ByteDance has set up an overseas skit business team and is recruiting a number of positions related to skits overseas, such as product manager for overseas short drama users, European and American copywriting planning, etc., based in Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, Byte has also launched a short drama app called “Melolo” overseas, which focuses on the free mode. This is also Byte's first skit product to go overseas.

According to the State Administration of Radio and Television, the 2025 National Radio and Television Work Conference will be held in Beijing from January 3 to 4. The conference made arrangements for key radio, television, and online audiovisual tasks in 2025. These include comprehensively improving governance capabilities in the online audiovisual field, improving the management of audiovisual content in the program category, formulating the “Management Measures for Short Dramas”, and making efforts to prosper, develop and standardize management.

The General Office of the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice on implementing the “Short Dramas +” action plan to empower thousands of industries. The notice states that in 2025, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will thoroughly organize and implement the “Travel with Short Dramas” creative plan, continue to promote the “Follow the Short Dramas to Learn the Law” and “Watch Brands in Short Dramas”, and “Follow the Short Dramas to Learn the Classics”, and “Follow the Short Dramas to Read More Than Heritage”, etc., to achieve a total of 300 leading and innovative projects in the field. Value-focused short dramas to create a series of thoughtful, artistic masterpieces, A well-produced, high-quality short drama.

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the short drama market is showing explosive growth. According to a report released by the China Research Institute of Research and Development, the market size of China's short drama industry will exceed 50 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan by 2027.

According to the “White Paper on the Development of China's Short Drama Industry” published by the China Online Audiovisual Association, this year's short drama market is expected to surpass the mainland film box office for the first time. In addition to this, the Chinese skit industry has also accelerated its overseas expansion, and many popular skits have already entered overseas markets. Among them, the US accounts for the highest share, over 50%. According to estimates from the top 10 skit platforms with overseas revenue, it is estimated that overseas skit will reach 4 billion US dollars in 2024.

According to a research report released by GF Securities, the skit industry is expected to further improve its quality, and the increase in the supply of high-quality content+a wave of skits will drive the growth of the scale of the industry.

Hong Kong stock companies related to the skit concept:

Reading Group (00772): Reading Group CEO and President Hou Xiaonan attended the Asian TV Forum and said that in the Southeast Asian video-on-demand market, Chinese dramas have become the second largest entertainment content for local users. In particular, in the free value-added field, Chinese dramas account for 40% of the share, making them the largest movies and TV dramas. Shen Wan Hongyuan pointed out that the high growth in skits overseas is mainly due to intense domestic competition, short drama cycle, fast turnaround, and low-threshold model output; overseas content payment habits and the rise of demand for fragmented entertainment; and the rise of demand for fragmented entertainment from overseas; and online writing overseas has prepared the basic conditions for short dramas to go overseas. Up to now, Reading has nurtured around 0.43 million original overseas creators. In 2024, the number of revisions of original overseas online literature for reading is expected to double compared to the previous year.

Yingyuzhou (03700): The short drama business is progressing steadily, but the profit margin is limited. As a derivative of online novels, the market has developed rapidly since late April 2022. With the launch of a number of popular skits, the number of users continued to rise. Since 2024, the skit circuit has entered a heated stage of competition. The booming development of the market has attracted more and more large manufacturers and platforms to join. The market entry threshold has risen, and the industry's profit margins have been further compressed. The company explores the next stage of development of skits, experiments with deep integration of skits with cultural tourism, etc., creates high-quality fine short dramas, simultaneously tests the waters of new opportunities for overseas short dramas, and focuses on verifying commercialization paths.

Ling Meng Film and Television (09857): According to Yunhe data, out of the top 20 series that were effectively broadcast in 16-23, the company listed 1-2 shows every year; long dramas with a Douban rating of 7 points + account for nearly 50%, making it a scarce domestic producer with stable production of leading content. Develop skits to create a second growth curve. With the heavy investment of short dramas, lack of profits from producers and normalization of supervision, boutiquization is a major trend; the company lays out to B/C boutique skits, covering home and abroad, based on the advantages of long dramas and the foundation of cooperation with platforms and brands. Compared with short dramas that only rely on distribution, profits are more guaranteed. The company launched popular models such as “29” in '23, and revenue for short dramas increased 12.4 times; in '24, the short production cycle and low cost are taken into account, we expect a high increase in revenue for that year, but increasing the purchasing effect and releasing profits require a process. The development of short dramas may affect profit levels, and it is expected that profits will gradually be realized in the future.

Happy Media (01003): Since 2016, the company has introduced a number of directors such as Chen Kexin, Wang Jiawei, Gu Changwei, Zhang Yibai, and Zhang Yimou as shareholders and partners of the company through targeted equity increases. Following the example of American DreamWorks, Happy Media closely integrates shareholder directors with the company's long-term interests through an innovative shareholding structure. In 2018, Huanxi Media received HK$0.953 billion and subscribed for 15% of its shares. Maoxi Entertainment will obtain investment rights and exclusive distribution rights for Huaxi Media's film and TV series projects, provide a service portal for “Happy Premiere” on its website and app, and use its traffic resources to promote Huaxi Media's online video streaming platform business. In 2020, the company reached a cooperation with ByteDance to set up an independent portal for the “Happy Premiere” platform on platforms such as Today's Headline and Watermelon Video. In the same year, Huanxi Media received HK$0.513 billion from Bilibili and subscribed for 9.9% of its shares. Bilibili will set up a special area for “Happy Premiere” within its platform.

Platform-based companies with leading skits: KUAISHOU-W (01024), Bilibili-W (09626)