Ling Tan stands as China's first AIGC-powered, live-action-style short drama, exceeding 100 minutes in total runtime and signaling a milestone in applying AI to long-form audiovisual production.

Market impact: billed as a scalable model for long-form AI-generated content, the project showcases a path for broader adoption of AIGC in live-action storytelling.

Experts credit Shanghai’s competitive edge in the micro drama market to the blend of advanced computing, robust infrastructure, and targeted policy support.

Industry insiders say that the combination of cutting-edge computing, strong infrastructure, and favorable policy measures gives Shanghai an edge in the rapidly expanding micro drama segment.

Source: reported by Evelyn and published by ECNS, with links to Echinanews social channels.

Format and solutions: two-minute episodes blend light comedy with AI-assisted production to tackle character and continuity issues, paving the way for extended AI-driven narratives.

The Shanghai-produced micro drama Ling Tan has drawn broad attention, accumulating over 10 million views across multiple online platforms.

Production uses a hybrid workflow that combines multiple AI tools with human creative oversight to preserve narrative coherence while enabling large-scale content generation.

Approach: a hybrid AI-driven workflow paired with human curation maintains storytelling coherence at scale.

Economic impact: AI-driven production cuts costs to roughly one-fifth of traditional methods and halves production cycles, turning long-form AIGC from a niche experiment into a commercially viable model.

Industry estimates indicate AI-enabled production drastically reduces costs and accelerates timelines, making long-form AIGC commercially viable.

The 46-episode series features short two-minute installments and uses AI-assisted production to address challenges like character consistency and scene continuity, enabling longer-form AIGC storytelling.