Die Ambitionen der Mainstream-Medien für Kurzfilme gehen über die Teilnahme am Kuchen hinaus.

QuestMobile data shows that after more than five years of technical support and government promotion, the monthly number of active users in the short - film sector has risen to 718 million by February 2026. Last year, the gross domestic product of the short - film sector was 90 billion yuan. A consulting firm predicts that the market size of the short - film sector will exceed the mark of 110 billion yuan in 2026.

In this exciting and creative sector, a new "elite unit" has particularly stood out. It consists of TV stations, economic media, and other mainstream media.

Although this "elite unit" entered the short - film sector relatively late, its "strategies" and strengths in the short - film market are significantly different from those of traditional short - film platforms and production teams. In addition to traffic and capital, mainstream media and economic media use their high professional competence in content creation and the authority of government regulations to reshape the competitive situation and increasingly establish themselves as a key variable in the short - film sector.

The entry of economic media into the short - film sector: An experiment to overcome layers

On the afternoon of May 21st, the 21st Century Business Herald, a subsidiary of the Southern Finance Media Group, conducted a live broadcast titled "The billion - dollar market of the short - film sector: Opportunities, logic, and future for mainstream media". The 21st Century Business Herald invited Jiaxing Jiuzhou Culture Media Co., Ltd. and Entertainment Value Officer to participate. During the broadcast, the 21st Century Business Herald announced the opening of a special short - film department, which initially provides more than 50 economic - related short films for users.

"A young man rushes home in a hurry and finds his grandfather seriously ill. He cries bitterly while his parents beside the grandfather wink and whisper to each other and tell him, 'Your grandfather's only hope is that you inherit his art.' The young man immediately agrees, and suddenly the grandfather recovers with a smile..." This short film with a heart - warming family story and comedic charm is "On the Way to Wealth" from the special short - film department of the 21st Century Business Herald. Colleagues from the Entertainment Value Officer reported that the funny and positive stories were so captivating that one couldn't stop watching them.

Currently, various short films with different styles and themes have been launched in the special short - film department of the 21st Century Business Herald, such as "The Gold Digger - Love and Hate in 1990", "I'm the Construction Foreman on the Moon", "The Cat and the Mouse", "The Border", "Back to the Yongle Encyclopedia", and "The Honor of the Judge". The first licensed economic - related short films can currently be watched ad - free and for free, which creates a good foundation for binding users to the platform.

As a leading mainstream economic media, the entry of the 21st Century Business Herald into the short - film sector shows that it adapts to the new trend of "video promotion" and improves its ability to provide videos. From the selected films, it can be seen that economic media try to introduce high - quality and positive works to expand the platform's offerings.

Top economic media actively open non - news - related video production ecosystems and look for ways to create a variety of video products such as economic short films and brand - specific short films. They form a comprehensive video product system centered around news videos with specialized videos as supplements. The goal is to enrich the content offering and expand the user base.

In fact, mainstream economic media entered the short - film sector last year and received positive feedback.

In January 2025, the Pengpai Short - Film Channel was officially opened. The launched films include "The Anti - Fraud Storm", "The Master", "Set Off, A Juan!", "The Happy Family", and "Your Island Has Arrived". When watching these films, it was found that most of the themes are closely related to social hot topics and show the efforts and growth of ordinary people from different perspectives, which conforms to the values and lifestyles of young Chinese people.

As an influential official media, Pengpai has a forward - looking practical spirit. In September 2024, it launched the "Short - Film Light" program for the co - creation of high - quality short films. Since then, the media has been working on the launch of the short - film channel. After obtaining the necessary license for the transmission of audio - visual content on the Internet, Pengpai quickly launched the short - film section during the Chinese New Year holiday in 2025. Currently, nine sub - sections such as "Hot List", "Free Films", "Manga Films", "City Films", and "Costume Films" are set up in this section. The highest hotness value of a short film has reached over 23.32 million.

In addition to economic media focusing on channel development, First Financial, in cooperation with the China Securities Investor Services Center, produced the short film "Shareholders Come" to clarify real fraud methods such as stock price manipulation, illegal stock recommendations, and off - exchange margin trading in a light - hearted comedy. Through the promotion in the form of short films, the dissemination effectiveness of preventing financial fraud cases has been improved, and professionalism and entertainment value have been unified.

Where the users are, there is the content offering. Economic media use new audio - visual methods to attract young users and offer a variety of options to old users. A businessman from the traditional media field told the Entertainment Value Officer that in recent years, the advertising revenue of mainstream media has declined. Entering the short - film sector is a new growth market for content e - commerce, brand customization, and license distribution and a good solution for diversifying advertising revenue.

It can be seen that the vertical entry strategy of economic media first maximizes their channel advantages by first entering the sector through short - film licensing. For custom films, they select specialized content to increase the diversity of short - film content. In contrast to the excessive proportion of low - quality and homogeneous content in the short - film sector, the professional content of economic media supplements the missing professional topics. Through their own credibility, they can drive out the "bad money" with the "good money" and achieve reverse content output.

The "rise" of short films on TV stations: The reshaping of the short - film ecosystem by the professional ability of broadcasters

The core of mainstream media's entry into the short - film sector is not to compete with the short - film sector for traffic, but to distinguish themselves from others through their creative abilities, license management, and platform power. Since 2025, nine national TV stations have successively established permanent short - film theaters and launched the "short - film mode" to cultivate audience habits and improve the competitiveness of the stations.

The "Quality Oriental - Micro Theater" of Dongfang Satellite TV has broadcast 24 films, and the total number of viewers has reached 650 million. The "Damaang Theater" of Hunan Satellite TV has broadcast 19 films, and the number of viewers has reached 290 million. The viewership numbers of the "Dolphin Micro Theater" of Anhui Satellite TV and the "Pentium Micro Film" of Inner Mongolia Satellite TV have each exceeded 100 million. Three high - format films, "Rebirth - I Play Striker in the Scottish Premier League" (Jiangsu Satellite TV), "The Perfect Short Vacation", and "Riding the Waves of Change" (Dongfang Satellite TV), have made it to the TV stations and received a good response. "The Perfect Short Vacation" has reached a total of 3.1598 million viewers on Dongfang Satellite TV. "Riding the Waves of Change" has reached 1.142 million viewers, and the viewership numbers are continuously rising. The overall viewership effect is better than that of the horizontally - formatted short films broadcast in parallel.

After the release of the "China Micro Drama Ecosystem Cooperation Plan" by the China Media Group, "Chinese Mythology", "AI Views Ancient Scripts", and the "China Micro Drama Festival" have been continuously launched. At the same time, the China Media Group has launched the "China High - Quality Micro Drama Venture Capital and Media Integration Action" and launched the "Micro Drama" page on the platform, which is an important step in establishing the "ecosystem" of short films of the China Media Group.

The independent "Micro Drama" page on the China Media Group platform offers over 1,000 high - quality short films. At the same time, with the "Micro Drama +" concept, venture capital activities, traditional culture, and cooperation between hundreds of cities and films are promoted to build an open ecosystem. The first launched films such as "Chinese Mythology", "AI Views Ancient Scripts", "Sanxingdui - The Future Cognition", "The Dream of Handan - AI in the Warring States Period", "The Camera", "The Carpenter's Secret", and "The Chinese Seasons - The Adventure at the Beginning of Spring" are of high quality. From theme innovation to content and emotional resonance, they have overall improved the aesthetics and quality of short - film production.

The Hunan Radio and Television Group has elevated the short - film sector to the corporate strategy level and launched the "Spark - Program". It has even developed an independent short - film APP. Based on its own entertainment advantages, Mango TV has produced a series of short films derived from TV shows and interactive mini - shows derived from TV series characters. The two short films "The True Identity of the Brave Can't Be Hidden" and "The New Life of the Village Blossom" are respectively derived from the TV shows "The Brave Brothers" and "The Blossom of Flowers" and are very popular among fans. The highly - conceptual new version of "My Fair Princess" is a new creation based on the classic TV series IP of the Hunan Radio and Television Group and has quickly brought young viewers into the fan base of "My Fair Princess".

It can be seen that traditional TV stations have shifted from channel expansion to co - production, co - registration, and co - broadcast. They share costs and risks with short - film production companies and improve the overall negotiation power. Through the coupling of TVs and new media, the barriers between TV stations and new media are overcome, and an attempt is made to expand from the older target group to the young market.

Deep - going specialization and ecosystem integration: The new solution of the "elite unit" in the short - film sector

When the competition in the short - film sector enters the 2.0 phase, the quality of the works comes to the forefront, and content barriers become more important than size. The long - term value of mainstream media and economic enterprises is manifested at different levels.

First of all, some obvious advantages of mainstream media's entry into the short - film sector can be recognized.