Analysis of the Communication and Business Model of Chinese Short Video Dramas ()
1. Introduction
Previous studies have examined short videos from perspectives such as algorithmic recommendation, narrative aesthetics, and cultural dissemination. However, few have systematically integrated communication characteristics with business models. This study bridges this gap and contributes by offering a comprehensive framework. “Online short video dramas” refer to an artistic form with each episode lasting from tens of seconds to about 10 minutes, featuring innovation and entertainment. Their concise and compact narrative style and diverse themes not only meet the fragmented entertainment needs of modern audiences but also inject new vitality into the digital entertainment market. In recent years, they have developed rapidly in China. With the advantages of being short and concise, and having diverse themes, they cater to users’ fragmented entertainment needs and have become a key carrier for cultural communication and business innovation. Moreover, they are triggering a new drama-watching trend worldwide. Compared with traditional TV series, these short dramas tell a complete story in the shortest possible time—they neither unnecessarily stretch the plot nor make the audience feel rushed. Screenwriters convey the essence of the story to the audience through concise dialogues and vivid scenes within a limited time, leaving a deep impression on the audience with each episode.
This study aims to deeply explore the communication and commercial value of Chinese short video dramas from the dimensions of market scale, communication characteristics, business models, and future trends, so as to contribute to the healthy development of the industry.
2. Development Background
The short drama market has shown an explosive growth trend. In the domestic market, by 2023, the scale of China’s online audio-visual users had reached 1.074 billion (with a netizen usage rate of 98.3%), and the total number of short video accounts exceeded 1.55 billion. The average daily usage time of mobile online audio-visual applications per user was 187 minutes, among which short video applications accounted for 151 minutes and had the highest user stickiness, becoming the “top time-killing tool”. The market scale of micro-short dramas reached 37.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 267.65%. It is estimated that by 2027, the market scale of China’s online micro-short dramas will reach 100.68 billion yuan (Dashu Kuajing, 2024).
It is worth noting that the market scale of short dramas is already close to 70% of China’s total box office (54.915 billion yuan). On the supply side, the number of domestic online micro-short drama distribution licenses kept rising quarter by quarter in 2023, with 153 dramas (totaling 3532 episodes) released in the fourth quarter (National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), 2024).
On the demand side, the market is equally booming: the number of daily active users of short dramas on Kuaishou reached 270 million, with 94 million heavy users (a year-on-year increase of 52.6%). The number of short dramas with over 100 million views on Douyin and Kuaishou increased by 65% year-on-year.
The international market expansion is even more rapid. Overseas short dramas experienced explosive growth in the second half of 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, the total number of downloads of popular short drama apps reached 37.66 million, a month-on-month surge of 92.3% (Dashu Kuajing, 2024). The global Internet user base (4.95 billion in 2022) and the scale of overseas online novels (4.35 billion US dollars in 2023) jointly support the content ecosystem (Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2023). It is predicted that the compound annual growth rate of the global micro-short drama market will reach 7.1% from 2024 to 2030 (Dashu Kuajing, 2024).
These data fully demonstrate the popularity of micro-short dramas in the current entertainment market. The large user group and the rapidly growing market scale indicate that micro-short dramas have become an important force in the film and television industry. Micro-short dramas produced at low costs are impacting the traditional film and television industry. Since each episode of such dramas is only 1 to 10 minutes long, the audience cannot deeply think about the exaggeration and authenticity of the content. Therefore, compared with traditional films and television works, the fact that micro-short dramas do not require elaborate polishing makes them more attractive to capital investment. Although there are limitations in production conditions, with the help of low-cost AI technology, micro-short dramas have quickly entered a new era of more efficient production and opened up a new path for film and television creation.
Scholars have explored the platformization of Douyin and TikTok, the narrative aesthetics of micro-short plays, and the optimization strategies for their international communication. These studies provide theoretical foundations but lack systematic integration of business models and communication patterns, which this paper addresses.
3. Research Methods
3.1. Text Analysis Method
By collecting, organizing, and analyzing the text content related to micro-short dramas, and using word cloud generation tools, the keywords that appear frequently in the text are presented in the form of a visual word cloud. This helps to intuitively understand the key information of micro-short dramas in terms of content expression and user discussions, and summarize the theme tendencies and hot topics of micro-short dramas.
3.2. Baidu Index Analysis Method
With the help of the Baidu Index platform, the search popularity data of keywords related to micro-short dramas are obtained. By analyzing the search trends in different time periods and regions, as well as the related information of the keywords searched by users, the audience’s attention trends, regional distribution characteristics, and user interest points of micro-short dramas are grasped.
3.3. Literature Research Method
Domestic and foreign industry reports and other materials related to short videos are consulted. Data are summarized from the known information to understand the current development status and trends of the industry.
4. Analysis of Communication Characteristics
4.1. User Characteristics and Application Scenarios
4.1.1. High Acceptance among Young People, and Middle-Aged and
Elderly People More Likely to Pay
According to data from iResearch (Chen, 2024), nearly 70% of the overseas audience of micro-short dramas are 34 years old or younger, with the age group concentrated between 25 and 34 years old. Domestic data show that users aged 15 to 29 account for a relatively high proportion, making up 64.8% of short drama users. highlighting the shared dominance of younger demographics. Young people have a high acceptance of new things, and the fast pace and interesting content of short video dramas conform to their fragmented entertainment habits and the psychology of pursuing freshness.
At the same time, the “iResearch” report points out that in the 2024 short drama market, users aged 40 to 59 account for as high as 37.3%, and users over 60 also account for 12.1%. This group of people has more leisure time. The characteristics of micro-short dramas, such as being simple and easy to understand and not requiring complex plot comprehension, provide them with a daily entertainment method and meet their needs for relaxation. Data from QuestMobile in November 2023 shows that the penetration rate of micro-short dramas among the elderly is higher than that of online videos and short videos. Among micro-short drama applications, users over 46 years old account for 37.3%, which is higher than that of long video apps and short video apps respectively. Moreover, middle-aged and elderly people are more likely to become the main paying group for “online short video dramas” due to their relative unfamiliarity with payment operations and vulnerability to online traps.
4.1.2. Adaptation to Fragmented Temporal and Spatial Scenarios
The viewing behavior of online micro-short drama users is deeply integrated into the “time gaps” of daily life, and its core feature is the accurate adaptation to discontinuous temporal and spatial scenarios. On the one hand, users mainly watch during fragmented time periods such as commuting, work breaks, and post-meal breaks (Peng, 2024). The duration of each episode is shortened to 1 - 10 minutes (the mainstream duration of paid dramas), which highly matches the fragmented rhythm of modern society. This adaptability comes from the technical empowerment of mobile terminals: the portability of smartphones breaks the fixed space limitation of traditional film and television, enabling the viewing scenario to shift from the home to mobile spaces such as public transportation and office places (Zhao, 2024).
On the other hand, the instant trigger mechanism of micro-short dramas (such as instant viewing through mini-programs and instant content recommendation by platform algorithms) further enhances the temporal and spatial flexibility. For example, micro-short dramas on Douyin adopt the interactive design of “swiping to switch”, allowing users to finish watching one episode even in ultra-short intervals (usually ≤3 minutes) such as waiting for a bus or queuing. This turns “useless time” into a unit that provides emotional value (Niu, 2024). This deconstruction and reconstruction of time and space have reshaped the film and television consumption paradigm, making micro-short dramas a “digital filler” to fill the gaps in daily life.
4.1.3. Lightweight Design for Cognitive Load
Micro-short dramas realize the efficient allocation and low consumption of users’ cognitive resources through dual strategies. In terms of narrative, the strategy of “conflict placement at the beginning and density enhancement” is adopted: dramatic conflicts are implanted at the beginning of the drama (for example, Trapped Beast intensively presents 4 highlights such as rebirth, revenge, and counterattack within 2 minutes), and the background introduction and character relationship construction are omitted (Sun, 2024). At the same time, plot reversals (such as identity reversal and power change) occur at a frequency of ≥1 time per minute to continuously stimulate dopamine secretion, forming a “stimulation-pleasure” neural feedback loop, which significantly reduces the cost of understanding.
In terms of sensory experience, the cognitive load reduction effect of the vertical screen mode is particularly crucial: the vertical composition of the 9:16 screen naturally conforms to the human advantage in vertical visual field. By having close-up shots account for more than 70% (for example, Twenty-Nine focuses on the upper body body language of characters), the depth of field information is compressed (Niu, 2024). The screen elements are simplified to the characters’ facial expressions and core actions, eliminating redundant environmental details, which increases the information density per unit time by about 3 times compared with the horizontal screen.
This design is essentially the media practice of Hick’s Law—by limiting the number of options (the number of screen focuses ≤ 2) to shorten the decision-making time, and finally achieve “glanceable comprehension”, which meets the users’ demand for low cognitive load in noisy mobile scenarios (Zhao, 2024).
4.2. Communication Channels and Platforms
4.2.1. Short Video Main Positions (Traffic Hub)
Douyin/Kuaishou: Achieve precise content distribution through “information flow recommendation” (users start the app ≥ 15 times a day on average) (Zhao, 2024); establish vertical category entrances (such as Kuaishou’s “Xingmang Short Dramas” and Douyin’s “Fanqie Short Dramas”) to focus on incubating IPs (Peng, 2024). The real-time feedback from bullet screens and likes (Niu, 2024) makes the user interaction rate 3 times higher than that of long videos (Sun, 2024).
4.2.2. Long Video Platform Special Zones (Quality Endorsement)
iQiyi’s “Vertical Screen Theater” and Tencent Video’s “Ten-Minute Theater”: Rely on professional production resources; provide both horizontal and vertical viewing modes (to adapt to multiple viewing scenarios).
4.2.3. Mini-Program Theaters (Payment Funnel)
WeChat/Baidu mini-programs: Rely on social chain fission (sharing to unlock drama episodes); adopt the “hook strategy”: the first episode is free → pay per episode (0.9 yuan) → package purchase of all episodes (80 - 100 episodes/about 100 yuan) (Sun, 2024).
4.2.4. Overseas Drainage Hub
TikTok has become the core drainage platform for overseas markets, with 91% of overseas users downloading short drama apps through TikTok (Dashu Kuajing, 2024).
4.3. Content Themes and User Preferences
With the help of the Baidu Index platform, the search popularity data of the keyword “short drama” are obtained. By analyzing the search trends in different time periods and regions, as well as the related information of the keyword searched by users, the audience’s attention trends, regional distribution characteristics, and user interest points of micro-short dramas are grasped.
Taking “short drama” as the search keyword, we can observe the popularity analysis of Baidu Index. Since 2023, the search volume of the keyword “short drama” has increased steadily and witnessed a huge surge in December. The concentration of platform broadcasts is very high.
When searching with “short drama” as the keyword on Baidu Index, it is found that cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Wuhan show a relatively high search volume.
Most of these cities are the forefront of China’s economic, cultural, and technological development. From an economic perspective, they are all cities with a GDP of over one trillion yuan. In 2024, Shanghai’s GDP reached 5.392671 trillion yuan, Beijing’s reached 4.98431 trillion yuan, and Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou were among the cities with a GDP of over 3 trillion yuan. These cities have diversified industrial structures, covering high-end manufacturing, modern service industries, technological innovation, and other fields. They have vigorous economic vitality and high residents’ income levels, providing a solid economic foundation and a broad market space for the development of short videos.
From the perspective of cultural consumption, residents in these cities have a strong demand for cultural consumption. Some of them are home to a large number of universities, such as Beijing and Wuhan; others are prosperous in commerce, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. Residents in these cities have a high acceptance of cultural products and pursue personalized and diversified cultural experiences. With its rich content and convenient communication methods, short videos just meet the fragmented cultural consumption needs of residents in these cities under the fast-paced life. Whether it is trend information, life records, or knowledge popularization short videos, a large number of audiences can be found here. In addition, the openness and inclusiveness of these cities attract people from different cultural backgrounds, promoting the exchange and collision of diverse cultures on short video platforms, further stimulating the innovation and communication of short video content, and jointly promoting the popularity of short videos in these cities.
At the same time, we selected the short video drama I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s—the one with the highest ratings on Douyin in 2024—as a sample. On March 18, 2025, we collected the video reviews with the largest number of comments about this drama, including 390 primary comments and 49 secondary comments. After deleting duplicate comments and image comments, 47 valid primary and secondary comments were obtained (305 primary comments and 47 secondary comments). After word segmentation, pronouns were deleted, and the top 75 high-frequency words were selected to generate the following word cloud information.
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The audience feedback of I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s shows obvious characteristics of sensory-driven consumption. The high-frequency words in the word cloud show that the audience’s core attention focuses on the visual image of the characters (mentioning that the male lead looks like Chinese stars “Wallace Huo” and “Xiao Zhan”) and the comedic emotional release (such as “hahaha” and “can’t stop watching”). This confirms the “visual closure effect” of vertical screen micro-short dramas (Niu, 2024)—the 9:16 screen amplifies the emotional impact by focusing on the characters’ faces and body language, enabling the audience to quickly obtain an immersive experience in fragmented time.
However, the elements related to the depth of the plot are significantly marginalized: “the 1980s” only exists as a nostalgic symbol, “time travel” and “mute female lead” are reduced to tools for creating conflicts, and complaints such as “bad plot” expose the flaws in the narrative logic. This feedback structure of “appearance economy-led and lack of in-depth narrative” highlights that the audience’s core demand for micro-short dramas is still instant emotional release rather than the connotation of the story, which echoes the “spiritual decompression tool” function proposed by Peng Yan (2024).
4.4. Current Situation of International Communication
In the international market, the commercial potential of micro-short dramas has been brought into full play. Through translated versions of domestic short dramas and localized original short dramas, more than 40 micro-short drama apps have appeared in the overseas market, with a total of about 55 million downloads and a total income of 700 million US dollars. By March 2025, the number of Chinese overseas short drama apps had reached 237, a year-on-year increase of nearly 4 times, and the total global downloads in the first quarter exceeded 270 million. The communication scope covers the whole world, forming a broad market centered on North America and expanding to five continents.
Similar to the domestic target audience, the overseas audience of micro-short dramas is also concentrated on women aged 25 - 45, and romantic micro-short dramas account for 47% of the broadcast volume on overseas platforms. Combining with local cultural characteristics, the international market has adjusted the micro-short dramas. For example, Chinese cultivation-themed short dramas are transformed into themes with supernatural elements such as werewolves and vampires in the European and American markets.
5. Business Models and Monetization Paths
The business ecosystem of short dramas presents the characteristic of “three-spiral evolution”:
The monetization mechanism spiral: The paid/free model covers all user groups;
The advertising integration spiral: Brand contentization reshapes the marketing logic;
The IP development spiral: Cross-media value increment from text to film and television to derivatives.
The spiral metaphor emphasizes iterative growth and interconnected feedback loops, where payment, advertising, and IP development reinforce one another. This model reveals the core path of short dramas’ transformation from traffic products to cultural assets.
5.1. Paid Model and Free Model
The design of the “short video drama” payment model is deeply in line with user behavior psychology and platform algorithm logic. At the basic level, the per-episode unlocking mechanism constitutes the core profit path: relying on WeChat/Baidu mini-programs to build a payment scenario, and adopting the “hook strategy”—the first 5 episodes are open for free, and payment points are set from the 6th episode (0.9 - 2 yuan per episode). The “loss aversion” psychology is used to guide users to unlock all episodes (usually 80 - 100 episodes, with a total price of 80 - 150 yuan). This model has a significant penetration rate in the sinking market and among the elderly, but the problem of inducing consumption is prominent (for example, the default check of “automatically unlock the next episode” leads to a mistaken purchase rate of 37.3% among users over 46 years old) (Peng, 2024).
At the advanced level, a composite monetization matrix has been developed, including the membership subscription system (such as Douyin’s “Fanqie Short Dramas” with a monthly subscription of 30 yuan), advertising profit sharing (the quotation for brand-customized drama product placement per episode is 200,000 - 500,000 yuan), and IP derivative development (online novel-adapted dramas drive the sales of the original novels to increase by 300%) (Sun, 2024).
5.2. Advertising Placement and Brand Cooperation
5.2.1. Plot-Embedded Customization
Brands dominate the creative rights. For example, in 2023, Han Shu cooperated with Douyin influencer “Jiang Shiqi” on Dress Up with Growth. The function of the red and blue essence was transformed into a visual symbol of the female lead’s career counterattack (product close-up shots accounted for 37%). Relying on the theme of “female growth”, it achieved both brand awareness and sales—with a broadcast volume of over 600 million and product sales exceeding 50 million yuan (Peng, 2024). This kind of cooperation requires a high degree of alignment between the brand and the plot; otherwise, it is easy to arouse audience resistance (for example, The Handbook of the Black Lotus produced by the Maimeng team was removed from the shelves due to excessive product placement).
5.2.2. Scene-Based Native Placement
Brands are naturally embedded in the existing scripts. For example, nostalgic items such as “Phoenix bicycles” and “Seagull cameras” in I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s not only enhance the authenticity of the era but also activate the brand’s cultural assets. The key technology lies in the concealment of symbols—a study by Stanford University shows that the audience’s memory retention rate of scene-based placement is 68%, which is much higher than the 29% of oral advertising (Niu, 2024).
5.3. IP Development and Industrial Chain Extension
5.3.1. Cross-Platform IP Collaboration
The “Xingmang Plan” jointly launched by Kuaishou and Midu has formed a typical model—it adapts the platform’s mid-tier online novels (such as The Fake Wife) into micro-short dramas, which increases the reading volume of the original novels by 300%. At the same time, the bullet screens of the dramas guide the audience to return to the novel pages to subscribe to new chapters (Sun, 2024). Technological empowerment has further shortened the conversion link: Fanqie Novels adopts the AIGC script generation system, which optimizes the plot branches based on real-time user comments, reducing the development cycle from online novels to short dramas to 7 days (Li & Xiao, 2024).
5.3.2. Cultural Tourism-Integrated Goods Promotion
The “micro-short drama + destination” model reshapes the consumption link. For example, in the derivative short drama of Meet Yourself, intangible cultural heritage experiences such as Yunnan Pu’er tea making and tie-dyeing technology constitute the core plot. The audience jumps to the e-commerce pages by posting “asking for the same product” in the bullet screens, which drives the tourism orders of the filming locations to increase by 53% (Li & Xiao, 2024). Policy support is also provided: the State Administration of Radio and Television’s Travel with provides a maximum subsidy of 3 million yuan for cultural tourism integration projects.
6. Industry Challenges and Future Trends
6.1. Content Homogenization and the Demand for High Quality
The rapid expansion of the short drama market has led to prominent content homogenization. In the future, the industry will move towards high quality and refinement, focusing on script polishing and production improvement.
The large-scale expansion of the short drama market has triggered a crisis of theme homogenization. According to monitoring, domineering president and sweet romance themes account for 48% (Dashu Kuajing, 2024), and the templated narrative has led to the audience abandonment rate within 3 episodes rising to 67.9%. To break this dilemma, the industry has shown a dual shift:
Narrative innovation: Introduce the reconstruction of cross-cultural motifs (such as replacing the domineering president narrative with the Japanese “young lady” theme, which is in line with the social issue of female poverty) (Dashu Kuajing, 2024).
6.2. Technological Empowerment and Innovation
The application of AI technology in short drama creation is gradually becoming popular. AIGC tools have improved the efficiency of material production and shortened the cycles of script incubation and market feedback.
AIGC technology is reshaping the entire chain of short drama production, distribution, and consumption:
Creation end: The DramaBox app uses “AI painting + AI dubbing” technology, which shortens the production cycle of animated short dramas by 40%;
Distribution end: Algorithms drive the accurate matching of content (such as ReelShort optimizing recommendations based on user behavior data);
Interaction end: The interactive drama model (such as Netflix’s Black Mirror with 5 ending branches) improves user participation, with the total duration of branches reaching 312 minutes.
While reducing costs, technology has also spawned new forms: it is estimated that AI-generated scripts will account for 30% in 2024, but AI ethical risks need to be guarded against.
6.3. Policy Supervision and Industry Standardization
The State Administration of Radio and Television has adopted a classified and hierarchical review system to promote the transformation of the short drama industry from unregulated growth to high-quality development (General Office of the National Radio and Television Administration, 2025).
Content review: The State Administration of Radio and Television requires short dramas to meet the standard of “healthy and positive”. In 2023, 373 dramas were suspended due to substandard quality;
Hierarchical review: A hierarchical system of “pre-review for key dramas (ancient costume/case-related) + filing system for ordinary dramas” has been established (Dashu Kuajing, 2024).
The international compliance risks are more complex:
Cultural conflicts: The acceptance of “male-oriented abusive romance” themes in the European and American markets is ≤10%;
Legal barriers: Data regulations such as GDPR restrict the analysis of user behavior;
Platform regulations: TikTok’s regional restriction policies lead to fluctuations of ±15% in promotion costs;
Balancing supervision and market will become a core issue for overseas expansion.
7. Conclusion
This study integrates communication patterns and business models into a unified framework, highlighting the innovative three-spiral model and offering theoretical insights for digital media research as well as practical guidance for industry stakeholders.
With the fragmentation of users’ entertainment needs and the accelerated evolution of digital technology, short video dramas have quickly emerged as an important force in China’s film and television industry. Through lightweight content design, accurate platform recommendations, and emotion-driven consumption paths, short dramas have formed a unique communication paradigm different from traditional film and television.
In terms of business, its profit model of “free first episode + paid per episode”, together with strategies such as native brand placement and high-frequency IP derivation, has jointly built a diversified income model. With the help of AI technology, the efficiency of content production has been significantly improved.
In the international market, micro-short dramas have achieved rapid expansion through localized adaptation and social platform drainage, becoming a new carrier for the overseas dissemination of Chinese digital content. However, the industry still faces challenges such as content homogenization, ethical risks, and policy supervision.
In the future, the short drama industry will move towards refinement, intelligence, and globalization, realizing the in-depth transformation from “traffic products” to “cultural assets”. How to strike a balance between rapid expansion and standardized governance will be the key to the sustainable and healthy development of this industry.