China’s AI microdrama boom joins a global surge in mobile viewing

What happened

Tencent launched Lüpaopao, a free short-drama service inside WeChat, a popular chat app. It has AI-made series, live-action shows and cartoons. ByteDance's Hongguo app also grew very fast and now has more daily viewers than several big video services combined.

Key numbers

• Hongguo had 168 million daily active users in July, up 107% from a year earlier.
• Short-drama apps averaged 25 minutes of daily use worldwide in April 2026, up 85% from January 2025.
• Traditional streaming stayed flat at about 35 minutes a day.
• Worldwide short-drama app downloads rose 140% in the first quarter of 2026, but in-app purchase revenue grew only 20%.
• Southeast Asia, Latin America and India made up more than three-quarters of downloads.

Some background

Short dramas are series cut into very short episodes, meant to be watched on a phone. Many apps are free and show ads. Others let users pay to unlock episodes. Social apps like Douyin, YouTube and TikTok also show these shows, and often use short clips to send viewers to a full drama app.

Why it matters

Free, ad-supported short dramas now compete with well-known streaming services for people's free time. AI-made series are also drawing large audiences. This shows that the way people watch video on phones is changing quickly, and that companies are trying many ways to earn money from it.

What to watch

• Whether AI-made dramas keep gaining plays on platforms like Douyin.
• Whether spending on short dramas catches up with the fast growth in downloads.
• How WeChat's friend-based recommendations change what people watch.
• How Holywater Tech's mix of live-action, AI and free shows performs abroad.