced control over short dramas stems from fear of the free flow of information, with entertainment plots possibly conveying societal dissatisfaction through metaphors. Gong Xiangsheng, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Studies, also noted that the influence of short dramas on young audiences has made authorities more cautious, fearing that storylines could be used to mock the government or express discontent, deviating from official control.