AI-generated short dramas featuring cats and dogs recreate "The Temptation of Return"
Author | Ranger
Editor | Qiao Qian
In the past year or two, both AI and short dramas have been in the limelight. So, what about AI + short dramas?
The dramatic plots that appear in online novels and traditional short dramas are re - enacted by AI - generated cats and dogs, and the number of views and shares can easily exceed ten thousand. Some AI comic dramas, which are somewhere between traditional short dramas and animations, have produced hit shows.
Some companies engaged in the full - process production of AI short dramas have also begun to gain the favor of capital. Lingjing Wanwei (Hangzhou) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., an "AI animation industrial production platform" (hereinafter referred to as "Lingjing AI"), recently announced the completion of an angel - round financing of tens of millions of yuan.
The AIGC team "Outliers", which collaborated with Kuaishou's Keling AI to produce the benchmark AI short drama "New World Loading", has been approached by many investment institutions and brand owners after the successive launch of its representative works. Chen Xiangyu, the founder of Outliers, told 36Kr that "a round of financing should be opened this year." In addition, "the production capacity of the team for this year has been fully booked."
The efforts of leading short - video platforms have also fueled this trend. As early as July 2024, Kuaishou officially announced the creator incubation program of "Xingmang Short Dramas & Keling AI Large Model"; in September of the same year, Kuaishou also launched the "Xing You Ling Xi - AI Short Drama Creation Contest". In March this year, Jimeng AI and Douyin launched the "AIGC Short Drama Joint Recruitment Program", which includes support measures such as funds and traffic.
A practitioner described the current AI short - drama industry like this: "It's as if we've returned to the short - drama 1.0 era, and everyone is looking forward to the emergence of an AI hit drama with over a hundred million in recharge."
AI Short Dramas = New Growth Point
To some extent, traditional short - drama companies are flocking to the AI short - drama track in order to seek new survival space.
A harsh reality is that the resources of the domestic short - drama industry are continuously concentrating on leading platforms. May 29th was an important turning point. At that time, Douyin Group announced the establishment of a short - drama copyright center, which reports to Zhang Chao as a whole.
This adjustment integrated the BD teams of the original Douyin Short Dramas and Hongguo Short Dramas. The "Short - Drama Copyright Center" connects the upstream and downstream of the industry, provides short - drama content to platforms such as Hongguo and Douyin in a unified manner, and is also responsible for cooperation and docking with short - drama creation teams.
For the short - drama industry, this was a huge shock. Some industry insiders commented that "traditional short dramas have reached their end."
The above - mentioned industry insiders explained to 36Kr in more detail the impact of Douyin Group's move. Before the establishment of the "Short - Drama Copyright Center", short - drama manufacturers could choose to release their works simultaneously on Douyin and other short - drama platforms, but now they have to choose one of the two.
As a result, those short - drama platforms with limited scale, which are difficult to compete with ByteDance, have started to look for new growth points and transformation opportunities, and AI short dramas have given them hope.
The evolution and opening of large video - generation models have further enriched the supply of AI short dramas.
On May 27th, Cheng Yixiao, the CEO of Kuaishou, revealed at the earnings meeting that the revenue scale of Keling AI in the first quarter of this year had reached 150 million yuan, and nearly 70% of Keling AI's operating income came from paid - subscription members on the P (Prosumer, professional users in the self - media and marketing industries) side.
In addition, the emergence and evolution of large video - generation models represented by Keling and Jimeng have greatly lowered the threshold and cost of video production, while improving production efficiency, allowing more non - professional teams to participate.
Screenshot from "New World Loading", a collaboration between Kuaishou and Outliers
At the beginning of the prosperity of the short - drama industry, 100,000 yuan was enough to produce a short drama, and those with hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan could flock to the track to grab a share of the pie. However, such an era has long passed.
Now, due to intensified competition, the production cost of short dramas has been rising continuously, reaching an average of 500,000 - 800,000 yuan per drama. The cost of high - quality short dramas can even exceed one million yuan. Not to mention the sky - high advertising costs in the later stage.
It wasn't until the emergence of AI short dramas that the production cost was reduced to 100,000 - 150,000 yuan per drama again.
Lu Shaolong, the deputy general manager of Judian Short Dramas, said that Judian has established an AI short - drama team of more than 70 people to produce products including dynamic comics and cat - and - dog short dramas, with a production capacity of 20 - 30 dramas per month, nearly 10 times that of traditional short dramas. In addition, the company has also established a global distribution brand, "Lingju Animation".
The cat - and - dog AI short dramas that have attracted wide attention from the media and users are often produced by individuals or small teams of three to five people. With the support of AI technology, one person can produce an entire short drama, which is unimaginable in the production of traditional short dramas.
In addition, in the production of AI short dramas, there is no need to consider the schedules of popular short - drama actors, nor the time required for docking with different teams. Everything is as fast and convenient as an assembly line.
Before the major platforms step in, AI short dramas can still enjoy relatively abundant traffic. Many industry insiders told 36Kr that the organic traffic of AI short dramas is still quite considerable.
Just a Temporary Fad?
The increase in the supply of AI short dramas has an answer. The question is, why are AI short dramas, which are rough in presentation and have no obvious difference in plot from traditional short dramas, so popular?
The answer still lies in the content.
The popular narrative of "I was reborn on the night my fiancé cheated on me with my best friend" is also widely found in AI short dramas.
AI cat - and - dog short dramas on Douyin
IP adaptation is a common choice for AI dynamic comics (a form between comics and animations). Lu Shaolong pointed out that compared with traditional animations, the supply of AI dynamic comics can be increased from one episode per week to one episode per day, which is conducive to increasing the number of users and the market scale. As a result, AI short dramas will also attract some IP - fan users.
Now, there have been hit shows in this track, such as "The Nine - Tailed Fox Demon Fell in Love with Me", which has 180 million views.
Some teams with platform and technology support, such as Outliers, are also committed to original and imaginative works, while trying to explore the technical boundaries of video generation.
The "New World Loading" created by Outliers using Keling AI has a unique artistic style and plot setting, and the final presentation also includes a large number of "action scenes". Compared with Kuaishou's first AI short drama, "The Wonders of Mountains and Seas: Cutting Through Waves", there has been a great improvement in the coherence and consistency of actions and characters.
Chen Xiangyu, the founder of the team, said that the production process, personnel configuration, and even the distribution logic of AI short dramas are still in the initial exploration stage, and everything is undetermined. At the same time, there is still a gap between the quality of AI short dramas and that of traditional animations, which is inevitable. However, "in the next 3 - 5 years, or even sooner, AI short dramas have the hope of occupying about 30% of the market share of traditional animations or streaming media."
The content of future AI short dramas is also uncertain. It may have a style close to real - life people or be similar to traditional animations.
In addition to the content and production aspects, short - drama companies that are now focusing on AI short - drama production are also committed to the production of relevant tools.
Lingjing AI, mentioned at the beginning of the article, has integrated different vertical large models and developed a set of full - process AI short - drama production tools. Judian Short Dramas has also independently developed an AI short - drama intelligent complex, which can set the work process in advance. Based on the advantages of the integrated different vertical large models, it determines which large model should complete tasks such as prompt - word design, storyboarding, and three - view drawings of characters, thus ensuring the output effect and improving production efficiency.
It is an unspoken fact that short - drama companies with an AI concept are more likely to be favored by the capital market. Lu Shaolong, the deputy general manager of Judian Short Dramas, told 36Kr that the investment institutions that approach them now don't ask "How well do you produce AI short dramas?" but "How good is your tool?"
In addition, compared with cat - and - dog AI short dramas that haven't yet established a profitable IAA (relying on advertising performance) model, more professional teams, such as Judian, have already achieved profitability in related businesses. According to Lu Shaolong, "The daily consumption of the entire industry has now reached about 5 million yuan, and the growth rate is very fast."
Whether it's for seizing the early - stage market or seeking more development opportunities, AI short dramas are a good choice for traditional short - drama companies and even small teams, at least as a temporary springboard. After all, the leading short - video platforms may step in at any time to reap the benefits.
Before that, short - drama companies can only speed up their transformation, reap the benefits of this growing market, and try to find a way out before the tide recedes.