Against the backdrop of economic pressure and shrinking job opportunities in China, the micro-short drama industry has emerged as one of the few sectors still experiencing rapid expansion, attracting a large number of highly educated young people, yet its sustainability is being questioned.
The rapid growth of this industry has drawn in many high-achieving graduates who originally planned to enter traditional “respectable industries” such as finance and education.
According to the WeChat public account “Everyday Figures,” in 2025, the market size of short dramas in China exceeded 50 billion yuan, surpassing the total annual box office of movies. The micro-short drama industry has created over 1.33 million job positions, including actors, screenwriters, directors, operations staff, and production crews.
Li Muxi, a graduate of a top university in Beijing’s finance department who had studied abroad in the United States, initially planned to pursue a career in finance. However, after witnessing layoffs and salary cuts during her internship at a securities firm, she chose to switch to the short drama industry. In less than a year, she has appeared in over twenty short dramas, with her daily wage steadily increasing, and she has decided not to consider returning to the finance industry.
Similar career shifts are not isolated cases. 26-year-old literature master’s graduate Li Enming said that when he graduated, “almost only the short drama industry was still expanding,” making it one of the few viable paths despite repetitive roles and high shooting intensity.
However, the industry insiders do not share a uniformly optimistic outlook on the future. “Dudu,” a graduate who has been a part of short drama extras for a long time, pointed out that the prices for short drama actors are rapidly declining: while female lead actors used to earn up to 12,000 yuan per day, they now receive just over 2,000 yuan. Extra actors often earn between 100 and 150 yuan per day, with overtime pay for shoots exceeding 10 hours.
As a result, he has set a deadline for himself: to persist for another six months, and if there is no improvement, he will not continue trying.
Some people see short dramas as a “transitional plan.” 25-year-old Yucheng believes that being a model or actor lacks stability and is not a viable long-term career, so short dramas are more of a temporary solution during an employment vacuum.
These individual choices are not random but closely related to the rapid development and explosive growth of the micro-short drama industry in recent years. To understand why a large number of young people are entering this field, one must first grasp what kind of industry micro-short dramas are.
Micro-short dramas typically range from a few seconds to around 15 minutes per episode, with relatively clear themes and storylines, and more continuous and complete content.
In August 2020, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration added a “Network Micro-Short Drama Rapid Registration Filing Module” to the “Key Network Film and Television Drama Information Filing System,” formally categorizing network micro-short dramas as part of film and television works.
The production speed of Chinese micro-short dramas is faster. According to The Paper, up to 100 episodes can be filmed within a week.
According to the China Internet Audiovisual Program Service Association, in 2024, China produced over 30,000 micro-short dramas, with total revenue reaching 50.4 billion yuan, surpassing Chinese movie box office revenue (42.5 billion yuan). As of July 2025, the user base for Chinese micro-short dramas had reached 696 million.
However, this industry also faces increasing scrutiny. In February 2025, more than 1,200 micro-short dramas were removed from Chinese domestic applications (including Douyin) due to censorship concerns.