Actual tests show that OiiOii has pushed MiniMax's service price down to 0.1 yuan per second, which makes small and medium-sized teams overjoyed, and the content theme has become the key to profitability.
In the first half of 2026, the total number of new AI dramas/manhua dramas on the Douyin platform reached 221,900, of which 1,055 had over 100 million views, with a hit rate of only 0.48%.
If we take 50 million views as the baseline for breaking even, a total of 2,886 new dramas crossed the threshold in the first half of the year, accounting for only 1.3%, and over 90% of the content had low traffic. There are two reasons for this situation: first, leading manufacturers adopt a volume-based strategy to increase the probability of producing hit works; second, some small and medium-sized teams or new production parties blindly follow the trend of popular hits.
However, this is an inevitable problem in market-oriented involution. It is necessary to drastically reduce costs in a fast-renewing market while ensuring the high-end sense of art style and high recognition of character faces. This kind of "wanting both efficiency and quality" often pushes production teams to a dead end.
Recently, a short drama production tool has been connected to the industry's top large model MiniMax H3. DataEye Research Institute will conduct actual tests on the new functions and new model of this tool to see how the market problem of "low price with high quality" can be solved.
Large Manufacturers Are "Betting Big", While Small and Medium-Sized Teams' Way Out Lies in "Choosing the Right Track"
From the perspective of the market pattern, there is a huge gap between leading large manufacturers and mid-to-small teams. Leading manufacturers such as Soyoung, KuaiChuang, Jiuzhou and other comprehensive enterprises, with strong capital budgets and self-closed production chains, use industrialized volume-based strategies to "bet big" on hit works;
Small and medium-sized teams are facing the triple squeeze of capital, time and manpower. One more draw of resources means one more loss, and one position has to take into account multiple functions. Therefore, small and medium-sized teams must step on tracks that feature "high platform support, huge supply gaps, and long-term serialized compound returns", and use strategic precision to make up for the lack of resources. In this case, "choosing the right art style and track" is the first step that determines life and death.
First of all, from the perspective of platform policies, in the latest "Adjustment of AI Drama Revenue Sharing Coefficient" released by the Copyright Center of Douyin Group, hyper-realistic human dramas, 3D animation manhua dramas and 2D animation manhua dramas all have the highest coefficient of 40. At the same time, a cash incentive of 200,000 RMB will be given to hyper-realistic human dramas, 3D animation manhua dramas and 2D animation manhua dramas whose single drama peak popularity exceeds 70 million. The platform has given the value standard with real money, content with high visual effects and high immersion is getting excess returns.
In addition, DataEye-ADX data shows that the current distribution of AI manhua drama themes presents an obvious "uneven hot and cold" situation. On the one hand, the word "Xiuxian (cultivation for immortality)" appeared 2,291 times in the first half of 2026, and words related to "monster" and "demon" appeared 1,559 times. The content of fantasy cultivation themes is crowded, and homogeneous competition is becoming increasingly fierce; on the other hand, the supply of themes such as female-oriented deep palace house fighting, sci-fi mecha, and farming healing is seriously insufficient, and there is a huge structural gap.
The biggest pain point of traditional AI manhua dramas is "art style drift". When watching low-popularity and low-view AI dramas, DataEye Research Institute found that some episodes have problems such as characters switching back and forth between AI hyper-realistic human style and 3D manhua style, and frequent switching between 3D manhua and 2D manhua. This kind of loophole is very fatal to the immersion and coherence of story expression.
For small and medium-sized teams, every "art style drift" means rework, re-drawing of resources, and additional costs. In a market with a hit rate of only 0.48%, any unnecessary cost expenditure may become the last straw that crushes the team.
Accessing MiniMax H3 is precisely aimed at this pain point. First of all, H3 is currently the 2K video large model with the lowest market price, and has strong price competitiveness among products of the same resolution level. Secondly, it has stronger stability. Different from the past, H3 adopts the mode of "improving performance through architecture efficiency", and reduces computing power consumption through technological innovation to achieve the purpose of cost reduction.
Actual Test: From Script to Finished Film, Aligned with Hit Style
According to official data from OiiOii, through the style library + Agent automated production, in the past, 3 people needed 5 days to make 1 drama, and the cost per minute was hundreds of yuan. With one-click direct output by Agent, 1 person can finish it in 2-3 days, the efficiency is increased by 5 times, the price is reduced by 8 times, and the production cycle is shortened from several weeks to several days.
(1) Hit-style "Manhua Drama Style Library", One-Click Style Matching
"Manhua Drama Style Library" is an intelligent material library integrating a large number of hit art style templates. DataEye Research Institute found in actual tests that its core advantage lies in "aligning with hit works".
From the perspective of theme coverage, the style library has built in a variety of manhua drama styles, covering all categories of manhua drama themes such as 3D fantasy, ancient power politics, urban sweet romance, farming, mecha, and science fiction. Creators do not need to explore the art style from scratch, they can select the style at the initial stage of creation, selecting the style means selecting the track, and one-click to match the tone of hit works.
Compared with other products, it focuses more on the visual precipitation of the picture art style. From the perspective of the richness of Agents, a total of 11 image generation models and 21 video models, as well as text-to-audio models are embedded. Creators can select a specific model for fixed use in the early stage of creation, or turn on the intelligent Agent mode to automatically match the most suitable Agent according to the needs of specific links.
From the perspective of price, when the membership is recharged, the conversion ratio of RMB to "He Fan" (the platform's exclusive points) is 1:10, that is, 0.1 RMB per He Fan.
In terms of image generation, the minimum is 2 He Fan per image, and the maximum is 40 He Fan per image; in terms of video generation, the latest MiniMax is 7 He Fan per second, Seedance2.0 Pro 720P content is 14 He Fan per second, and Seedance2.0 mini 720P content is 8 He Fan per second. DataEye Research Institute tested generating a 10-second video, from text-to-image to image-to-video, which cost about 210 He Fan in total.
This means that the production of 3D manhua dramas, which used to require multiple people to collaborate for several days and cost hundreds of yuan per minute in the traditional mode, has greatly reduced human input and capital costs through OiiOii's "style library + Agent automation", the efficiency has increased several times, and the price has decreased by nearly an order of magnitude.
(2) Align with Hit Drama Art Style, Quickly Replicate Successful Experience
DataEye Research Institute found in actual tests that the whole process from script to finished film, the "Manhua Drama Style Library" is the "central nervous system" that runs through the whole process. For example, DataEye Research Institute wants to make a short drama story with 3D fantasy style, combining the refreshing feeling of farming management and the warmth of family group portraits.
Step 1: Art Director Agent intervenes. Creators only need to select the matching hit style template from the "Manhua Drama Style Library" at the beginning of creation, then they can lock the overall visual tone with one click in subsequent creations. Whether it is 3D fantasy, ancient farming or urban sweet romance, selecting the style means selecting the track, and each preset in the style library is bound to market-verified hit cases, allowing creators to stand on the "shoulders of giants" from the very beginning.
Step 2: Screenwriter Agent generates the script. Based on the selected style template, the Agent will refer to the content of hit works, and automatically output the complete script text that conforms to the tone of the theme. Creators only need to confirm or make a small amount of optimization, no need to write from scratch.
Step 3: Character Designer Agent appears. This is the key link for the style library to solve the biggest pain point of the industry. Based on the visual specifications of this theme in the style library, the Agent will generate unified character cards and FaceID avatars for all core characters. Creators only need to add the characters to the asset library after confirming the design for the first time, and introduce the assets in subsequent prompts, which can ensure that the facial features, costumes and art styles of subsequent characters are consistent from beginning to end, effectively solving the problem of "face changing in multi-episode serialization".
Step 4: Scene Designer Agent automatically extracts core scenes. Based on the scene aesthetics solidified in the style library, the Agent will identify key scenes from the script and generate visual solutions. Creators can also ensure that the scenes and characters are in the same visual system through multi-view lens switching.
Step 5: Prop Designer Agent joins in. Configure visual props that conform to the worldview setting for key plot nodes, further enriching the picture details.
Step 6: Storyboard Artist Agent confirms the plan. The system outputs storyboard previews based on the locked character and scene assets. In this link, creators can freely choose from a variety of video models. For example, DataEye Research Institute chooses to configure MiniMax H3 as the basic generation model. After confirming the generated storyboard, creators can choose to go to the editing station to edit the single storyboard material, or directly output the complete version with one click.
Step 7: Sound Effect Director Agent intervenes. When all storyboard videos are generated, the Sound Effect Director Agent intervenes automatically, intelligently matches the background music style based on the theme tone locked by the style library, and calls Suno to generate customized soundtracks.
