(ECNS) - AI-generated "digital human" short dramas are gaining popularity in China, emerging as a new growth segment of the country's short-form video market as production costs fall and audiences become more receptive, industry observers said.
China's short-form video market, already one of the world's largest, continues to expand as platforms compete for viewers with increasingly serialized and algorithm-driven content.
Data from analytics platform DataEye showed that AI-driven digital human dramas accounted for 38% of the top 100 "manju" titles in January, up from 7% a year earlier. The combined viewership of such dramas on the January chart reached 2.55 billion views.
"Manju" refers to short-form video adaptations of online novels, comics, or original scripts. A post-apocalyptic title, "Apocalyptic Cold Wave: I Have a Mobile Fortress," ranked first after adding 230 million new views during the period, data showed.
Growing audience acceptance has been driven by improvements in the realism of AI-generated actors, reducing the "uncanny valley" effect - a phenomenon where near-human likeness can cause discomfort among viewers.
AI-generated digital human dramas are also showing clearer genre segmentation. Popular themes include fantasy cultivation, often adapted from male-targeted online fiction and structured around tropes such as rebirth and personal comeback narratives.
Against the backdrop of a broader slowdown in China's film and television industry, AI-generated dramas are appealing to producers because they allow tighter control over production time and labor costs, creating expectations for revenue growth.
However, persistent shortcomings, including audio-visual synchronization issues, unnatural lip movement and limited acting range, pose challenges. Legal and compliance risks are also emerging, particularly around digital likeness rights, as some AI-generated characters closely resemble real actors, sparking complaints from fans.
(By Zhang Jiahao)