With 200 million views in a frenzy and a side hustle earning 20,000 yuan a month, another hidden niche is booming.
A Bichon Frise wearing a golden crown engages in strategic maneuvers with its "courtiers," staging a pet - version of a palace intrigue drama. A pair of orange tabby cats transform into mysterious secret agents, effortlessly cracking the crucial code with a gentle swipe of their paws. A Schnauzer turns into a domineering CEO, traveling by private jet and building its own exclusive business empire... These imaginative storylines have become the new formula for generating high traffic on short - video platforms.
On platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Video Account, AI - generated pet short dramas starring pets and featuring short - play scripts have quietly gained popularity. The simple plots performed by small animals can attract nearly ten thousand likes and high - frequency interactions in just a few seconds of video, and all these videos are marked as being generated by AI software.
On the Douyin platform, a short drama video titled "The Little Bichon Works Part - Time to Ease His Father's Burden" has received over four hundred thousand likes, more than six hundred thousand shares, and over twenty thousand comments. Randomly click on an AI pet short - drama collection, and it's common to see a total view count in the hundreds of thousands. Works like "The Revenge of the Fat Orange Cat," "The Domineering CEO Schnauzer Falls in Love with Me," and "The Bichon Princess Rules the World" have all exceeded one million views, with some even surpassing ten million. In the comment section, fans' calls for new episodes are constant.
AI - generated pet short dramas
The IP "Chillcat," carefully crafted by the account "No Soy Products," was even "liked" by the actress Liu Yifei and reposted on her social media platform, becoming one of the representative IPs in the field of AI - generated cat and dog short dramas, well - received both in terms of word - of - mouth and popularity.
Screenshot of Liu Yifei's social media
The core reason why AI - generated cute pet short dramas can capture a large number of users lies in the wonderful chemical reaction between anthropomorphic storytelling and cute appearances. It transforms real - life topics such as workplace stress, life troubles, family affection, and love into light - hearted plots.
High traffic naturally gives rise to the imagination of high income. As AI - generated cat and dog short dramas become popular, news about practitioners' substantial earnings keeps emerging. According to "Salt Finance," a leading institution once publicly stated that the pet accounts incubated by their institution can gain one million followers in a month and achieve a comprehensive advertising income of over 500,000 yuan in the first month by using AI tools.
The relatively high traffic dividends, relatively low creation threshold, and the rumored high returns are attracting more and more people to flock to this new track.
"After the beginning of this year, AI tools like DeepSeek became extremely popular, directly lowering the technical threshold. Previously, people thought AI was far from ordinary people, but now many people can start operating after following the tutorials and all want to get a share of the pie in this field," a practitioner deeply involved in the field of AI - generated pet short dramas revealed to "Tianxia Wangshang."
However, in the midst of this craze, can these practitioners really make a profit easily? What is their actual income? And what is the monetization chain behind AI - generated pet short dramas?
The Popularity of AI - Generated Cat and Dog Short Dramas: Can 'Digital Hachimis' Make Big Money?
In reality, those furry pets that only circle around their food bowls and act cute suddenly transform into resourceful and tough characters in AI short dramas. A big orange tabby cat sets a trap by arranging canned fish snacks into a sumptuous feast. After getting a tiger drunk, it shaves the fur off the tiger's belly to make a tiger - skin coat, leaving the tiger fuming in place. A Teddy transforms into a newbie in the workplace, learning to write proposals and deal with difficult clients from its seniors, exploring the rules of workplace survival. There are also orange cats shouldering family missions and big orange tabbies working part - time to relieve their parents' burden... Creators use AI tools to generate virtual pet images and then endow them with distinct personalities through anthropomorphic settings. The constantly - reversing and interesting plots have captivated many young people, who can't help but say they are "addicted."
"I finally understand my mom's obsession with short dramas. Hurry up and release the next episode!" "The big orange tabby cat is so sensible. With this music, I can easily relate it to my own experiences." In the comment section, many young people actively interact.
AI - generated pet short dramas
In the view of Zhang Lei, a practitioner, the popularity of AI - generated cat and dog short dramas is not an accidental traffic frenzy but an inevitable result of the explosion of user demand, the maturity of technology, and the promotion of platforms.
This trend of AI - generated cute pet content first showed signs on short - video platforms last year. In 2024, the earliest batch of AI pet accounts focused on anthropomorphic daily life. Novel content such as dogs dancing to girl - group choreography and cats cooking while wearing aprons quickly attracted the first wave of attention. Subsequently, the pioneer of AI pet short dramas, "The Divine Cat Dad," became popular overseas. According to "Zimu Bang," this fully AI - generated cat short drama helped its account gain over one million followers on YouTube in just half a year, and a single video reached over two hundred million views, verifying the feasibility of combining AI pets with short dramas and opening up new ideas for domestic creators.
The turning point came this year. As the domestic download volumes of DeepSeek and Doubao soared, more and more creators found that cute pet content with a plot could make users eager to follow the series continuously and stay on the platform longer. As a result, many people flocked to the field of AI pet short dramas, and the popularity of this track has since increased exponentially.
From the perspective of the demand side, AI - generated cat and dog short dramas precisely target the emotional pain points of contemporary young people. The fragmented plots wrapped in cute appearances not only relieve real - life anxiety but also provide emotional value, naturally becoming a stress - relieving tool for young people.
In character creation, creators also have some tricks up their sleeves. They match the most suitable character settings according to the breed, appearance, and the public's inherent impression of cats and dogs. For example, the snow - white and cute Bichon Frise is often set as a royal princess. The sturdy and innocent - looking orange tabby cat fits the hard - working character. The sleek and sharp - eyed Schnauzer is the perfect choice for a domineering CEO. This kind of character setting not only makes it easier for the audience to immerse themselves in the plot but also makes the pet images more vivid and three - dimensional.
AI - generated pet short dramas
"The popularity of pet short dramas is also boosted by various platforms. On some short - video platforms, newly - launched accounts can gain a large amount of exposure in a short time," Zhang Lei told "Tianxia Wangshang." He said that the pet - working videos he created initially increased from a few hundred views to over one hundred thousand in a short period, directly making his account popular.
Some Creators Earn Twenty Thousand Yuan a Month. How Long Does It Take to Produce an AI - Generated Pet Short Drama?
"At first, I just wanted to give it a try. I didn't expect that my side - job income could be stable at around twenty thousand yuan a month when things go well," Zhang Lei said, his tone full of surprise when talking about his gains from creating AI - generated cat and dog short dramas. As a practitioner in the video - editing industry, he entered this field in January 2025 and accumulated thirty to forty thousand followers in half a year.
Zhang Lei's connection with AI - generated cat and dog short dramas began with an inspiration during the Spring Festival in 2025. Due to his professional nature, he is particularly sensitive to content trends.
"I have a cat myself and have filmed its daily life. During the Spring Festival, I noticed that people around me were talking about AI, so I wondered if I could combine it with video editing," Zhang Lei recalled. At that time, besides AI - generated cat and dog videos, AI - generated child - related videos were also popular among the elderly, but he preferred the cute - pet theme. Pets have a natural healing power, and adding a plot would expand the audience, making young people also willing to watch.
After the Spring Festival, Zhang Lei officially started creating. To his surprise, the technical threshold in this field was lower than expected. "AI tools are very user - friendly. You just need to write a description, that is, a prompt, for the image you want to generate, input it, and adjust it a few times to get the result. Coupled with my video - editing skills, I can quickly get the hang of the whole process."
In Zhang Lei's creation system, the birth of an AI - generated cat and dog short drama goes through three key steps: scriptwriting, AI generation, and video editing, and a sense of story runs through the entire process.
"Inspiration is not a problem. I can come up with a dozen ideas every day," Zhang Lei said with a smile. For example, when he sees his colleagues working overtime, he thinks about pets working overtime. When he sees topics about work, he comes up with plots about pets being caught slacking off. However, inspiration is just the starting point. The key is to tell a complete and resonant story. Generally, he first writes a script, clarifying the pet's role, the core plot, and some scene details.
The AI - generation stage is the most uncertain step. "Sometimes, when you describe a pet sitting in front of a computer and typing on the keyboard, the AI may generate an image of the pet lying on the computer and sleeping, which is completely off - target," Zhang Lei said. "Generally, I generate 3 - 5 versions and select the one that best matches the style and plot. Then I use video - editing software to splice the images, add sound effects, and captions."
AI - generated pet short dramas
In the early stage of his creation, Zhang Lei's video views were not ideal. "The first few videos only had a few hundred views, and the growth of followers was very slow." It wasn't until a video with a pet - working theme was unexpectedly promoted by the platform that it directly led to an increase in followers. Now, although Zhang Lei's account is not among the top ones, the interaction rate of each video is stable, and there are often comments from fans asking for new episodes.
As the number of followers grows, Zhang Lei's monetization methods have become clearer. Currently, he mainly earns from advertising and e - commerce promotion through the product window. According to him, most of his current cooperation brands are small - game companies and pet - snack brands. There are two forms of advertising: one is the in - video ad, inserting a few seconds of game promotion at the end of the video; the other is product placement, such as having the pet eat a certain brand of cat food.
"Due to the limited scale of my account, no big brands have approached me yet," he admitted. Compared with the top accounts that earn hundreds of thousands of yuan a month, his income is closer to that of ordinary practitioners.
In addition, "Tianxia Wangshang" has observed that knowledge - based paid content is also a source of income for such bloggers. If you pay attention, you can see the word "recruiting apprentices" next to many account names. On Xiaohongshu, there are also posts about AI - pet training courses priced at 198 yuan per person, which not only provide training tutorials but also offer subsequent account - operation guidance.
Technology Is No Longer Scarce, and Content Becomes the Key
According to the "2025 China Pet Industry Market Report - Consumption Upgrade and Market Insights of the 'Pet Economy'" by KPMG China, the market scale of China's pet - related businesses has soared from 97.8 billion yuan in 2015 to 592.8 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to reach 811.4 billion yuan in 2025. The popularity of the pet economy provides a natural foundation for AI - generated pet content and further raises the market ceiling of this field.
As the popularity of relevant content rises, more and more brands are starting to notice the commercial value of this field. It has been observed that the cooperation brands of some top bloggers have gradually expanded from pet supplies and small - game companies to food, beauty, and fast - moving consumer goods categories. In addition to advertising income, business models such as peripheral product development and knowledge - based paid content are also emerging, further expanding the industry's profit - making space.
In contrast, the cost of creating AI videos is relatively low. According to Zhang Lei, most AI tools have a free trial quota, allowing users to generate content several times a day. If the demand is high, opening a VIP membership only costs a few dozen yuan per month. Ma Dali, an individual creator, also said in an interview with "Guangzhou Daily" that the main AI software he uses is Doubao and Jimeng, and he spends about 400 yuan per month on software - membership fees.
When AI tools become accessible to everyone and technology is no longer a scarce resource, content becomes the key. The account "LT Puppy Diary" behind the series of short dramas such as "The Domineering CEO Schnauzer Falls in Love with Me" and "The Bichon Princess Rules the World" said in an interview with "Guangzhou Daily" that their team started creating AI - generated cute pet videos last year. From the early anthropomorphic pet videos to cute - pet dramas inspired by "domineering CEO short dramas" and now planning to try the first AI - generated pet love variety show in the whole network, only by continuously improving the content quality can they maintain the competitiveness of their content.
AI - generated pet short dramas
Ma Dali also said that no matter how the pet characters change, the core is still the plot. Even if AI is used to assist in writing the script, a lot of manual modification is needed to adjust the emotional twists and polish the details to resonate with the audience. Ultimately, whether an AI - generated pet short drama can become popular depends on the creator's insight into life and the ability to capture users' emotions.
When talking about the development of AI