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reuters, september 21, original title: lowbrow and vulgar? micro-short dramas shake up the chinese film industry and target hollywood reuters interviewed industry insiders, scholars and media analysts and found that china's micro-short drama industry has an annual output value of 5 billion us dollars and is developing rapidly. some experts said that micro-short dramas are becoming an increasingly large competitor to the chinese film industry, which is second only to hollywood in terms of market size. the chinese micro-short drama craze has begun to spread to the united states and has become a new example of chinese cultural exports gaining a foothold in the west.

data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the three major chinese short drama apps in apple and google app stores were downloaded 30 million times, with international market revenue reaching us$71 million. ashley dudarenoko, founder of a hong kong market consulting agency, said: "the audience's attention is limited. obviously, the more time they spend on short videos, the less time they have to watch tv and other long programs."

chen yiyi, vice president of kuaishou, said that the number of users who watch more than 10 episodes a day has reached 94 million. this number is larger than the population of germany. the first few episodes of short dramas on such apps are usually free, but to watch the entire series, viewers usually have to pay tens of yuan.

the rapid development of short dramas also brings regulatory issues. the state administration of radio, film and television of china said that from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, the department carried out a special rectification work and removed more than 225,300 short dramas, totaling nearly 1.4 million episodes, because these short dramas "contained pornographic, vulgar, bloody and violent content, low taste, and vulgar aesthetics."

an actor surnamed zhu admitted that the artistic value of micro-short dramas is limited. if a long drama is like a sumptuous meal, micro-short dramas are a bit like fast food. however, some viewers who like micro-short dramas do not think so. huang siyi, a 28-year-old customer service worker, said that she especially likes to watch romantic love micro-short dramas because "the performances are great and the male and female protagonists are very good-looking."

data from market research firm iresearch shows that the production cost of a short drama in china ranges from 200,000 to 2 million yuan. many chinese short drama producers have set their sights on the western market. last year, netease began producing short dramas for the united states, delivering related content through the loveshots app. these short dramas are usually produced by a local team in los angeles and filmed locally. (author: anthony slodkovsky, translated by zhen xiang)