After a wave of AI-generated “microdramas” flooded Chinese platforms with stiff movements, blank stares, clichéd plots and low-budget chaos, Douyin-owned Hongguo believes viewers are still looking for real humans.
Written by Shen Xiaoge
A new villain has emerged in China’s burgeoning short drama industry. It’s an AI-generated costume drama with stolen faces, awkward fake actors, and a plot so chaotic that even the platforms that host it are starting to backlash.
At Douyin Group’s first short drama industry conference held on Tuesday, Hongguo Short Drama, the fast-growing app that has become one of China’s largest entertainment platforms, announced new incentives for live-action productions. This includes up to 1.5 million yuan ($208,000) for top titles, higher revenue shares, and dedicated funding for genres such as suspense and urban realism.
A company representative said that in 2026, the support budget Hongguo will guarantee for live-action productions will exceed 1.5 billion yuan, and the average guaranteed funds per title will increase by about 60% from last year.
Officially, the company says the initiative is aimed at improving quality as viewers move from “traffic-driven” viewing to more powerful storytelling. But it also reflects growing pressure across China’s AI content ecosystem, where cheap generation tools have allowed it to churn out drama at industrial speed.
Support for Honguo’s live-action work has been growing for over a year. In late 2024, the platform launched the “Guoran Plan” to provide investment support of up to 2 million yuan per project for high-quality live-action dramas, as well as traffic promotion and revenue sharing guarantees. This year, it expanded those efforts with new user acquisition incentives and higher script payments as platforms compete more for professionally produced content rather than massive upload volumes.
Over the past year, AI-generated short dramas have rapidly increased on Chinese platforms. Many rely on synthetic actors and manipulated facial images to churn out algorithmically designed historical romances, revenge dramas, and fantasy plots.
It’s hard to ignore the economic situation. Traditional productions still require actors, costumes, sets, and crew. AI-generated series are much cheaper to create and can be released in large numbers.
However, the results have been increasingly criticized.
In one recent controversy, a Hanfu stylist and influencer accused an AI-generated costume drama peach flower hairpin For using her photo without permission to create an overweight and vulgar villain character. Other models have since made similar claims.
The controversy quickly became a hot topic across Chinese social media, fueling a broader debate over AI image rights violations.
Hongguo subsequently removed the series, saying the producers failed to provide sufficient evidence that the source material was legally permitted. The platform also suspended the studio behind the show for 15 days.
The company said it has since investigated approximately 15,000 AI-related works and taken action on hundreds found to violate platform rules.
The episode highlights a broader shift in China’s short drama industry, which has exploded through cliffhangers, exaggerated acting and ultra-short episodes optimized for smartphone viewing. Platforms are now competing not only on scale but also on their ability to convince advertisers, regulators and viewers that the format can mature beyond pure algorithmic entertainment.
This helps explain why Hongguo’s recent funding supports grounded genres and live-action storytelling. Conference executives repeatedly emphasized emotional realism and human connection, qualities that many viewers feel are still lacking in fully AI-generated productions.
Hongguo, launched by ByteDance in 2023, has grown to become one of the leading short drama apps in China. According to QuestMobile data, the platform had more than 304 million monthly active users in February, with an average daily viewing time of more than two hours.
Even in China’s attention-grabbing economy, this is enough screen time to make the fight over synthetic entertainment increasingly difficult to ignore.
