On the first day of 2026, kick off the new year in the entertainment industry with 21 trend keywords.

Regarding the entertainment industry in 2026, "New Voice Pro" has compiled 21 keywords, covering multiple fields such as long - form content, PUGC, short dramas, trendy toys, and offline activities. These keywords not only include insights into user and social emotions but also potential changes brought about by new technologies such as AI, as well as the changes in the platform landscape under these circumstances.

We are on the eve of change, and this feeling has become increasingly clear throughout the work in 2025.

If we take the launch of Douyin as a turning point, 10 years are enough to cultivate the "Douyin Generation" with unique generational characteristics in content consumption and creation. In fact, in the past year, whether it was the resurgence of youth culture represented by anime and manga or the continuous emergence of young creators in fields such as short videos and music, it has been proven that the new generation of content consumers has stepped onto the center stage and become the main force in current content consumption and creation.

Meanwhile, driven by AI, a new productivity revolution is brewing in the upstream of the content industry and is approaching the explosion point. It not only means an explosion in production capacity but also brings about a comprehensive innovation in the thinking and working modes of creators. The popularization of content production capabilities will change the operation path of IPs and will most likely reshape the landscape of downstream platforms.

Regarding the entertainment industry in 2026, "New Voice Pro" has compiled 21 keywords, covering multiple fields such as long - form content, PUGC, short dramas, trendy toys, and offline activities. These keywords not only include insights into user and social emotions but also potential changes brought about by new technologies such as AI, as well as the changes in the platform landscape under these circumstances. We choose to present the trends in the form of keywords to extract more specific and clear results from the ongoing changes.

01 Family - friendly

With the high fragmentation of attention and the continuous compression of the overall space for long - form content, including TV dramas, variety shows, and movies, the influence of single vertical circles is constantly declining, and the so - called "blockbusters in niche fields" have become a false proposition. Long - form content still needs to continuously create mass blockbusters.

Inter - generational empathy remains the core of family - friendly content. "Ne Zha 2" achieved a box office of 15.4 billion yuan and became a phenomenon - level work of the year. Its success lies not in pleasing a specific group but in using the inter - generational emotional core of "rebellion" to resonate with children, young people, and middle - aged people. At the end of the year, the global box - office success of "Zootopia 2" verified this point again.

Meanwhile, due to the objective existence of market segmentation, the "family - friendly" concept in the new stage is embodied in meeting the needs of different circles, and this kind of satisfaction can even be presented in stages. "Born of All Things" attracts middle - aged and elderly audiences with the characteristics of family - themed and era - themed dramas, while also attracting young audiences with the CP of Dajiao and Xiuxiu. "The Mysterious Cases of the Tang Dynasty", which is presented in a unit - drama mode, covers various types such as supernatural, suspense, road, and ancient - costumed dramas, and also takes into account both CP and ensemble character relationships.

02 Market rescue

Against the backdrop of multiple sectors such as movies, TV dramas, and variety shows under pressure, the core concern of the industry will further focus on more practical issues, namely how to restart the market.

First of all, "market rescue" will no longer be a short - term measure but a continuous industry sentiment. The importance of blockbusters is further magnified. They not only determine the success or failure of content but also play the role of boosting confidence, stabilizing expectations, and rallying industry morale. In 2026, discussions about "whether there is popularity" and "whether it can drive the market" will still outweigh the pure evaluation of the completion of works.

Secondly, the paths for market rescue will tend to be more practical and diverse. Loosening in terms of themes, the release of backlogged projects, and the return of realistic themes and strongly - themed content will all become important means. The content needs to flow first so that the market can have room for recovery.

03 Explosion of AI production capacity

AI has stepped out of the experimental stage and become an important productivity driving the entertainment industry's production capacity. Previously, many companies have started to introduce AI in traditional production processes to improve efficiency. The popularity of AI - made comic dramas in 2025 is a new signal, and full - process AI production is being rapidly put into content production. Many animation companies have largely shifted to AI production, and it is very likely that an AI - made animated series will be launched in 2026.

Meanwhile, a group of AI Agents have emerged, which means that "replicable AI employees" have started to work. This will substantially shake the old model and lead content companies to move from project - based production to a more platform - based and assembly - line - like production structure.

04 Digital actors

2025 can be regarded as the first year of digital actors. This group is evolving from technological showcases to professional artists with complete management contracts and is making an impact on the entertainment industry.

In June, the first MV "SURREAL" of the AI female singer @Yuri was released, getting over 12 million views across the network. Subsequently, she reached cooperation agreements with brands such as The North Face, Alibaba, the 2025 GT World Challenge, and "Nymph of Numen". In September, at the Zurich International Film Festival, Particle6 announced that an AI actor named Tilly Norwood under its company was about to debut and sign with a management company, aiming to be the next Scarlett Johansson.

With the improvement of technology, AI - made live - action short dramas are becoming a new attempt for Chinese short dramas to go global. Digital actors are highly expected to reduce the cost of local content production and increase user stickiness overseas.

05 Human - AI collaboration

In the field of entertainment creation, human - AI collaboration is no longer just about using AI for auxiliary work such as rendering acceleration. Instead, artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a co - creation partner that can participate in creative conception, style exploration, and even decision - making processes, which redefines the roles and ability boundaries of creators.

Collaboration at the creative level is rising rapidly. On the one hand, it can help creators inspire inspiration and expand ideas. For example, when creators input a few keywords or vague ideas, AI can generate multiple visual styles, plot directions, and character - setting schemes for creators to choose from and deepen, helping them break through personal thinking patterns. On the other hand, it can also assist in style exploration and integration. AI can quickly imitate or mix different styles of art masters to help creators explore new personal styles.

This trend of human - AI collaboration will lower the threshold for creation and give rise to more diverse and personalized expressions. However, it will also make the value of human aesthetic judgment, emotional depth, and philosophical thinking more prominent. Of course, a series of new issues that need to be solved will also follow, such as copyright ownership, creation ethics (such as deep fakes), and the definition of originality.

06 AI junk content

While AI is reshaping the entertainment industry's production capacity, it is also creating new content disasters. A large amount of homogeneous and soulless junk content is flooding various platforms, including web novels generated in batches by AI, mechanical short - video copywriting, and highly similar imitation works of blockbusters, consuming users' attention and patience.

When algorithms continuously feed users low - cost and highly stimulating AI - generated content, users' attention is cheaply occupied, their aesthetic standards are continuously lowered, and they gradually lose the ability to distinguish high - quality content and patience. In the long run, there is a great risk of the bad driving out the good.

AI not only lowers the threshold for content production but also blurs the quality bottom line and moral boundaries. In December, Douyin issued an announcement stating that it had cleaned up 202,000 pieces of illegal content related to minors, among which a large amount was vulgar, false, and violent content generated by AI.

In 2026, AI junk content is likely to become even more prevalent. Platforms need to make a choice between traffic and quality, and regulatory authorities need to establish new content standards. This is not only a technological issue but also a fundamental issue related to the sustainable and healthy development of the entire content ecosystem. When the bad driving out the good becomes the norm, it is not only the creators who will be hurt but also every user who is forced to consume junk content.

07 Cyber fatigue

Under the high - speed growth driven by a large amount of content, represented by short videos and short dramas, some users are starting to feel information overload when facing highly fragmented and entertaining content, which is gradually evolving into an objective mental fatigue.

This cyber fatigue, on the one hand, drives users to turn to more immersive long - form content and even offline consumption. On the other hand, platforms like Douyin's curated content section are effectively countering this consumption sentiment by investing in high - quality content (such as video podcasts and knowledge - based content) and excellent creators.

08 Rough - edge aesthetics

The "rough - edge aesthetics" may define the pursuit of authenticity and naturalness in short videos. It involves not deliberately conducting fine editing and retaining imperfect content such as mistakes, out - takes, and environmental noise, or restoring the scene through ingenious design in aspects such as photography, scripts, and props.

Under the impact of a large amount of smooth and beautiful AI - generated visual content and the general trend of high - quality short videos, dominated by a group of top - tier and highly professional creators such as @FilmCraft and @Hey7studio, content with "rough - edge aesthetics" is starting to sprout and form a relatively unique niche ecosystem.

For example, @Fadieba! Houlang, which records the group life of small - town youths, quickly became popular with its boring yet romantic and imperfect but authentic records of youth life. One of its representative works, "Our Day", is a 7 - hour record of rural daily life. Romance - plot creators @Haochi Amao and @Longlong's Adventures also gained a large number of fans through their pseudo - real "chance encounter" plots.

09 Era of individual imaging

This can be seen as a continuation of the Douyin Generation. For the new generation of young users, videos are gradually replacing text and pictures as the primary form for social interaction, recording life, and personal expression. This is also accompanied by the affordability of professional equipment and the reduction of the difficulty of professional processes such as video editing by tools like CapCut. On communities and platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili, more and more content with stronger story attributes and a sense of record is emerging, including works from many creators who graduated from professional institutions and the traditional documentary industry.

Compared with traditional documentaries, these records are more self - centered, with smaller story scales and more personalized and even private elements in the stories they focus on and present. They also show diverse aesthetic features in visual aesthetics and have become an important source of content vitality.

10 ByteDance - related IPs

With the content infrastructure centered around the Tomato ecosystem, including novels, short dramas, and audiobooks, more IPs have the opportunity to be incubated within the ByteDance content system. With the efficiency improvement brought by AI production capacity, more IP owners will master production capabilities and can use forms such as AI - made comic dramas, rather than relying entirely on the traditional film and television industry for IP transformation.

In the past, short dramas were considered difficult to carry IP value. However, from the success of "Grandma" and "Yun Miao", with the investment of production companies and platforms in serialized short dramas, the IP - carrying capacity of short dramas is getting stronger, which will further accelerate the emergence of IPs within the system.

11 Power shift in the music industry

In September 2025, the monthly active users of Qishui Music, a subsidiary of ByteDance, exceeded 120 million, a year - on - year increase of 90.7%. It has surpassed Kuwo Music and is approaching NetEase Cloud Music's 147 million, ranking fourth in the industry.

Behind this is ByteDance's complete music ecosystem layout. Launched in 2021, Galaxy Ark is responsible for incubating and signing original musicians, controlling the upstream of the industrial chain. These new songs quickly become popular on Douyin through short videos. Qishui Music then takes in the large number of users from Douyin and allows listeners to stay for long - term use. This ecosystem has the same logic as the Tomato Novels - Hongguo Short Dramas - Douyin model, except that the content carrier is music. The traditional model of exclusive copyrights plus membership payments relied on by traditional platforms is being deconstructed by this new approach.

In 2026, the competitive landscape of the music market will be further reshaped. The rapid rise of Qishui Music has forced traditional platforms to adjust their strategies. It's not that copyright itself is no longer important, but the way of monetizing copyrights is changing. When short - video platforms become the main channels for music distribution, whoever controls the traffic entrance and distribution ability can redefine the power structure of the music market. This change is not only happening in China. Considering the lower competition intensity in the overseas copyright market and the pressure - bearing capacity of leading companies, the power shift may occur earlier overseas.

12 Short dramas produce top - tier stars

2025 is a watershed for short dramas. The monthly active users of Hongguo Short Dramas exceeded 240 million, surpassing Youku and ranking fourth in the online video industry. As short dramas have changed from marginal entertainment to mainstream consumption, especially as the main battlefield for female fans to ship CP, their star - making ability has begun to show.

The most obvious signal comes from the popularity of several short - drama actors, especially the traffic - generating effect of male actors. Ke Chun became the "king of short dramas" with "What a Good Girl" and participated in mainstream variety shows such as "Blooming Blossoms 2". Since the second half of this year, there has been a shortage of top - tier actors, and their number of acting offers has increased several times.

The commercial value has also exploded simultaneously. Short - drama actors are starting to get brand endorsements, and offline fan support and large - screen blessings have become the norm. They even frequently appear at mainstream entertainment award shows, rewriting the traditional definition of traffic stars.

In 2026, both industry insiders and audiences are waiting for an answer: Can short dramas really produce a top - tier star who can break through to the whole nation? Not just a top star within the short - drama platform but a new star who can cross different content forms and have a place in the entire entertainment industry. By then, the power structure of the domestic entertainment industry will be truly rewritten.

13 Rural and small - town short dramas

The short - drama market is further sinking. While the mainstream market focuses on top - tier content and moves towards high - quality development, the markets in fifth - and sixth - tier cities, counties, and rural areas for middle - aged and elderly people are being continuously explored. Channels such as Muye and Duoduo Short Dramas under ByteDance have huge traffic in these markets.

The core themes of these short dramas are highly homogeneous but target the audience accurately, focusing on narratives about migrant workers, rural suspense, mother - in - law and daughter - in - law conflicts, and the counter - attack of middle - aged and elderly losers. A number of production companies are also shifting to the sinking market, and a production system with extremely low cost and high efficiency has been formed.

14 Vertical distribution

In the movie market with a complete 2C business chain, although there are fewer and fewer mass - level blockbusters, niche content provides a certain degree of stability and certainty. Different from the previously much - discussed segmented distribution, the main body of vertical distribution is not movie theaters but distribution companies. It aims not at increasing the number of screenings of a specific movie through theater management but at the distributor establishing connections with more niche user groups through film selection.

For example, the distributor of "Prima Facie", "New Live", which specializes in the distribution of high - definition images of dramas and operas, has attracted high - net - worth art lovers through the NT Live series, and its box - office has been steadily increasing. The "Romantic Film Distribution Department" founded by Jia Zhangke also accurately promotes auteur films to audiences who are really willing to watch, discuss, and repeatedly consume them through film festivals, art cinemas, and fan communities. It is also the distributor of the female - themed movie "There Is Always Tomorrow".

The most variable area is the anime field. After the success of "Doraemon: Nobita's Sky Utopia" and "Suzume", in addition to Luhuahua, the importer of the above two movies, which focuses on importing Japanese animated movies, traditional licensing companies such as Lingbang have also established film and television companies focusing on importing popular Japanese animated movies, and the importer of the "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" theatrical version is Maoyan. However, affected by the objective political environment, this niche content direction, which was originally highly anticipated, has come to a sudden halt