China’s ‘Short-form Drama’ Continues to Grow Explosively

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 28th that the “short-form drama,” which gives a high sense of immersion with about two minutes per episode, is playing a key role in developing soft power as it continues to grow explosively in China.

According to SCMP, China Netcasting Service Association (CNSA) announced at a forum in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the day before that China’s online video industry market grew 6.1 percent year-on-year to 1.2 trillion yuan last year as Chinese short-form dramas gained popularity overseas. CNSA also added that 757,000 businesses operate the online video industry in China.

“China’s short-form drama has become a new growth engine for the online video industry as its influence has grown significantly overseas,” said Cha Soo-min, director of the National Bureau of Optical Wave, which oversees China’s broadcasting and internet supervision. He also stressed about the netcasting industry, “With the steady emergence of new business models, it is the most innovative, fast-developing, and high potential field in China,” adding, “It is also playing a huge role in strengthening the country’s soft power.”

China defines netcasting as an industry that transmits and creates audio and video online and includes services such as video download and live streaming, including short-form dramas.

Short-form drama is a new format that appeared in China in 2018, and the photoelectric bureau has added the item to the video screening system since 2020, and the market has been growing explosively since 2022. According to CNSA, short-form drama users reached 662 million at the end of last year, up 7.3% from the first half of last year.

Thanks to the rapid growth of short-form dramas, the total number of netcasting users was tallied at 1.091 billion at the end of last year, up 1.6% year-on-year. The user penetration rate continued to rise to 98.4%, showing that the netcasting industry is continuing its upward trend.

In addition, Chinese-based short-form drama app ReelShort has been making a remarkable achievement in entering overseas markets, overtaking TikTok as the number one download in the U.S. in November 2023.

“If you look at the video and movie rankings of various countries, you can see that Chinese content is included in the top,” said Gung Yu, CEO of China’s online video service (OTT) company, at the same forum. “This is our opportunity and we should hold it tightly with pride.”

According to the CNSA, live streaming along with short-form dramas continued to grow in conjunction with online shopping, bringing the number of users to 833 million at the end of last year. China’s online shopping transactions amounted to 15.52 trillion yuan (about 3,130 trillion won) last year, up 7.2 percent year-on-year.

JENNIFER KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL