Zhongtai: The AI animated drama industry is on the verge of exploding with the dual drive of supply and demand.

Zhongtai released a research report stating that according to data from Ju, from April to July 2025, the supply, viewership, and likes of comic dramas have continued to grow at a monthly compound growth rate of 83%, 92%, and 105% respectively. Since 2025, major companies such as ByteDance, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Baidu, and Youku have introduced AI comic drama support policies to increase the revenue share for comic creators. With the iteration of AI video model technology, AIGC content cost reduction and efficiency improvement, production capacity increases, the AI comic drama track is forming an income-cost differential, indicating an imminent industry boom. Companies with strengths in comic, online literature, animation, and related content, as well as companies with AI technology deployment and platform advantages, are expected to benefit from the development opportunities of AI comic dramas. Key points from Zhongtai: The comic drama industry market size is expected to rapidly grow in 2025, with an estimated breakthrough of 20 billion RMB within the year, confirming the trend of industry boom. According to Ju data, from April to July 2025, the supply, viewership, and likes of comic dramas have continued to grow at a monthly compound growth rate of 83%, 92%, and 105% respectively. In the past six months, there have been 3,000 new works launched, with a staggering 603% increase, and the market size is expected to surpass 20 billion RMB within the year. The support of policies from short, medium, and long video platforms, as well as the iteration of AIGC technology to reduce costs and increase production capacity, are the main driving forces behind the current comic drama boom. Since 2025, major companies such as ByteDance, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Baidu, and Youku have introduced AI comic drama support policies to increase the revenue share for comic creators. With the iteration of AI video model technology, AIGC content cost reduction and efficiency improvement, production capacity increases, the AI comic drama track is forming an income-cost differential, indicating an imminent industry boom. The comic drama industry chain is constantly improving, with a clear commercialization model. Comics, online literature, and short dramas are suitable for adaptation into comic dramas, and original content is expected to create an IP effect in the future. The comic drama industry has formed a value chain from IP reserve to adaptation production to commercial operation. The profit model of comic dramas is similar to short dramas, with the core principle being profit from viewership surpassing content costs, and currently, the ROI for full-domain comic operations can reach 1.8. Comic drama content is mainly adapted from comics, online literature, and short dramas, and the percentage of original content is expected to increase in the future, creating an IP effect. Currently, male-oriented themes dominate the comic drama genre, with the audience mainly consisting of males and a generalized young demographic, and in the future, both the content types and audience demographics are expected to continue expanding. Currently, male-oriented comic dramas account for over 90% of the content, but in the future, the supply of three fantasy genres (fantasy, magic, science fiction) and female-oriented comic dramas is expected to increase. Comic dramas present static comics and online web literature in a video form, as users have developed a habit of watching short dramas, the growth potential for comic drama viewers is stronger. For investment opportunities, it is recommended to pay attention to companies with strengths in comic, online literature, animation, short dramas, as well as companies with AI technology deployment and platform advantages such as Ronshin Group (301231.SZ), CHINA LIT (00772), COL Group Co., Ltd. (300364.SZ), H&R Century Union Corporation (000892.SZ), IReader Technology (603533.SH), Citic Press Corporation (300788.SZ), KUAISHOU-W (01024), BILIBILI-W (09626), Mango Excellent Media (300413.SZ), Zhejiang Huazhi Digital Media (300426.SZ), Beijing Jetsen Technology (300182.SZ), among others. Risk warning: Industry risks due to insufficient talent reserves, intensified competition, industry risks due to copyright issues, and risks of distorted third-party data.