AI Short-Form Dramas Sweep the Continent

This drama features King Dae Heummu of Balhae as the protagonist. The announcement garnered significant attention within China.

This is analyzed as an attempt to incorporate Balhae's history into Chinese history as part of the Northeast Project.

This 'Balhae Dae Heummu' will be produced as a 20-episode series using AI technology. The total length will be about 100 minutes, with each episode lasting approximately 5 minutes. The set required for production was built to an area of approximately 120 pyeong (approx. 4,260 sq ft).

Last year, the market size surpassed 15 billion dollars, approximately 20 trillion won, showing rapid growth. The phenomenon of short-form dramas gaining popular appeal and consumption is prominent.

Of these, 95% were produced using AI technology. This figure shows how widely AI is applied to content production.

AI-produced content is exerting overwhelming influence on Chinese video platforms.

With infinite generation possible without actors, production costs can be dramatically reduced.

Traditional short-form drama production used to cost a surprising amount. Many elements were needed, such as actors with acting skills and good looks, sets for filming, cameras, directors, lighting, and editing staff. Even for small-scale dramas, maintaining the production and cast incurred significant costs.

Since the introduction of AI, the production environment of the Chinese short-form drama market has greatly changed. The production team of the most successful short-form drama in China recently consisted of only three people. As recently as 2024, five people took three months to produce a 3-5 minute AI drama, but now one person can complete an AI drama in one or two days.

This TV drama achieved a 1.5% viewership rating on a local satellite channel, reaching number one. The success of 'Journey to the West' had a ripple effect, boosting the production company's stock by 64%.

In China, 470 AI short-form dramas are generated daily, reducing the standing for real actors. Extra actors are being completely replaced by AI, and new actors face precarious situations due to reduced work. Even popular actors are facing pressure to provide data such as their image and voice, and concerns about unauthorized replication are growing.

Unlike China, it is an environment where AI technology is difficult to apply easily. Korea also still maintains traditional filming methods.

The four-year contract signed after last year's general strike places significant restrictions on the use of AI actors.

In China, there are almost no sanctions for unauthorized learning of actors' faces, speech patterns, and voices to generate AI. In contrast, in the U.S., the use of AI is very restricted due to intellectual property lawsuits and strong union opposition. These environmental differences are affecting the speed of AI content industry development in both countries.

In Hollywood, there are still cases where AI technology is avoided. The Trojan horse in the movie 'Odyssey' was filmed using a real model weighing 3 tons. Some directors criticize that AI could undermine the foundation of the film industry, maintaining a skeptical view of technology utilization.

Anger over the unnaturalness of AI-generated videos and a lack of trust in them as works was expressed in comments.

ByteDance's AI-powered platform 'Seedance' has revolutionized short-form drama production efficiency. Before 'Seedance' was introduced, 40 people produced a drama over four months with a production cost of about 400 million won, but thanks to 'Seedance', a similar quality work can be completed in less than a month for 7,000 dollars (about 10 million won).

The global AI market shows a philosophical confrontation between China and the U.S. China is accelerating AI development focusing on efficiency without regulation, while the U.S. ironically slows down, adhering to ethical procedures such as copyright. These different approaches are having different impacts on the AI industry development in both countries.