Leading online literature giants have opened more than 80,000 IP authorizations. In the second half of 2026: No IP, no comic drama?

According to the semi-annual report data of DataEye Research Institute, in the first half of 2026, a total of 221,900 AI dramas/manhua dramas were launched. At present, the AI drama/manhua drama industry has entered a new stage of high-density, fast-iteration and homogenized competition. A huge number of projects are launched intensively. Among the new dramas in the first half of the year, the proportion of dramas with over 50 million views accounts for 1.3%, and the proportion of dramas with over 100 million views is 0.48%.

However, according to another set of data, among the top 30 most popular AI dramas/manhua dramas on Hongguo in the first half of 2026, 19 are IP-adapted works, including hit works such as *The Legend of Ten Thousand Demons Illustrated Record*, *Exiled to the Border, My Convict Wife Reclaimed Wasteland and Raised a War God* and *The Magic Cornucopia: The Mixed Spiritual Root Is the Real Boss*.

In this issue, DataEye Research Institute will analyze the value of IP in the current industry context.

I. Web Novel IP Becomes the Core Development Priority

According to the data of DataEye-ADX Industry Edition, the same-name short drama adapted from the web novel *Please Unfurl the Long Banner on the Peach Blossom Horse* written by Liuyue, which belongs to the female-oriented, ancient Chinese, ancient court power struggle theme, once set the highest heat record with a heat value of 144 million, making it the first short drama with a heat value exceeding 100 million. Its total views on Douyin and Kuaishou have exceeded 1.2 billion.

After *Please Unfurl the Long Banner on the Peach Blossom Horse* became a hit in China, it was launched on the overseas short drama platform DramaBox, distributed to dozens of countries and regions around the world, with revenue from in-app purchases exceeding one million US dollars.

It can be seen that since 2024, web novel IP has shown extremely strong explosive power in the field of short dramas.

In April 2026, at the 13th China Online Audiovisual Conference, Dianzhong released the "Double 1 Billion" AIGC Global Co-creation Plan, planning to invest 150 million US dollars to support the overseas market and 1 billion RMB to support the domestic market, and open the authorization of 80,000 high-quality existing novel IPs under its banner.

According to this plan, after the cooperative finished films are introduced, the maximum domestic guaranteed payment can reach 150,000 RMB, and the maximum overseas guaranteed payment can reach 50,000 US dollars, with a 50/50 revenue split ratio. In addition, the cooperative content will also receive support from the Hippo Theater, DramaBox and the entire network traffic matrix with a monthly exposure of 15 billion.

It is worth noting that Dianzhong's current involvement in fields such as digital reading and audiobooks is all for the incubation of these 80,000 existing IPs, which greatly improves the possibility of developing hit works based on these IPs.

This means that major manufacturers have already started to open their own IP libraries, while also developing one-stop solutions covering IP incubation, finished film production, overseas distribution and full-domain monetization.

After an IP-adapted drama is verified in the domestic market, it can quickly enter overseas markets for continuous rolling broadcast, significantly extending the monetization cycle. Creators are no longer participants in a "one-off deal", but long-term beneficiaries who travel around the world with their works and continuously get revenue shares.

II. Data Verification:

IP-adapted Hit Dramas Account for Over 60%, and Head IPs Have Multi-round Adaptation and Development Potential

(1) IP Adaptation of Hit Dramas in the First Half of the Year

According to the statistical data of DataEye Research Institute, among the top 30 of the top 100 Hongguo AI dramas/manhua dramas in the first half of the year, 19 are adapted from novel IPs, accounting for more than 60%, including hit works such as *The Legend of Ten Thousand Demons Illustrated Record*, *Exiled to the Border, My Convict Wife Reclaimed Wasteland and Raised a War God* and *The Magic Cornucopia: The Mixed Spiritual Root Is the Real Boss*.

It is worth noting that the novel *Exiled to the Border, My Convict Wife Reclaimed Wasteland and Raised a War God* written by Liu Li has been adapted into more than 30 versions. Among them, the series produced by Duoduoduo Animation has the highest popularity, with the first six seasons all breaking into the top 30 of the top 100 Hongguo AI dramas/manhua dramas in the first half of the year, and the peak heat value reaching 82.51 million. The cumulative native views of the first season on Douyin have reached 2.06 billion.

At present, the novel *Exiled to the Border, My Convict Wife Reclaimed Wasteland and Raised a War God* is still being serialized. According to the data of Tomato Free Novels, the number of people reading this novel at the same time reaches 697,000, 14,000 readers have scored the novel, with a score of 8.8.

It can be seen that hit IPs have huge adaptation potential. Every version of the original script needs to re-verify the market. With the data precipitation of the original novel, the core pleasure points, emotional rhythm and character setting of IP adaptation have been verified by the market before shooting. Producers only need to fine-tune the visual style and detail presentation between different versions, instead of making new attempts and mistakes.

In addition, with the support of AI, the efficiency of IP development has been greatly improved. Hit IPs have obtained good market feedback in the novel stage. With this endorsement, IP can carry out multi-series development at the same time, and be adapted into various themes such as 3D manhua, AI simulated real-person drama or real-person drama. After being verified by the market, the same IP can also carry out series drama development, deriving the second season, the third season... From this perspective, IP is equivalent to a repeatedly exploitable narrative universe, which can realize sustainable monetization under continuous derivation.

(2) Examples of Real-person Short Drama IP Adaptation

In addition to *Please Unfurl the Long Banner on the Peach Blossom Horse*, there are also popular IP adaptation cases of real-person short dramas such as *Lotus Light Shines Through Ages*, *Reincarnated as the God of Wealth's Unborn Baby: I Was Rejected at the Beginning, I Earned Hundreds of Billions with My Mom and Became the Richest!*, *Love Never Ends in the Clear Clouds and Dust* and *Deep Time, How Deep Is It*.

Among them, *Lotus Light Shines Through Ages* has a heat value of 24.662 million, the native views on Douyin reach 860 million, the views on Kuaishou reach 92.43 million, and it also breaks into the top of the hit list of Youku and iQiyi. Its original work is the short novel *Lotus Light Shines Through Ages* written by Little Civet Cat, with a score of 9.3 and 138,000 people reading it.

*Reincarnated as the God of Wealth's Unborn Baby: I Was Rejected at the Beginning, I Earned Hundreds of Billions with My Mom and Became the Richest!* has a heat value of 24.461 million, the native views on Douyin reach 720 million, the views on Kuaishou reach 160 million. The highest heat on Hongguo reaches 62.81 million, and the highest heat value on Tencent Video reaches 7170. Its original work is the short novel *Reincarnated as the God of Wealth's Unborn Baby: I Was Rejected at the Beginning, I Earned Hundreds of Billions with My Mom and Became the Richest!* written by Huang Tengjiu, with a score of 9.3 and 42,000 people reading it.

The native views of *Love Never Ends in the Clear Clouds and Dust* on Douyin reach 640 million, and the views on Kuaishou reach 61.507 million. The heat value of *Deep Time, How Deep Is It* is 18.419 million, the native views on Douyin reach 530 million, and the views on Kuaishou reach 35.724 million.

Many of the above dramas have topped the DataEye short drama heat list, and have been translated into multiple language versions for overseas monetization, which are examples of the current path of "domestic verification - multi-language adaptation - global distribution".

III. Second Half of the Year: "No Manhua Drama Without IP"

Judging from the adaptation of manhua drama IP in the first half of the year, starting from the second half of the year, IP is the key for AI dramas/manhua dramas to break through the current competition.

Since last year, the National Radio and Television Administration has continuously issued governance policies for AI short dramas, setting strict restrictions on their review standards and management methods. Major platforms have also simultaneously carried out content purification actions. Along with factors such as rising Token prices, stricter review, and platform content clearance, in the future, AI dramas/manhua dramas will no longer rely on low-cost mass production and accumulating views by quantity for barbaric growth, and the space for shoddy production will only become smaller and smaller. Therefore, IP will become the key to content competition for AI dramas/manhua dramas. In other words, for producers, IP is one of the shortcuts to break through the encirclement.

On the one hand, for small and medium-sized production teams, IP authorization is the shortest path to reduce trial and error costs and break the involution dilemma.

In the past, for an original script from project approval to launch, the screenwriting team spent 2-3 months polishing the story, and then launched it to verify the results. The probability of making a hit under this model is extremely low. The production process of IP adaptation is more efficient. After getting the authorization, producers can directly apply the story structure verified by the original work, and focus on visual presentation, operation and promotion.

On the other hand, for the entire short drama industry, the popularization of IP operation is promoting the industry to transform from "shoddy mass production" to "long-term operation of high-quality IP".

First of all, it changes the current situation that the industry relies on assembly line original scripts and has serious homogenization. In the past, in order to pursue production efficiency, a large number of original scripts applied similar templates such as "domineering president", "son-in-law who is underappreciated" and "rebirth", leading to audience aesthetic fatigue. IP itself has natural differentiated attributes. From xianxia to suspense, from farming to power struggle, each IP has a unique story core, which is different from the homogenization status of the industry. IP can guide capital and producers to attach importance to long-term content assets, and deeply cultivate long-term differentiated operation.

Secondly, IP operation and AI industrialization complement each other. IP is responsible for the story core, and AI is responsible for high-efficiency output. The two complement each other, reach a balance between quality and efficiency, and form a stable commercial closed loop.

In the long run, IP operation can further open up the full life cycle monetization mode. As mentioned above, the verified high-quality IP can not only be adapted into different themes such as real-person dramas and AI dramas/manhua dramas, but also derive series dramas for the same theme, so as to continuously carry out sustainable development of content. From this perspective, IP operation is also promoting the rise of the new phenomenon of AI idol economy.

At present, many AI dramas/manhua dramas are creating idols. For example, in *Deep Love Invades the Rest of My Life*, the leading characters Duan Yan, Rong Jiqiao and Ji Chuan have all opened personal accounts on Douyin and Hongguo platforms, with the number of fans exceeding 10,000, which is higher than most real actors. According to the report of Tide News, the same style of bracelet of the male lead Duan Yan in the drama has driven sales of more than 10,000 pieces, with total sales exceeding one million.

It can be seen that when IP characters get visualized images and continuous content output through AI dramas/manhua dramas, they begin to have idol attributes, and their commercial value will be immeasurable.

On the whole, the rules of the manhua drama track in the second half of 2026 have been rewritten. For production teams that are still on the fence, the question may no longer be "whether to do IP adaptation", but "whether they can grab high-quality IP". High-quality IPs with real high hit potential are always scarce, and the window period may be shorter than imagined.

This article is from "DataEye", authorized to be released by 36Kr.