AI short dramas: 800M users, and a shaky token-use comparison
On October 12, two Weibo trending topics — "AI short dramas are hunting middle-aged men" and "why are AI comic dramas everywhere" — followed an October 9 Xiaohongshu post by a first-year student saying her father had become addicted to AI-generated mini-dramas. The article cites Nomura data via QuestMobile showing Hongguo Short Drama at 168 million daily active users as of July 2026, up 107% year over year, with 125 minutes of average daily time per user; China's National Radio and Television Administration said 430,000 mini-dramas launched in the first eight months of 2026 — 13 times all of last year — over 90% AI-made, with more than 800 million users. The author challenges the widely shared claim that 55% of Chinese token use goes to AI short dramas and video generation versus 58% in the US going to coding and enterprise automation, noting that shares are meaningless without totals, the two figures use mismatched definitions, the 55% comes from Chinese Online — a company heavily invested in AI dramas that terminated its Hong Kong IPO on October 8 — and no reliable source was found for the US 58%.
It is a reminder that viral China-vs-US AI compute comparisons often lack totals, comparable definitions and neutral sourcing.