Tencent and ByteDance push AI micro-dramas as Li Liang flags Tencent's growth

Tencent and ByteDance are expanding their AI-based micro-drama services as the two Chinese giants compete for user time and advertising revenue, according to digitaltoday.co.kr.

Tencent's short-form mini-app inside WeChat, Lyfao Pao, recorded 143 million monthly active users as of August. In the first week of October it drew 89.6 million weekly active users, up 44% from the same period a month earlier.

ByteDance runs the Chinese micro-drama platform Hongguo, which had 168 million daily active users as of July, more than double the figure a year earlier. Both companies let users watch entire series free and monetize through advertising.

Douyin group vice president Li Liang said on Weibo on the 27th that Tencent's recent growth in micro-dramas and short video far exceeds both Douyin and Hongguo. ByteDance also said about 10% of its total computing power is used for training and serving its video-generation AI models.

Market scale

Monthly active users of Chinese micro-drama mobile apps reached 467 million in August, up 77.6% year over year. In July, Tencent's Lyfao Pao was rebranded and has grown quickly since.

In an August report, Nomura cited QuestMobile data showing Hongguo had 168 million daily active users in July, more than the combined daily active users of some major long-form video platforms such as Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku and Mango TV.