New trending business opportunity of AI celebrity face monetization: Qi Wei has entered this sector, and Fang Taozi charges 250,000 RMB for a single advertisement.
Since short dramas became a market hotspot in 2020, the sector has spent 6 consecutive years continuously proving its capacity to create wealth and nurture popular stars to the outside world.
The short drama "Wushuang" generated over 100 million RMB in top-up revenue in 8 days, marking the first time that short dramas truly drew widespread public attention; the hit work "I Became a Stepmother in the 1980s" became a viral sensation, propelling Tinghuadao to the top tier of the industry; popular short dramas such as "What a Good Obedient Girl" and "Summer Fendela" have successively made short drama actors Ke Chun, Liu Xiaoxu, Guo Yuxin and others famous.
Although the boom of live-action short dramas cooled down in the first half of this year, real actors lost their star aura, top actors were exposed to the difficulty of getting roles and took the initiative to cut their salaries one after another. The star-making capacity of short dramas still exists, but this time the stars are not real actors, but AI actors. At the time node when AI short dramas have been popular for nearly two years, the sector has finally ushered in its first breakout AI actor — Fang Taozi.
Her path to popularity is almost identical to that of real actors in the film and television industry: an AI short drama "The Laid-off Girl" became a hit, making the leading actress Fang Taozi in the drama famous. Then Fang Taozi was noticed by brands and began to take commercial orders, and finally she got her first advertisement for a color contact lens brand at a price of more than 200,000 RMB.
Although the color contact lens advertisement endorsed by Fang Taozi has been removed from the shelves now, her rise to fame has also been accompanied by controversies, such as looking extremely similar to a Japanese actress. But it is an undeniable fact that AI actors have started to make money, and their commercial value has begun to emerge.
Moreover, many real celebrities such as Qi Wei have also stepped into this field one after another, and the industry has begun to compete for the new round of dividends.
AI Actors Are Gaining Popularity
Although the popularity of AI short dramas has cooled down under the repeated adjustments of platform support policies, AI actors have become very popular recently.
Fang Taozi from "The Laid-off Girl" has become the first breakout and monetized actor in the AI short drama industry. Different from other AI short dramas, "The Laid-off Girl" packaged the leading actress and leading actor according to the packaging path of celebrity artists from the very beginning.
"The Laid-off Girl" was launched on June 12. Two days later, the first video was released on the personal Douyin account of the leading actress Fang Taozi. On July 31, she released her first brand commercial advertisement (which has been removed from the shelves at present); on August 1, the second season of "The Laid-off Girl" was launched. On August 2, Fang Taozi opened the Douyin fan group.
The MCN agency behind Fang Taozi, "My Film & TV", operates the AI actor IP just like it operates real actors. The video content released on Fang Taozi's Douyin account includes not only the AI short drama "The Laid-off Girl", but also her "real daily life" Vlogs outside the drama, room tour, variety show promotion and other content.
Up to now, in more than 2 months, Fang Taozi's Douyin account has attracted nearly 500,000 followers.
If the advertisement had not encountered problems, Fang Taozi's successful monetization would have been a good benchmark case. According to the data from Juliang Xingtu, the quotation for 1-20 second videos of Fang Taozi is 168,000 RMB, the quotation for 21-60 second videos is 208,000 RMB, and the quotation for videos longer than 60 seconds is 258,000 RMB. This price exceeds that of many real internet celebrities and actors.
On social media, many netizens spontaneously recommend Fang Taozi and spread her classic lines in the drama. Links to clothes of the same style as Fang Taozi's have even appeared on platforms such as Taobao and Xiaohongshu.
Before Fang Taozi became popular, the film and television industry had tried to create AI actor stars.
Yueke Media officially announced on its Weibo account that it had signed two AI digital artists: Qin Lingyue and Lin Xiyan. The company also opened social media accounts for the two first batch of AI digital artists at the same time, and customized AI short dramas for the two AI artists. However, due to their resemblance to real celebrities and the public's resistance, the two AI artists did not arouse any response in the end. At present, Lin Xiyan's Douyin account only has 705 followers, and Qin Lingyue has even fewer, only 431. The last updated videos of the two AI digital artists' accounts were posted at the end of May.
Launching AI actors first and then launching short dramas, and launching short dramas first and then creating stars through IP operation are two completely different paths. Mu Bai, a short drama practitioner, told Tech Planet that "My Film & TV" behind Fang Taozi not only has the idea of making dramas, but also has accumulated successful MCN experience before. Operating Fang Taozi with the thinking of celebrity artist management, sharing her daily life, letting the audience watch, ship the couple, and grow up together, gives the audience a stronger sense of raising an idol. This point is very scarce in the short drama industry, because most short drama production companies do not have the awareness of actor management.
Celebrities Enter the Market, the "Face Selling" Business Is Rising
Not only Fang Taozi has attracted attention, but celebrities such as Qi Wei and Joey Wong have entered the market one after another, further increasing the popularity of AI actors.
Qi Wei recently authorized the use of her personal image for AI creation, and her AI digital avatar is named "Han Qingxia", who will star in the post-apocalyptic themed AI comic drama "Doomsday Summer", whose plot is adapted from the Fanqie Novel "Doomsday Rebirth: The Boss Starts from Stocking Up Millions of Supplies". Before Qi Wei, Joey Wong authorized the AI portrait rights of her 20-30 years old peak appearance period to NetEase's game "Tianxia". In the 2-minute AI short film "Qianying" released by the game, the end credits are marked with "Actor: Joey Wong (AI)".
In addition to Qi Wei, Hong Kong star Wu Qihua also authorized his portrait rights at the age of 20 to an AI film and television production company; You Benchang, the actor who played the role of Jigong, authorized his portrait and voice to brands for AI video production, and starred in the micro short drama "Jigong: The Fake Dragon Subduing Arhat" and other works.
Celebrities have realized commercial monetization in the form of AI authorization. It is understood that other film and television companies are also considering the AI authorization of artist images.
In addition to Fang Taozi and the celebrity-authorized AI images, there is another type of ordinary person AI actors that have also realized commercial monetization at present, that is, brand AI advertisements. On platforms such as Douyin, you can often brush up AI advertisements with ordinary person AI actor images from brands including KFC, Luckin Coffee, Cotti Coffee, Hamazushi and others. Whether these advertisements are paid for by the brands or not, they are actually in the commercial monetization scenario.
AI images have become valuable, and the "face selling" business has quietly emerged in the market. Public reports show that there is an AI face leasing platform that rents human faces to AI advertisements and short dramas at prices ranging from 15 USD to 700 USD.
An agent from a digital asset platform introduced to Tech Planet that the company currently provides digital asset services for two types of people. One type is ordinary people, who need to pay 1000 RMB to the platform first, and then wait for revenue sharing. If ordinary people want to make money in this way, they first need to upload six photos, and the company will generate a 3D digital human image for them. The market price of this image ranges from 3000 RMB to tens of thousands of RMB, and the company only charges 1000 RMB for modeling. After that, many partners on the platform will use the AI digital human image, and each call will generate revenue. The platform will share the revenue with the ordinary person after getting the income. The agent said that the estimated annual return for an individual is about 5000 RMB, which is calculated based on their existing data.
The other type is celebrities. Celebrities do not need to pay fees to the platform for authorizing their AI images, and the platform does not need to pay fees to celebrities either. If there are subsequent calls of celebrity AI images, the single call fee is six figures, and the fee for A-list celebrities ranges from 100,000 RMB to 300,000 RMB, and there is revenue sharing after the release.
Agents benefit from AI artists. The above agent revealed that one agent can have 100 artist quotas. The agent takes 60% of the commission from the calls of 100 artists, and distributes 20% to the artists. 100 people generate income every day, which is equivalent to building a pipeline of passive income.
Douyin Steps In, Raising the Commercial Ceiling of Digital Humans?
Whether it is AI actors or AI artists, they are essentially digital humans. Digital humans are not new species. From the first generation of virtual idol Luo Tianyi, to the AI anchors in the live streaming e-commerce era, to the virtual human Liuyexi, there are breakout cases in almost every period.
These digital humans have proved their commercial value in various scenarios such as live streaming e-commerce, advertisement endorsement, concerts, and variety shows. Until the emergence of Fang Taozi, a new rising and monetization scenario for virtual humans has been added: AI short dramas.
However, the success of Fang Taozi is unlikely to be replicated in batches.
In the first half of this year, about more than 200,000 AI short dramas were launched, and only one AI actor, Fang Taozi, became popular. According to the "Micro Short Drama Creation Guidelines" for the first and second quarters of 2026 released by China Network Audio-Video Association, a total of 367,000 micro short dramas were launched on all platforms in the first half of the year, with an average of more than 1500 new AI dramas pouring into the market every day, accounting for more than 74% of the total.
Fang Taozi, the popular AI short drama actor, does not come from a top comic drama company, nor from a hit work with more than 9 billion views. Some comic dramas have accumulated nearly 10 billion views. Her standing out has a certain element of luck, just like whether a long drama can produce a hit work.
Even if other short drama companies have successful experience in signing artists, it is difficult for them to copy the operation experience of real actors to AI actors. A short drama practitioner told Tech Planet that Maiya launched a constellation talent show in June, allowing 12 AI trainees to compete, and finally 4 of them debuted. From the results, it did not arouse any response. In terms of public opinion, the public still has resistance to AI actors. It is just that the previous widespread uncanny valley effect has turned into a situation where a small number of people begin to accept individual AI actors. The commercial value of AI actors is still relatively limited at least for now.
In addition, although AI artists do not have the risk of public image collapse, the optional space for commercial endorsements is relatively limited. AI artists cannot endorse products that they cannot truly perceive, see and experience. Fang Taozi's "color contact lens advertisement failure" is a lesson learned from the past.
However, the market will be gradually standardized. Platform policies have been loosened, and Douyin has begun to step in to standardize the market of AI artists and comic drama virtual images. On August 12, the Short Drama Creator Center released the Guidelines for Creation and Confirmation of Rights of Comic Drama Virtual Images. In order to reduce the risk of infringement, the platform provides creation and rights confirmation services for comic drama virtual images, and announces that it may launch related services for the derivative operation of virtual roles in the future.
If Douyin firmly grasps the derivative operation right of comic drama virtual images in its own hands, it is equivalent to adding a new monetization model in addition to revenue sharing and advertisements.
This article is from WeChat official account "Tech Planet" (ID: tech618), the author is Zhai Yuanyuan, and it is released with authorization from 36Kr.