As short-form video begins to dominate global viewing habits, new monetization strategies are emerging, driven by playback time, scalable content formats, and increasingly AI-generated storytelling. This change was brought into focus at the Filmart Forum, “Breaking the Borders to the World: Monetizing the Billion Level with Short Drama and AI-Generated Comic Drama,” where industry players plan the next phase of the digital content economy.
Data shared during the session highlighted the scale and imbalance of the current ecosystem. Although Indonesia ranks first in the world in terms of YouTube watch time, followed by Taiwan, the US still leads in terms of revenue, followed by Taiwan. This gap highlights a structural reality. Engagement is growing fastest in Asia, even though monetization remains concentrated in Western markets.
Against this backdrop, Chloe Tye, senior manager and head of TV and film at Google, argued that platforms and creators alike need to rethink how they extract value from audiences beyond traditional metrics.
She outlined a monetization framework built around timelines and revenue curves, and pointed to aggregation strategies, including compilation edits and expanded format videos, as key tools for maximizing watch time and, in turn, advertising revenue. He added that membership models are becoming increasingly important in segmenting audiences and securing higher-value revenue streams in an attention-hungry economy.
At the same time, the rise of AI-generated short dramas and AI-generated comic book dramas is rapidly reshaping both production and monetization logics. As they gain global acceptance, these formats are creating a parallel content economy defined by speed, scalability, and low production thresholds.
Returning to platform governance, Cloe noted that monetization policies for AI content are evolving in parallel. We now evaluate not just individual videos but entire channels, including whether the content provides ongoing user value and whether AI-generated elements are transparently disclosed.
“We approach this from a user perspective and strive to apply consistent standards of both originality and authenticity,” Chloe says.
Panelists agreed that next steps depend not only on monetization rules, but also on how recommendation systems and ad tech infrastructure adapt to the volume and variety of AI-generated content.
Cao Rui, co-founder of Kukan Culture, said the proliferation of YouTube channels and AI-generated formats is already reshaping the world’s audiovisual consumption patterns. Since its founding in 2018, the company has built a network of over 2,000 channels and over 300 million users, with a growing share of short drama and AI-generated comic content.
Reflecting on the platform’s data, Cao pointed out that Southeast Asia is a high-growth market, especially for localized and translated content.
“Viewing performance, cultural preferences, and even content duration can directly impact revenue results,” she said, emphasizing the need for region-specific strategies in a fragmented global market.
Looking to the future, Vidu AI’s Chen Hetian predicts that AI live-action dramas and AI-generated comic dramas could generate as much as RMB 50 billion ($7 billion) in revenue this year alone, suggesting that what was until recently an experimental realm will quickly become commercialized.
But he warned that growth would be accompanied by structural changes. The oversupply of content will likely increase the utilization of distribution platforms, while monetization models across ad-supported, free, and subscription-based systems will further fragment audiences and create new avenues for niche genres.
At the same time, Chen said China is positioning itself as a potential export hub for AI-driven content, from platform monetization and commissioning of AI-generated short dramas to the international expansion of creative tools and models such as MovieFlow.
Taken together, the discussion pointed to a broader restructuring already underway. As short-form video and AI-generated storytelling converge, Asia is emerging not just as a growth market but as a testing ground for scalable, technology-driven content models that have the potential to redefine the global entertainment economy.
