China's Micro-Drama Users Top 800 Million as Regulator Reports 430,000 Titles in Eight Months

Wang Xiaoliang, director of the online audiovisual content management department at the National Radio and Television Administration, said at a State Council Information Office press conference on the "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" theme that China's micro-drama audience has exceeded 800 million people, and the market surpassed 100 billion yuan in 2025. In the first eight months of 2026, 430,000 micro-dramas were released, 13 times the full-year 2025 total, of which AI-generated dramas accounted for more than 90 percent. Artificial intelligence is being widely applied in micro-drama production, opening new space for innovative expression and cost reduction while also bringing new challenges in content quality and rights protection.

On September 1, 2026, the Measures for the Administration of Micro-Drama Development took effect, and the unified micro-drama logo "Taihua Mark," inspired by the taihua plant, was launched at the same time, giving micro-dramas their own regulations and logo. The outline of the national 15th Five-Year Plan listed micro-dramas for the first time as a new cultural format to be vigorously developed. Wang said live-action dramas are the mainstay of premium production and will be strongly supported, with the "Micro-Drama Premium Creation and Dissemination Plan" implemented in depth and platforms guided to open dedicated "live-action drama" sections. For AI dramas, the approach is to encourage innovation while safeguarding bottom lines, requiring AI dramas to carry content labels and pushing platforms to strictly uphold portrait and voice authorization standards with full-process oversight.

Since 2026, the National Radio and Television Administration has made harmful and vulgar content, content unsuitable for children, and infringing or pirated content key targets of governance, taking 68,000 violating micro-dramas offline across the internet and directing platforms to handle more than 1,200 violating accounts, with AI dramas accounting for more than 90 percent of the content handled. Wang said platforms bear primary responsibility and that this will be further tightened and consolidated to purify the industry ecosystem.

He Biao, spokesperson and deputy director of the National Radio and Television Administration, said at the press conference that Chinese micro-dramas are widely welcomed in more than 200 countries and regions, accounting for more than 80 percent of the overseas micro-drama market. The going-global of radio and television audiovisual content is expanding from traditional content dissemination to a model of coordinated overseas expansion combining content, platforms, technology, and operations, forming a complete industrial chain globally.

Wang also said the administration will vigorously promote the premium, popular, and international development of micro-dramas. On premium development, it will implement the "Five Batches Project" around themes such as mainstream values, contemporary trends, regional culture, everyday life, and international communication, aiming to release 1,000 outstanding micro-dramas over the year. On popular development, it will encourage more entities and ordinary people to participate in creation and continue advancing the "Micro-Drama Plus" action plan to empower tourism, sports, e-commerce, and other industries. On international development, it will make good use of the new engine provided by AI technology to continuously consolidate the leading advantage of micro-dramas overseas.