Huajin Securities: Innovative domestic long drama content supply and diversified development of the short drama market

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Huajin Securities released a research report saying that in the third quarter of 2025, the domestic long drama market showed the characteristics of “remarkable impact, frequent high-quality content, increased platform dominance, and diversified business models.” Despite a slight decline in the total domestic drama market, the quality of the content of works improved. In terms of short dramas, according to data from Ai Media Consulting, China's short drama market will reach 67.79 billion yuan in 2025, an increase of 34.40% over the previous year. China's online short drama market is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan in 2030. In the past, a single theme in the cool drama category dominated the market. With the development of the industry and the improvement of user aesthetics, various innovative themes emerged, and brand IP customization became mainstream.

The main views of Huajin Securities are as follows:

Incident: Recently, US streaming giant Netflix announced that it has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's film and television studios, as well as its HBOMax and HBO streaming services. The equity value of the deal was $72 billion, and the corporate value was approximately $82.7 billion.

Long-drama content evolved to high quality, and streaming media became the new engine of the global TV economy

Dramatic series focus on character formation, emotional narratives, and social issues through TV or online works presented continuously in multiple episodes with a script as the core. According to HTFMarketInsights, the global drama series market may reach 108 billion US dollars in 2025, the compound annual growth rate from 2025 to 2033 is 5.4%, and the market size will reach 165 billion in 2033.

Increased demand for high-quality scripted content on streaming platforms is driving the production of long-form dramas, and viewers' preferences for “play-style viewing” and complex story structures support the development of longer-length drama formats. According to Ampert Analytics, subscription streaming platforms will soon become the largest contributor to the global TV economy. By 2029, the global streaming media market is expected to generate 190 billion US dollars in annual revenue through 2 billion paid subscribers, and the continued growth of streaming media will also drive the development of future long dramas.

The total domestic long drama market declined slightly in 25Q3, and the quality of the content of works improved

In the third quarter of 2025, the domestic long drama market showed the characteristics of “significant head effects, frequent high-quality content, increased platform dominance, and diversified business models”. According to Yunhe data, the full-length movies of 2025Q3's “Living Everything”, “Morning Snow Record”, and “In the Name of the Law” have been effectively broadcast over 1 billion. In 2025Q3, the top 20 long-form dramas were effectively broadcast by 14.5 billion, a decrease of 10% over the previous year. A total of 13 series between 10 million and 20 million were effectively broadcast for 30 days, an increase of 7 over the previous year. The number of solo broadcasts of new domestic dramas accounted for 79%, an increase of 6 percentage points over the previous year; the exclusive distribution strategy for Youku and Mango TV deepened, and the proportion of solo broadcasts increased by 2-3 percent over the same period last year.

In terms of broadcast operation, nearly 80% of new dramas were open to non-VIP users, and the share of copies increased by 30%. In terms of content types, in terms of the distribution of new domestic dramas, costume dramas still have a traffic advantage, accounting for 29% of the effective broadcasts of full-length movies with elements of love; at the same time, costume dramas covering fantasy, suspense, and fairy tale elements all account for more than 10% of the effective broadcasts. In the future, the TV drama industry will continue to explore new genres and themes to meet the audience's quest for freshness and innovation.

The size of the online short drama market continues to rise, and the industry breaks through its original limitations

According to data from Ai Media Consulting, China's short drama market will reach 67.79 billion yuan in 2025, an increase of 34.40% over the previous year. China's online short drama market is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan in 2030. In the past, a single theme in the cool drama category dominated the market. With the development of the industry and the improvement of user aesthetics, various innovative themes emerged, and brand IP customization became mainstream. According to the “2025 Short Drama Industry Ecological Insight Report”, leading online writing platforms such as Tomato Novel, Seven Cats, Migu, and Reading Articles all open their own IP libraries. Taking Tomato Novels as an example, the total number of IP adaptations in the first 10 months of 2025 surged 17 times compared to the full year of 2023, broadening the boundaries of mini skit adaptation. From January to August 2025, a total of 233 brand collaboration mini-dramas were launched on the short video platform. 87 new brands entered the market for the first time, and the brand re-investment rate exceeded 60%, a significant increase over the previous year.

Investment advice

Improving the content quality of long dramas and ecological IP development will continue to increase the value of the industry, and the large-scale monetization capabilities of short dramas in vertical segmentation and brand customization scenarios may continue to increase. Recommended attention: Mango Supermedia (300413.SZ), Huanrui Century (000892.SZ), Huace Film and Television (300133.SZ), Beijing Culture (000802.SZ), Damai Entertainment (01060), etc.

Risk Alerts

Content performance falls short of expectations, industry competition uncertainty, related policy uncertainty, etc.