From 'digital pickles' to an entertainment giant

As one of the easiest forms of entertainment to consume on a smartphone, micro-short dramas — vertically shot, packed with cliffhangers and delivered at a breakneck pace — have evolved into a cultural and economic phenomenon in China.

Four months after the National Radio and Television Administration, the sector's top regulator, announced that the industry's market size had surpassed 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) — almost double its 2024 figure — the State Council Information Office organized a group interview that, for the first time, invited a micro-short drama director to share key rules for producing hits.

Latest figures from the administration also showed that a total of 33,000 such dramas were streamed online last year, an increase of around 50 percent year-on-year and reaching nearly 700 million viewers. In addition, more than 800 Chinese micro-short drama applications have been available in overseas markets, generating a total revenue of $3.24 billion in 2025 and $1 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to the administration's development research center.

For an industry once dismissed as inferior — largely because most of its tales relied on exaggerated and melodramatic plots — the SCIO's event has been interpreted by some insiders as a positive signal encouraging the creation of higher-quality content. The mainstream genres of the past, for instance, often revolved around a protagonist waking up to find herself resurrected and time-raveling to a different era, or an ordinary woman discovering that her loyal lover is a secret billionaire.

Formula behind a hit

"It was around 2020 that the short-video industry started to boom," Yang Kenan, a 35-year-old director from the influential micro-drama production company Shanghai Tinghuadao Cultural Media, told China Daily after attending a State Council Information Office event on June 5.

Having started working in the entertainment industry over a decade ago, Yang — previously a scriptwriter and advertisement producer — has witnessed the unprecedented expansion of micro-short dramas.

Recalling that he was one of the earliest figures to have been part of this landmark shift in online content — from its early wild, rapid development to its current more regulated and quality-driven trend — Yang says the industry, despite being labeled as "fast-food culture" in the public's eyes, could also tell stories with emotional power, heartfelt warmth and positive connection.

Yang's My Sweet Home, one of the country's most popular micro-short dramas, is such an example. The first season, consisting of 79 episodes and released in March last year, is set in southern Sichuan province and quickly soared as a sleeper hit, amassing 3 billion views online.

Unlike the typical soap-opera-style narrative of micro-short dramas, My Sweet Home employs a plain, down-to-earth, neighborhood tone. It follows an ordinary couple — two divorced people — as they work to establish a new family with the children each had from their previous marriages.

The series — which unfolds from the early 1980s and is spoken in the local dialect — naturally exerts the unique sense of humor that is a trademark of Sichuan natives. The husbands, for instance, are known for being "henpecked", a teasingly regional pride referring to men's respect for and gentle treatment of their wives, as well as their family-oriented nature.

As showcased in the franchise — whose second season, containing 111 episodes, helped propel the franchise's overall views past 6 billion — the well-crafted script includes sequences like the following: the female protagonist, a single mother cold-shouldered by her elder brother's family after the divorce, receives unexpected warmth from her second husband, a technology veteran and factory executive who resists his own mother's objections and gives his salary to his wife to handle every month.

Yang, a native of Southwest China's Guizhou province, notes that his local dialect and culture share similarities with those of Sichuan province, which made it easier for him to create the work with the help of fellow creators — some of whom are also from Sichuan.

Interestingly, big data played a role in deciding what dialect the characters should speak. "We conducted a lot of research online and discovered that the Sichuan dialect is quite popular on major social platforms like Douyin, with many dialect-based jokes created in it," Yang explains, shedding light on why the team made this choice.

He adds that the dialect primarily relies on differences in tone, but as long as it is spoken slowly, people from all over the country can generally understand it. "Therefore, the barrier to comprehension is relatively low," he adds.

Currently working on the franchise's third season, Yang believes the industry's long-term success still depends on one essential factor: storytelling. "No matter how the format changes, audiences ultimately stay for stories that can move them. That is what gives micro-short dramas lasting vitality," he says.