Experts say the Chinese regime’s censorship is killing the popular genre with a market of $5 billion.
The Chinese regime has introduced licensing requirements for the broadcast of micro dramas, further tightening control over the popular online short format videos.
All Chinese micro drama makers are required to obtain a “Network Drama Distribution License” or complete an online registration procedure before their short videos can be broadcast online, according to an official notice issued by the Chinese regime’s National Radio and Television Administration.
If there are any violations, content makers will face interrogation by the authorities, suspension of broadcasting, and other punishment, the notice read.
“Online audiovisual platforms must not go online to disseminate micro-short dramas that do not have a permit or filing number, nor must they attract or push traffic to them,” the notice stated.
In recent years, micro dramas have become increasingly popular in China. These dramas usually consist of multiple episodes that are one to three minutes long, with frequent plot changes and are framed vertically for easy viewing on mobile phones. Millions of viewers watch short dramas on their mobile phones daily and are willing to pay to watch more.
It’s estimated that the Chinese micro drama market is valued at $5 billion a year and growing. It’s also becoming a main competitor to the Chinese film industry, over which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains control over all its content.
The Chinese regime has long indicated its intent to tighten control over the popular and easy-to-make micro dramas. In June 2024, it implemented the “review before broadcasting” policy for the short format videos.
According to the latest notice, authorities are implementing a “tiered review” system with three categories based on content and a micro drama’s production budget—over 1 million yuan ($137,200), 300,000 yuan ($41,200) to 1 million yuan, and below 300,000 yuan ($41,200).
The content of the short videos are subject to intense scrutiny. According to the notice, micro dramas that are to be recommended and broadcast in the first slot of a platform’s homepage must be reviewed by the NRTA. In particular, micro dramas on major themes or special themes, such as “politics, military, diplomacy, national security, and united front,” must be reviewed according to the relevant review system.
“The CCP’s authoritarian regime is controlling everything,” Li Yuanhua, an Australia-based China historian, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 6.
“Nowadays, almost everyone has one or more mobile phones. Everyone is watching content on their phones every day. The micro dramas are widespread and reach their target audience very easily,” he said.
Li said that on one hand, the new regulations are carrying out the CCP’s agenda of monitoring the people’s thoughts.
“On the other hand, the CCP is controlling the micro dramas for its financial benefits, as it has rapidly grown into such a huge market of $5 billion with huge profit—almost the same size as China’s film industry,” he said.
“These two reasons have led to the CCP’s recent increased control over the micro dramas.”
Wu Zuolai, a U.S.-based China scholar who used to be an official in charge of culture in China, said that a large number of people in China are unemployed and have no job opportunities, so “they are participating in the micro drama production and selling products in them.”
“I estimate that there are tens of millions of Chinese people making micro dramas,” Wu told The Epoch Times, “some of them make a living from it. Now, the CCP’s control measures are taking their livelihood away.”
Wu added that the CCP’s content review process is mostly concerned with maintaining control over political narratives.
“[The CCP] mainly controls anti-communist information and things that reveal the truth about society,” Wu said, adding that when such content is uploaded to the internet, “it immediately forms a chain explosion effect.”
“Where a violent attack has occurred, where people are killing CCP officials, where people are rebelling; the CCP is targeting content that affects the stability of its rule.”
Observers believe the CCP’s tightened control is killing the emerging genre and Chinese people’s creativity.
Once the CCP interferes with the micro dramas’ content production and distribution in order to control people’s thoughts, “it greatly limits the subject matter,” Li said.
“The CCP wants to use micro dramas to introduce and instill the so-called main theme of the CCP, which makes it lose its original vitality. People are not willing to invest, and the audience will not spend money to watch these CCP’s ‘mainstream’ things. Then, the micro drama genre will likely die,” he said.
Lai Rongwei, CEO of the pro-democracy nonprofit Taiwan Inspirational Association, shares a similar view.
“The CCP excessively interferes with the market and operates it completely according to the main theme they set. Of course this will harm art and creation, and the country will lose its ability to innovate,” he told the Chinese language Epoch Times on Feb. 6.
Luo Ya and Reuters contributed to this report.