{
  "id": 11823213,
  "title": "Quality over quantity: China’s AI microdrama producers battle viewer fatigue",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/quality-over-quantity-chinas-ai-microdrama-producers-battle-viewer-11823213",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-04T02:00:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "SCMP Tech",
    "slug": "scmp-tech",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3368700/quality-over-quantity-chinas-ai-microdrama-producers-battle-viewer-fatigue"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two decades after retiring from acting, renowned actress Joey Wong surprised audiences by returning to the screen through AI-generated reconstruction. In a brief video produced by NetEase this summer, the iconic star reprised her most celebrated roles, such as the ghost from A Chinese Ghost Story and the snake demon from Green Snake. This revival is emblematic of a broader trend in China's mini-drama market, where AI-generated short dramas have become the dominant format. These fast-paced, twist-filled productions typically last only a few minutes per episode.\n\nAccording to the National Radio and Television Administration, over 90% of the 430,000 microdramas launched online in the first eight months of the year were created using AI video-generation tools. Producers have praised these technologies for unlocking new storytelling possibilities that were once constrained by budget limitations. As one Shenzhen-based AI comic-drama distribution platform noted, \"Many online novels are built around action, suspense, or imagined worlds that would require expensive sets and visual effects in live action. AI makes those stories much more feasible to produce.\"\n\nHowever, this wave of AI-generated content has not gone unnoticed by viewers. Some are willing to pay for higher-quality AI dramas, particularly when the technology can recreate fantastical worlds from popular online novels. One RedNote user named \"Huifei de Kuromi\" expressed her willingness to pay for well-produced adaptations of beloved books or games. Conversely, others have grown weary of the repetitive nature of this content, arguing that once a drama becomes a hit, a plethora of copycats emerge, each with slight variations in setting or characters. This saturation has made it increasingly difficult for creators to stand out, with the founder of Synintell Pictures, Robin Luo, lamenting the challenges of maintaining consistent characters and storytelling across dozens of episodes.\n\nRegulators and industry leaders have also taken notice of this shift. A recent directive from the broadcasting regulator calls on platforms to create dedicated sections for live-action productions and provide financial support for high-quality content. Major platforms, including those owned by ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology, have pledged at least 6 billion yuan (approximately US$894 million) to fund live-action microdramas as part of a government-backed initiative. In response to these developments, oversight of AI-generated productions has tightened, with a recent rule requiring prominent labels to identify AI-generated content. Additionally, broadcasters have been urged to obtain consent before using individuals' faces and voices, with the founder of Moli OPC AI Comic Drama Base, Zhou Xiangxiang, announcing that her team is now using authorized likenesses of her staff and signing agreements with performers to create digital characters. While licensing these likenesses may increase production costs, it could significantly reduce the likelihood of content being flagged by platforms, thus lowering review costs in the long run. Despite these challenges, Zhou's company has not yet observed a noticeable dip in business due to existing annual contracts with platforms.",
  "summary": "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…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post",
        "title": "Quality over quantity: China’s AI microdrama producers battle viewer fatigue",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/quality-over-quantity-chinas-ai-microdrama-producers-battle-viewer",
        "published": "2026-10-04T02:00:09.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}