China's $16.5B micro-drama industry becomes the world's first mass application of AI-generated video

In January 2026, a new AI-generated micro-drama went live on a Chinese streaming platform every 90 seconds. By March, approximately 50,000 AI-native titles had been added to Douyin in a single month. The production cost was roughly one-tenth of a live-action shoot. The usable rate of AI-generated footage had climbed above 90 per cent. And […] This story continues at The Next Web