As AI floods China’s screens with microdramas, viewers are getting picky

Two decades after stepping away from the spotlight, iconic actress Joey Wong made an unexpected return to the screen – not through a traditional production, but via artificial intelligence-powered reconstruction.

In a two-minute video by NetEase this summer, Wong, one of the most well-known actresses of the 1980s and 90s, had some of her most celebrated roles recreated, including the beautiful ghost in A Chinese Ghost Story and an alluring snake demon in Green Snake.

The revival is just the tip of an industry-wide pivot, as AI-generated short dramas have dominated the burgeoning mini-drama market. Known for the fast-paced storylines and frequent twists, microdramas typically run just a few minutes per episode.

More than 90 per cent of the 430,000 microdramas launched online in the first eight months of the year were AI-generated, according to the National Radio and Television Administration, China’s broadcasting regulator.

Producers said AI video-generation tools had unlocked storytelling possibilities that were previously constrained by budget limitations.

“Many online novels are built around action, suspense or imagined worlds that would require expensive sets and visual effects in live action,” said Bai Jianyue, a producer at a Shenzhen-based AI comic-drama distribution platform.

“AI makes those stories much more feasible to produce.”

Some viewers said they were willing to pay for higher-quality AI dramas, particularly when the technology could bring fantasy worlds from popular online novels to the screen.

“Some novels have worlds that only AI can really recreate,” said a user named “Huifei de Kuromi” on social media platform RedNote, adding that she would pay for well-produced adaptations of popular books or games.

Others, however, said they had grown weary of increasingly similar content.

“Once one drama becomes a hit, a whole series of substitutes follows, changing the dynasty or the gender and calling it a new story,” said RedNote user “Liulang de Mao”.

“The result is that you can often tell how a drama will end just from the beginning.”

Being able to generate video is not the same as reliably delivering an entire series

Robin Luo, Synintell Pictures

Producers echoed those concerns, saying it had become difficult to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

“Being able to generate video is not the same as reliably delivering an entire series,” said Robin Luo, founder of Synintell Pictures.

Luo said maintaining consistent characters, performances and storytelling across dozens of episodes remained difficult. As more studios gained access to video-generation tools, competition was shifting towards scripts, directing, production workflows and audience retention.

Regulators and industry leaders have also begun focusing more attention on live-action productions.

Wang Xiaoliang, an official from the broadcasting regulator, last month called on platforms to establish dedicated sections for live-action productions and provide financial support for high-quality content.

That followed commitments of at least 6 billion yuan (US$894 million) from six major platforms, including those operated by ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology, to support live-action microdramas under a government-backed initiative.

Meanwhile, oversight of AI-generated productions has tightened. A rule that took effect this month requires episodes to carry prominent labels identifying AI-generated content.

At last week’s meeting, Wang also urged studios to obtain consent before using people’s faces and voices.

Zhou Xiangxiang, founder of Moli OPC AI Comic Drama Base, said her team had begun using authorised likenesses of its own staff and signing agreements with performers to create digital characters.

Although licensing would slightly increase production costs, it could significantly lower platform review costs, as AI-generated characters that appeared too similar to real people delayed releases, Zhou said.

Her company had not yet experienced a noticeable change in business because existing annual contracts with platforms remained in place, she said.