Education companies are collectively launching AI short drama/manhua drama training programs

In the field of AI short drama/comic drama training, there are already brands with monthly revenues in the tens of millions.

Duozhi has observed that many education technology companies are deploying AI short drama/AI comic drama training businesses (different from live-action short dramas), including Fenbi, Zhihu, Shifang Ronghai, Gaodun, Chuanzhi Education, Kaikai Huacai, Hongsong, Himalaya ecosystem companies, Chenglala, iFlytek, etc.

Divided by the degree of deployment, the above companies can be roughly divided into two categories. One category consists of companies like Zhihu, Shifang Ronghai, and Gaodun that have been testing the waters and deploying for some time. The other category includes companies that have just started deploying, such as Fenbi, Chuanzhi Education, Kaikai Huacai, Hongsong, Himalaya ecosystem companies, etc.

I. Fenbi

In addition to fully embracing AI in its core civil service exam business, Fenbi is extending its AI capabilities to the layout of innovative businesses.

Currently, Fenbi's AI innovative businesses can be divided into two main lines:

The first is AI skills training courses.

This series of courses is designed for college students and professionals, focusing on the practical applications of AI in scenarios such as office efficiency improvement, side business entrepreneurship, and job hunting. Currently, Fenbi's official website has displayed some AI programming courses (for non-technical background students), AIGC video practical training camps, etc.

(The picture is from Fenbi's official website)

The second is the AI short drama direction.

One direction is that Fenbi's short drama project may cooperate with its employment business segment. That is, it will cooperate with universities/enterprises to provide training and employment opportunities in the field of AI short dramas for college students and even professionals.

Of course, Fenbi's layout of AI short dramas is not limited to teaching people how to make short dramas. It also considers getting involved in the production itself.

Duozhi has learned that Fenbi has launched the team building for its AI short drama project, and some personnel have already taken their positions. In addition, it is also recruiting positions such as AI production directors, AI short drama directors, short drama directors, high-quality short drama screenwriters, AI short drama distributors and platform business specialists, AI short drama post-production editors, AI production supervisors, and AI comic drama original painters. Even, Fenbi is also considering the possibility of exporting AI short dramas overseas.

In the past few years, in order to expand diversified businesses, Fenbi has explored five or six internal businesses, such as bakeries, storage courses, tea shops, and big health, but they didn't make much of a splash.

In addition to the above two main innovative direction layouts, some vertical education directions have also come into Fenbi's view. For example, Fenbi is currently also deploying in the field of international Chinese education, recruiting international Chinese teaching and research staff, Vietnamese short video on-camera content operation interns (to complete video content on relevant topics such as HSK learning, etc.).

II. Chuanzhi Education

Chuanzhi Education started with IT vocational education. In the wave of AI, Chuanzhi Education is also riding the tide of the new era. Not long ago, Chuanzhi Education launched a complete set of AI course systems in the two fields of AIGC application and AI development to suit different groups of people, such as those who want to change careers with zero foundation, increase side income, or deepen their technical skills.

Among them, the AI application courses are for people with zero foundation and are divided into two teaching modes: offline employment classes and online training camps. The offline employment classes offer two core courses: AI video and short drama creation, and AI visual design, with a learning period of 76 days.

Among them, AI video and short drama creation are closely related to the directions of short videos and micro-short dramas, enabling students to master the entire process from script planning, content production, post-production editing to all-media operation.

(Chuanzhi AI Nebula is a vertical AI platform launched by Chuanzhi AI, focusing on implementation and side income increase)

III. Shifang Ronghai

Biantao Technology under Shifang Ronghai focuses on the AIGC track. In the field of talent cultivation, Biantao Technology adopts an "online + offline" training system. It jointly launched an offline training class for AI comic dramas with Huake Future (since the beginning of this year, six training classes have been launched). After students complete the online basic courses and pass the assessment, they enter a seven-day offline training.

It is reported that this training system features "project-based teaching", allowing students to master the entire process skills such as script creation, storyboard drawing, AI generation, and post-production editing in real projects. At the end of the training, a works roadshow session is set up, inviting industry experts for evaluation, and at the same time opening a talent absorption channel.

Another industry insider told Duozhi that Biantao Technology has achieved monthly revenues of tens of millions of yuan in the field of AI short dramas/comic dramas.

IV. Zhihu

AI short dramas/comic dramas are also the current focus of Zhihu. Relying on the paid reading and Yanyan Story content ecosystem, Zhihu's layout starts from IP development.

At the Q1 2026 earnings conference call, Zhou Yuan mentioned that the synergy between Zhihu's AI short dramas/comic dramas and its paid membership business is gradually emerging. "Thanks to the rich IP library, the production capacity and content quality of our short drama and comic drama adaptations remained stable in the first quarter. The playback volume of many short drama and comic drama works exceeded one billion."

Zhihu's CFO Wang Han said that AI short dramas/comic dramas and AI data are the two major investment directions of Zhihu in the field of AI. Among them, the former is the AI-generated content that users are most willing to pay for, and the latter provides water and shovels for the development of the AI industry. "Therefore, in terms of balancing new business investment and profitability, the cash flow situation in these two fields leads among all AI vertical fields. Zhihu has obvious competitive advantages in this regard."

In Q1 2026, Zhihu's revenue was 651.6 million yuan. Among them, the revenue from paid content and IP operation was 402.3 million yuan, accounting for 61.7% of the total revenue, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of 15.8%. In the same period of 2025, it was 420.9 million yuan.

It is worth noting that since the first quarter, the paid content and IP operation business has been merged from the paid reading revenue and the copyright-related revenue originally included in other revenues. This reflects Zhihu's new strategic positioning for paid content and IP operation.

At the conference call, Zhihu's COO Zhang Rongle said: "The commercial value of a high-quality story is not only reflected in the front-end membership subscriptions. It can also be further extended to more content forms such as short dramas, comic dramas, movies, TV series, and game adaptations... This revenue merger means that this business has been upgraded from single 'subscription monetization' to 'full-link IP operation and development'. We also hope to form a multi-form commercial closed-loop covering content creation, membership consumption, IP screening, and copyright development."

On May 12, Yanyan Story disclosed that it has reached in-depth copyright cooperation with more than 50 short drama production companies.

Currently, Zhihu is also deploying AI short drama and comic drama training.

(The picture is from Zhihu's official website)

V. Hongsong

Hongsong is currently preparing to deploy a short drama channel. Not long ago, it was recruiting a short drama channel operation manager, an AI video post-production compositor (short drama direction), an AI course operator (AI short drama direction), an AI short drama video producer, etc. The above job responsibilities mainly involve the teaching and production of AI short dramas.

In addition to the above companies, companies such as Chenglala, Kaikai Huacai, Himalaya ecosystem companies, and iFlytek are all recruiting lecturers, anchors, and copy editors in the field of AI short dramas/comic dramas.

It is worth noting that beyond the trend of education companies focusing on AI short dramas/comic dramas, short drama companies are also gradually getting involved in talent training.

Taking Jiuzhou Culture as an example, it has launched an AI short drama/comic drama training business and is currently recruiting AIGC course designers (AI comic drama direction), class teachers (AI short drama field), AI short drama production lecturers, etc.

Currently, Jiuzhou Culture is also cooperating with universities to explore practical teaching around AI content creation through project practice, skill training, and the construction of internship bases.

A set of data can confirm the current popularity of the AI short drama/comic drama market from the side:

According to data from the China Netcasting Services Association, in Q1 2026, about 128,000 micro-short dramas were launched in the entire industry, of which AI-generated content accounted for more than 95%.

In December 2025, the average daily usage time of online audio-visual users reached 201 minutes, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. Among them, the average daily usage time of micro-short drama applications reached 129 minutes, a year-on-year increase of 28.4%, surpassing long videos and ranking second among audio-visual sub-applications.

According to DataEye data, before 2026, there were only 58,000 original comic dramas being broadcast on the Douyin platform. In Q1 2026, there were about 180,000 original AI dramas/comic dramas being broadcast on the Douyin platform. Among them, about 50,000 new AI dramas/comic dramas were added in March alone.

(The picture is from DataEye)

From the perspective of advertising investment consumption, Duozhi learned from an informed source that the current daily advertising investment consumption of AI short drama/comic drama companies on all platforms such as Douyin is about 200 million yuan.

The above practitioners analyzed the reasons for the popularity of AI short dramas/comic dramas to Duozhi:

From the perspective of demand, the audience is extensive. If live-action short dramas are mainly targeted at female users (mainly women aged 30 - 50), then the emergence of AI comic dramas fills the gap in the male-oriented market - the main users of AI comic dramas are men in their 20s - 30s.

From the perspective of supply, AI technology significantly improves efficiency and reduces costs. From 2025 to 2026, video models have been continuously iterated. Especially the new generation of AI video generation models represented by Seedance 2.0 are reshaping the cost and efficiency logic of the film and television industry from the bottom up.

(The key development process of AI video generation. The picture is from the Leopard Research Institute)

The above practitioners gave an example: "In the past, the cost of one minute of animation might be 10,000 yuan. Now, with the same quality, AI can reduce it to 1,000 - 2,000 yuan per minute."

Another view, cited by Dahe Daily from Qin Lin, the person in charge of Nanjing Xuanjia Technology, said: "In the past, the comprehensive cost of a single episode of traditional live-action short dramas was generally between 30,000 and 50,000 yuan, and that of top-quality ones exceeded 100,000 yuan. Even in the early days, AI short dramas cost several thousand to nearly 10,000 yuan per episode. Relying on Seedance 2.0, the cost of a single episode of AI short dramas can be controlled at a few thousand yuan, and that of AI comic dramas can even be as low as a few hundred yuan, with an overall cost reduction of more than 80% or even 90%."

In addition, large companies represented by ByteDance have promoted the industrialization process of AI short dramas/comic dramas with a complete ecological closed-loop.

The explosive growth of AI short dramas/comic dramas has made the gap of composite talents increasingly prominent - those who understand both AI and film and television creation are the most scarce resources in the industry. Therefore, AI short drama/comic drama training has emerged.

It is worth noting that although the industry is bustling, what really tests each short drama company is the hit rate - AI short dramas/comic dramas rely on high-frequency testing and advertising investment feedback. One hit can cover all costs, and the hit rates of different companies vary.

However, according to the above practitioners, the overall hit rate in the early days of the industry was about 20%, and it is now continuously decreasing, "less than 10%". Another piece of information disclosed by Yang Yingya, the deputy general manager of Youku's AI Creative Production Department, at the "AI Micro-Short Drama and Comic Drama Forum" of the 13th China Netcasting Services Conference shows that in the first three months of 2026, more than