SDIC Securities: AI Reshapes Content Production to Globalization and Quality

The Zhitong Finance App learned that SDIC Securities released a research report saying that the short drama and comic industry is moving from scale expansion to a new stage where content quality and commercialization efficiency are equal. The trend of refinement in the domestic market is deepening, and AI technology is driving IP adaptation and content production efficiency; overseas markets still have a lot of room for expansion, and the supply of localized content and platform operation capabilities have become the key to growth. It is recommended to focus on: 1) IP side; 2) platform side; 3) leading company with both production and overseas platform layout.

SDIC Securities's main views are as follows:

The skit started as a short story video, and has now entered the stage of boutique and global competition

Since 2019, the industry has evolved along the path of “platform aggregation - IP adaptation, specialization - small program IAP expansion - free independent app”, and the user size, viewing time, and content supply have rapidly expanded. As industry supply increases and the domestic competition pattern gradually stabilizes, the platform strengthens audit, governance and classification support, and the industry shifts from scale expansion to quality competition; at the same time, overseas travel and AI content continue to open up incremental space.

Platforms and IP parties control bargaining power, increasing producer concentration

The platform relies on traffic entry, rule-making, and commercialization capabilities to dominate resource allocation. The IP side grasps the source of content and extends it to production, platform operation, and overseas distribution; production side resources are concentrated on leading players with collaborative production capabilities and production capabilities. As AI tools move from single-point efficiency improvement to full-process collaboration, the advantage of simple production capacity gradually weakens, and industry competition further shifts to IP reserves, aesthetic judgment, workflow management, and distribution and operation.

Domestic red fruit short drama platforms are leading in the fault line, and the industrial pattern is stabilizing

The domestic market experienced rapid expansion of content supply from 2023-2025. Currently, the industrial chain has matured. As of May 2026, the Hongguo skit platform's MAU has exceeded 350 million, leading the disruptive layer on the platform side, and the industrial competition pattern is beginning to be determined. In a pattern dominated by red fruits, the revenue of the industrial chain mainly comes from users paying to unlock series, membership revenue, and advertising revenue. The driving effect of the platform's revenue is shared according to upstream content, so the platform can effectively control the quantity and quality of content supply by adjusting the sharing coefficient. Currently, AI series account for more than half of the upstream content supply, live-action dramas are picking up, and the overall trend is towards boutique production.

Overseas markets are expanding at an accelerated pace, and regional stratification and full-link operation determine the value of going overseas

In 2025, the number of overseas short drama app downloads and internal purchase revenue will continue to grow rapidly, and the market size is expected to exceed 6 billion US dollars in 2026. On the demand side, Asia and Latin America contributed to user growth, and North America led revenue monetization; on the supply side, the share of local dramas with high commercialization efficiency gradually increased. In the future, platform competition will further shift to full-link capabilities of “localized content - low cost supply - accurate distribution - user monetization”.

Risk warning: risk of content regulation and review policies, risk of diverting users of emerging forms of entertainment, risk of AI technology application falling short of expectations and copyright compliance risks, risk of insufficient localization and adaptation to overseas markets