Chinese social media giant steps up investment in micro-drama industry

Douyin Group, operator of the popular Chinese social media platform Douyin under ByteDance, plans to increase investment in live-action micro-dramas, an executive with the group said at a micro-drama industry summit held in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province.

The group would pour in over 1.5 billion yuan (about 219.08 million U.S. dollars) to support live-action micro-drama making this year, with a 60 percent increase for each creation on average, said Hua Yuesheng, head of the content partnerships department at the short drama copyright center of Douyin Group, Monday at the summit.

Boosted by a maturing ecosystem and evolving AI models, China's micro-drama industry is entering a rapidly growing phase with sustained popularity.

Data from Douyin showed that the average daily viewing time for live-action micro-dramas has nearly quadrupled within a year, with more than 1,100 live-action micro-dramas each posting more than 1 billion views. The number of micro-drama genres has expanded from 44 last year to 65.

Against such a backdrop, Douyin has released multiple supportive projects for live-action micro-dramas to encourage broader participation and innovations in the industry, said Le Li, editor-in-chief of the micro-drama platform Hongguo under Douyin Group.