ByteDance and KUAISHOU-W boost the rapid growth of comic dramas this year, leading AI monetization

A new content form driven by AI technology—"Manju"—is rapidly emerging as a track in this year's content market. With the support of tech giants like ByteDance and KUAISHOU, this content, which combines anime forms with short drama rhythms, is quickly attracting capital and creators due to its low-cost and high-efficiency production advantages, and has found a clear and scalable commercial monetization path for multimodal AI models.

According to news from the Chasing Wind Trading Desk, Guangfa Securities released a report on November 25, stating that since the beginning of this year, especially in the summer, the Manju market has experienced explosive growth. The paid traffic flow model for live-action short dramas has peaked, prompting many producers and traffic flow parties to shift to the lower-cost Manju track. In response, platforms under ByteDance have rapidly laid out their strategies, not only establishing an independent Manju channel within the Hongguo short drama APP but also launching a standalone application called "Hongguo Free Manju" in November.

The core driving force behind this transformation is the disruptive improvement in production efficiency brought by AI technology. With AI empowerment, the production cycle of Manju has been shortened from the traditional one to two months to within a month, significantly reducing costs. For companies like ByteDance and KUAISHOU, which possess both large model technology and content distribution platforms, this forms a commercial closed loop from AI technology services to content consumption monetization, marking a shift of AI from an "interest" tool to a rigid productivity tool.

This round of content iteration has also attracted the entry of copyright holders and more professional institutions. IP holders like Yuewen and Tomato Novel are opening up a large number of online literature copyrights for Manju adaptations, while platform parties are incentivizing creation through various means such as traffic support, revenue subsidies, and investments, indicating that the Manju market is moving towards a more industrialized and refined competitive stage after experiencing initial "barbaric growth." Guangfa Securities has upgraded the industry rating to "Buy," stating that AI Manju has shifted from an "interest-level" tool to a "rigid production and monetization tool."

Traffic Redistribution, Manju Rises

The rise of Manju primarily stems from structural changes within the short drama market and the redistribution of traffic value. Guangfa Securities' report shows that although the micro-short drama market is expected to reach 63.43 billion yuan by 2025, continuing to grow, the market landscape has differentiated. The free short drama track, dominated by advertising monetization (IAA), is performing the best, with the Hongguo short drama APP reaching 245 million monthly active users (MAU) in October 2025, becoming a leader in the industry.

At the same time, the growth of the live-action short drama traffic flow model, primarily based on user payment (IAP), is slowing down, with costs continuously rising. The production cost of a live-action short drama has increased from the early two to three hundred thousand yuan to seven to eight hundred thousand yuan. The high costs and increasingly fierce competition are forcing a large number of producers and traffic flow parties to seek new high-return niches Comic dramas, with their extremely low production thresholds and cost advantages, have become the best choice for accommodating this overflow of capacity and capital.

The report data indicates that this transformation path is similar to the early transition of online literature platforms to short dramas. Starting from mid-2024, the number of players in the comic drama field has rapidly increased, reaching a peak in investment flow during this summer. According to data from Douyin, commercial investment flow reached 4 million per day in August, with revenue scale increasing 12 times, and top works accumulating nearly 8 million yuan in earnings, successfully validating the business model.

AI Empowerment Core: Reshaping Costs and Production Efficiency

The core competitiveness of comic dramas lies in reducing costs and increasing efficiency in production, and AI is the key to achieving this goal. Currently, mainstream forms of comic dramas include meme animations, dynamic comics, and AI comic dramas, all of which have costs far lower than live-action short dramas. The report states that the cost of a meme animation is only about 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, and the involvement of AI is further promoting the industrialization of production.

Unlike the early application of AI technology in special effects production for live-action short dramas, AI technology in the comic drama field can empower the entire process from script adaptation, storyboard design, image generation, dynamic production to voice acting. According to an analysis by Guangfa Securities, the characteristics of anime themes, which have simple lines and lower precision requirements for dynamic expressions, make them the most suitable application scenario for current AI-generated content.

By using AI tools, creators can compress the production cycle that originally required 50 to 60 days to within a month, achieving an efficiency increase of over 100%. For example, the Chinese online platform produced "The Return of the Immortal: One Hand Stabilizes the World" using its self-developed AI comic drama platform, which quickly topped the Douyin dynamic comic hot list after its launch. This industrialized production method has greatly lowered the entry barrier, allowing individuals or small teams to initiate projects, thus triggering an explosion in supply.

Platform Ecosystem Closed Loop: From Technical Tools to Monetization Channels

Platforms like ByteDance and KUAISHOU are actively laying out in the comic drama track, driven by the commercial logic of creating a "AI technology + content ecosystem" closed loop. These companies not only possess leading multimodal AI models such as Byte's Seed series and KUAISHOU's "Keling," but also control strong content distribution channels like Douyin, KUAISHOU, and Hongguo short dramas.

The report points out that platforms greatly incentivize the production of AI comic dramas by providing creators with AI production tools, opening IP copyright libraries (such as Tomato Novels), and offering traffic and cash subsidies. For example, Douyin adjusted its revenue-sharing coefficients, providing incentives for categories with high AI participation, such as lifelike comic dramas and 2D/3D comic dramas, which are far higher than those for meme animations. This combination not only quickly enriches the platform's content library and attracts more traffic but also drives the invocation and iteration of its AI models, transforming AI technology from an "interest tool" aimed at C-end users into a "production tool" for B-end creators that can directly generate commercial returns

This model provides a clear template for the commercialization of generative AI: leveraging a strong content ecosystem as a downstream outlet, using commercial revenue to support upstream technology research and development, forming a positive cycle.

Market Outlook: IP Opening and Category Expansion

Looking ahead, the comic drama market is expected to undergo further quality improvement and expansion based on a significant increase in scale. The report analyzes that current comic drama themes are mostly concentrated in male-oriented content, with users primarily being male. However, in the overall short drama market, the gender user ratio is basically balanced, which means that female-oriented content will be a key focus for expanding the user base in the next stage of comic dramas.

To support content supply, major online literature platforms such as Yuewen Group, Zhihu, and Qimao have recently opened up tens of thousands of IP copyrights and established special funds to support comic drama adaptations, providing a rich "script library" for the market.

At the same time, regulatory policies are gradually following up, requiring comic dramas to establish a filing and review mechanism similar to that of live-action short dramas, which increases compliance costs while regulating the market. However, overall, with the multiple support of IP resources, AI technology, and platform strategies, comic dramas, as a frontier for the commercialization of AI technology applications, may have a market ceiling that is more optimistic than currently expected. Investors can pay attention to companies with deep layouts in AI comic drama production, IP copyrights, and platform channels