China leads AI volume with 470 daily short dramas released

The shift from experimental AI to high-volume commercial production signals a total restructuring of the content supply chain. Streaming platforms in high-growth markets like India and China are demonstrating that AI can manage end-to-end workflows including scriptwriting, animation, and editing to meet massive demand for short-form content. This logic of hyper-production lowers entry barriers but forces a competitive pivot toward quantity and algorithmic optimization. For the global ecosystem, this creates a new 'fast-fashion' equivalent for video, where the ability to generate and iterate content in near real-time becomes a core competitive advantage. Watch for the successful export of these AI-native titles into Western markets via localized apps like ReelShort and DramaWave.

The industrialization of AI video is moving rapidly beyond short-form content into long-form blockbusters and specialized filmmaking toolkits. Per Yicai (April 2026), executives at Tencent Video and iQIYI expect the first AI-generated blockbuster feature drama to debut in the second half of 2026. Tencent Video Chairman Sun Zhonghuai noted that AI is fundamental to a 'rewritten' industry where teams as small as 20 people can now handle production tasks that previously required hundreds. To support this transition, iQIYI launched its Nadou Pro filmmaking suite in April 2026, which covers scriptwriting, storyboarding, and rendering. The company projects that AI will generate the majority of its content over the next five years, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by Indiatimes.

In India, the Reliance-Disney venture JioStar is aggressively hiring engineers to build a localized AI production pipeline. This expansion follows the October 2025 launch of 'Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh' on JioHotstar. While the series achieved high viewership, it also faced significant online backlash regarding the quality and cultural sensitivity of 'AI slop' in mythological storytelling, per C21Media (October 2025). Despite this, the economic incentives remain high. Per MIT Technology Review (May 2026), AI has compressed production cycles from four months to less than one, while slashing series costs from $200,000 to as low as $7,000. This has enabled Chinese companies like Kunlun Tech to scale their libraries to over 1,000 AI-generated titles. The global micro-drama market, increasingly fueled by these AI efficiencies, is projected by Omdia to reach $14 billion by the end of 2026, with the U.S. market alone expected to generate $1.5 billion this year.