China’s booming short-drama industry is rapidly embracing AI-generated content, transforming production workflows and disrupting employment across the sector. According to industry reports, AI-generated short dramas have gained rapid audience acceptance, reducing demand for human actors and traditional production crews. The shift is affecting an industry that supports more than 2 million jobs.
The transition has been swift. Popular short-drama actors who only months ago earned daily rates ranging from RMB 5,000 (US$740) to more than RMB 20,000 (US$2,955) reportedly now struggle to find work even at RMB 1,200 (US$177) per day. Industry data show that AI-generated productions accounted for 38 percent of the top 100 AI short dramas in January 2026, up from about 7 percent a year earlier, with total views reaching 2.55 billion.
The industry’s transformation accelerated after ByteDance introduced its Seedance 2.0 AI video-generation model in March 2026. AI tools are increasingly replacing actors while reducing demand for directors, screenwriters, lighting crews, camera operators, set designers, and other production staff. Production teams that previously required 40 to 50 people can now reportedly complete projects with as few as four or five people, while production cycles have been shortened from roughly three weeks to one week.
The rapid adoption of AI marks a dramatic reversal for an industry that only a year earlier had been widely promoted by local governments as a driver of employment, entrepreneurship, and tourism. Local authorities invested heavily in dedicated filming facilities and incentive programs as the sector expanded. According to a Peking University report, the short-drama industry supported approximately 2.03 million jobs, including about 690,000 new positions created in 2025 alone.
Source: BBC, June 23, 2026
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/articles/cvgdqjvzv9go/simp