China's $7B AI microdrama boom overtakes box office: how the addiction machine works
adariostrange · x · 2026-10-13
Johnny Chan, senior lecturer at University of Auckland, breaks down China's AI microdrama (duanju) boom in MARS Magazine: the format generated $7 billion in 2024, surpassing China's domestic box office for the first time, with hundreds of millions of viewers and rapid growth in the US.
- 1-minute vertical episodes, dozens per season, compressing soap-opera plots (romance, betrayal, revenge, sudden wealth)
- Early episodes free, cliffhangers used to convert viewers to paying
- Chinese platforms reportedly release hundreds of AI-generated microdramas daily
- Chan models how viewers, algorithms, creators and platforms interact to make the format hard to disengage from, asking whether it previews Hollywood's future
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