AI-produced short dramas have experienced explosive growth this year. As technical barriers have fallen, numerous players have flooded into the market, driving a rapid surge in production capacity and causing prices to plunge dramatically.

For those creating AI short dramas, per-minute quotes have dropped from 5,000 yuan to just a few hundred yuan, hovering near production costs. However, on the other end of the spectrum, custom short drama services still command prices ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 yuan per minute.

Cybernana's company is a typical OPC (one-person company). Last year, she seized the opportunity to enter the AI short drama market. What she didn't anticipate was that within just six months, the industry shifted from a "production shortage" to "production oversupply," with quotes for identical content tumbling from 5,000 yuan per minute down to a few hundred yuan.

The price decline isn't limited to completed short dramas alone. Supporting digital human production services have also seen significant price drops, with custom digital human solutions that once cost between 300,000 and 600,000 yuan now achievable for just tens of thousands, or even a few thousand, yuan.

Domestic AI short dramas optimized for high-volume distribution have become so competitive that prices are squeezed to just a few hundred yuan per minute, making it increasingly difficult to profit purely through low-cost, high-volume strategies. As a result, some teams have begun abandoning the "produce more, sell faster" approach, pivoting instead toward premium content and intellectual property development. Other teams have shifted their focus to overseas markets.

Now that "being able to produce" is no longer a scarce skill, competition in the AI short drama space has evolved from competing on output volume and pricing to competing on content quality and market reach.

In Shanghai, Lu Wenbin's company primarily handles brand-customized short dramas. His clients demand higher standards for storytelling, visuals, and creativity, so prices have actually risen rather than fallen. A standard 20-minute brand-customized AI short drama can now command between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan.

At the same time, finding versatile talent who understands both AI technology and traditional film production has become increasingly difficult. According to Lu Wenbin, professionals with this hybrid skill set can command annual salaries approaching one million yuan.

Shao Liang, CEO of Shanghai Chongdie Digital Art Studio, says their strategy involves building intellectual property through an account matrix model, generating revenue through IP licensing. Meanwhile, Cybernana has turned her attention to overseas markets. There is consensus across the industry that localization and cultural translation are the keys to establishing a lasting presence internationally.

Currently, the team's work spans three main areas: AI short dramas featuring AI-generated realistic characters, interactive film and gaming experiences with AI avatars, and customized IP-based short dramas.

Wu Gaoming, co-founder of Jingying Technology, notes that from a commercial revenue perspective, the European and American markets alone account for nearly 60 percent of market share, while Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East, and other regions collectively make up the remaining 30 to 40 percent.

Compared to traditional live-action short dramas, AI-generated short dramas can directly reduce production costs by 70 to 80 percent.