Lavender Au at The Dial:
I was watching the first few episodes of the short drama “Don’t Mess with a Chubby Empress,” which aired on June 23 last year. It racked up over 30 million views the day it was released and topped lists of the most popular short dramas. Each episode was around two minutes.
On any given day in China, roughly 215 million people spend over an hour watching short dramas. These dramas have multiplied on China’s internet, with 33,000 released in 2025. It’s a more than 100-billion-yuan ($13.8 billion) market domestically, double what it was in 2024.
Almost everyone I know has watched at least one. Most people will find snippets on social media platforms like Douyin and RedNote, and become engrossed, then download dedicated app like ByteDance-owned Hongguo and Fanqie Short Dramas which offer a free-to-watch with ads model. For other apps like Maimeng, they buy a membership to unlock episodes.
More here.
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