Open any overseas short video platform, and users will easily find a vertical screen, one or two minutes in a single episode, and dozens of episodes: densely packed with twists and turns, and so fast-paced that "you can't stop". On the English Internet, this type of content already has a special word - duanju (short play). It is not a native product of Europe and the United States, but a content form that originated in China. In the past year, this "Made in China" category has accelerated its globalization: As a product of ByteDance, TikTok launched the independent micro-short drama application PineDrama in Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia and other places earlier this year, bringing the successful model of Chinese short dramas overseas; at the same time, Instagram launched the Series function specially designed for micro-short dramas, Netflix launched vertical screen information flow, and even the prestigious Sundance Film Festival also cooperated with TikTok to offer micro-short drama writing courses. What Chinese short dramas have brought about is an ongoing change in global content production methods - from form, rhythm to business model, the world's content industry is collectively learning a practice that is run by the Chinese market.
The “collective fate” of global platforms
In the past year, the global micro-short drama market has entered a period of explosive growth: the industry predicts that China’s overseas micro-short drama market will reach US$6 billion to US$9 billion in 2026, and the industry predicts that the global micro-short drama market will reach US$26 billion in 2030. In addition to scale, the more noteworthy change is that the world's leading platforms have collectively changed from "spectators" to "entrants", and they almost all adopt the same set of rules that Chinese short dramas have run through. Among them, TikTok itself is a product of ByteDance; in the earlier years, Chinese overseas short drama applications such as ReelShort of Chinese Online and DramaBox of Dianzhong Technology have successively opened up in the North American and Southeast Asian markets. What is also significant is that international platforms such as Instagram, Netflix, and Disney+ are also competing to follow suit. The rules defined by Chinese short dramas are changing from the practice of a Chinese company to a common option for global platforms.
The most action-intensive one is ByteDance’s own platform TikTok. In January this year, TechCrunch reported that TikTok launched PineDrama, an independent micro-short drama application, bringing China's successful model overseas. The application subsequently entered the top ten free lists of iPhone App Stores in the United States, Brazil, and Thailand; the in-app special area "Minis" that will be launched at the end of 2025 will start testing vertical screen micro-short drama information flow in March this year. On the content side, it collaborated with Emmy Award-nominated American actor and producer Issa Rae to launch its first mini-series "Screen Time", which was viewed 75 million times in the first week and has been viewed nearly 580 million times in total.
The US media The Wrap reported screenshots of the mini-series "Screen Time" that went viral
This momentum reached its climax at the Cannes Television Festival in October: TikTok cooperated with Made By Us Studios, a production company of creator management company Made By All, to launch vertical screen micro-shorts, and also cooperated with Fox's streaming media platform Tubi to develop 10 original vertical-screen series, and joined hands with the Sundance Film Festival to launch a micro-short drama writing project open to creators around the world. wrote that TikTok is pushing creators to get into Hollywood’s production decisions earlier — “getting them involved when studios decide which stories to develop.”
International platforms with non-Chinese backgrounds are also following suit. According to Bloomberg, Instagram launched two video functions, "Features" and "Series" in October, of which "Series" is specially designed for mini-short plays; Netflix launched the vertical screen information flow "Clips" in May; Disney+ began testing vertical screen information flow in March this year; Amazon Cloud Service launched a tool to convert horizontal content to vertical screen.
Efficiency and AI: an innovation in “production methods” that is difficult to replicate
If in the past two years, Chinese short dramas relied on translated content to go overseas, then in the past year, what supports their global expansion has been a complete set of industrialized production methods.
On the production side, Chinese short dramas have compressed the production cycle of film and television production to the extreme. According to an industry report by China Daily in May this year, Douyin Group has invested more than 1.5 billion yuan to support the creation of live-action micro-short dramas this year. More than 1,100 micro-short dramas have been played more than 100 million times. The average daily viewing time of users has increased nearly four times in a year, and the themes have expanded from 44 to 65. The South China Morning Post analyzed this "gamification content" model in its report on COL Group: vertical screen 9:16 frame, 30-70 episodes, 1-3 minutes per episode, free value-added fees, and data-driven theme testing, allowing Chinese short drama companies to quickly produce hits with extremely low trial and error costs.
The comprehensive intervention of artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed efficiency to a new level. According to CNN, more than 128,000 micro-short dramas were launched in China in the first quarter of 2026, about 95% of which were generated by AI. "South China Morning Post" recorded that the all-AI version of "Journey to the West" was on Hunan Satellite TV's prime time - 30 episodes, each episode is about 40 minutes. It only took three months from project establishment to broadcast, driving the market value of Mango Super Media to increase by more than 13 billion yuan; according to data from the China Network Audiovisual Association, in the first half of 2026, there were 367,000 short dramas online in China, more than 74% of which were generated by AI. A report from the National Development Research Institute of Peking University shows that AI video generation directly creates employment for about 690,000 people.
Screenshot of South China Morning Post report
On the technical basis, China’s video AI leadership has reached consensus. The Financial Times analyzed that companies such as ByteDance have established an advantage over the United States in the field of video generation; according to the South China Morning Post, DataEye predicts that China's AI short drama market will reach 40 billion yuan this year. As the production of short plays on platforms such as Hongguo Short Plays strides overseas, this set of technical capabilities is also being exported overseas.
Short plays bring Chinese culture to more people
The reason why short plays overseas is regarded as a cultural phenomenon rather than a purely commercial phenomenon is that it brings Chinese culture into the daily lives of more people in the most lightweight way.
In Taiwan, China, this craze is particularly significant. At the end of October this year, the Hongguo short drama topped the free download lists of Apple and Android app stores in Taiwan, China, triggering widespread discussion on the island. The AI short drama "Green Plums on the Edge of the Inkstone", which tells the story of Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of a Nephew Memorial" and the Anshi Rebellion, is widely loved. In the comment area of the Taipei National Palace Museum's video introducing this cultural relic, many Taiwanese netizens left messages saying, "I came here after watching "Green Plums on the Edge of the Inkstone""; the short drama "Armed into the Song Dynasty" and the AI short drama "Snow Mountain Rescue Fox" based on the story of the famous Song Dynasty general Di Qing have successively hit the island's community. Wang Shangzhi, a senior media person on the island, wrote in a column that the cultural penetration of people of the same language and species is unstoppable.
Screenshot of the comment area of the Taipei National Palace Museum's official YouTube account explaining the "Manuscript of Nephew Memorial" video
Intangible cultural heritage themes are also becoming a new starting point for short drama culture to go overseas. "Looking into the Year of Brocade", jointly produced by China Central Radio and Television Station and Hongguo Short Drama, uses the national intangible cultural heritage Song brocade weaving skills as a carrier, and weaves more than 20 processes of Song brocade from picking and twisting silk to warping, sizing and weaving into the plot. It topped the hot list of short dramas as soon as it went online. In Canada, the promotion of Chinese-language media has made this short play showing the intangible cultural heritage of Song Dynasty very popular - Chinese intangible cultural heritage is entering the daily lives of overseas audiences through short plays.
In Chinese-speaking markets such as Singapore and Malaysia, short plays also evoke common cultural memories. According to data from Appfigures, the Hongguo short drama has topped the free entertainment list in Singapore’s App Store; local media have noticed that watching dramas is becoming a new way of intergenerational communication for Chinese families in Southeast Asia, with elders and younger generations having common topics because of the same drama. Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" also observed that outside the Chinese-speaking circle in Indonesia, there are also non-Chinese-speaking audiences who watch more than 50 Chinese micro-short dramas a year with English subtitles. Some local fans became interested in the Tang Dynasty because of watching the dramas. "The Chinese costumes in the dramas are very beautiful."
The short play proves that Chinese culture is reaching the hearts of the world in a "contemporary, daily, and participatory" form. It doesn't talk about big principles, but weaves common values such as loyalty, family affection, struggle, and reunion into stories that people are willing to follow every day. This is the underlying logic of cultural resonance: when audiences with different languages and cultural backgrounds stop their fingers for the same Chinese story, mutual learning among civilizations changes from an abstract concept to a daily occurrence on mobile phone screens.
Looking back on this year, Chinese short dramas have completed a triple leap: from exporting content overseas to exporting models, and then exporting production methods overseas; from the Chinese cultural circle to the global diversified market; from a simple commercial phenomenon to a cultural phenomenon. The short play uses the most contemporary technology and the lightest form to bring traditional culture into the lives of young people. At the same time, it is a new image of China's cultural consumption - short dramas have changed the way global users consume plot content, and also changed the way the world views Chinese content.
The road continues to stretch. Chinese short dramas provide a replicable and sustainable content production solution: telling stories that belong to China and the world in the shortest time, the fastest production, and the most common emotions. In the parallel process of globalization and localization, Chinese short dramas are contributing their own answers to the global content industry - and turning "Chinese stories, shared by the world" from a vision into a fact that happens every day.
