Zhang Chaoyang says long-form video's pressure cannot be blamed on short dramas.

Short dramas continue to gain popularity, and AI short dramas are rising. Is the living space of traditional long-form video platforms being further squeezed? On October 31, Charles Zhang, founder, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Sohu, offered a different judgment in an interview. He said that short dramas and long dramas satisfy different user needs, and short dramas will not completely erode the long-drama market. Domestic long-form video platforms are facing operating pressure, and this cannot simply be attributed to the rise of short dramas. More important reasons also include users' payment habits, fierce competition among platforms, and persistently high content production costs. "The chief culprit of the economic pressure on long-form video is not short dramas," Charles Zhang said. Overseas long-form video platforms can maintain operations not because short dramas have not developed, but because of the high payment habits local users formed early on. By contrast, domestic long-form video platforms, in fierce competition for users, have failed to develop the same degree of payment habits, and combined with relatively high content production costs, this has led to greater operating pressure.