SHANGHAI, CHINA — As AI generates scripts, auto-edits videos, and produces micro drama prototypes in minutes, the film and television industry is restructuring its production logic. Since 2026, AI-powered micro dramas, virtual production, and smart storyboarding have accelerated adoption, making “content creation for everyone” a hot topic. While efficiency surges, industry anxiety grows: when technology lowers creative barriers, what truly defines content value?
This has become the core question as the micro drama sector enters a period of adjustment.
The industry once boomed with fast twists, emotional thrills, and traffic-driven marketing. As viewers fatigue and content homogenizes, platforms now prioritize retention, emotional value, character connection, and production quality over views alone. The sector is shifting from rapid expansion to refined competition.
Amid this transition, a new generation of producers with cross-disciplinary skill sets has begun attracting attention. Their role is no longer limited to resource coordination and production management, but increasingly extends into audience insight, narrative structuring, data analysis, and industrialized workflow management. Producer Liu Yixian is considered a representative example of this trend.
From an industry perspective, Liu’s recent projects reflect the evolving function of producers within the micro drama sector. Rather than relying solely on traffic-oriented storytelling, he has emphasized “emotional operation” and refined content management, incorporating audience profiling, process control, and data evaluation into the production pipeline.
His drama The Breakfast Beauty Wants a Divorce blends marriage, female growth, and urban emotions with realistic storytelling, earning over 260 million views. The Puzzling Noble Groom emphasizes psychological tension and character progression, gaining 68 million views. Viewers increasingly reject formulaic plots, favoring authentic characters and genuine emotion.
Industrialization used to mean cutting time and costs. Now AI makes pure efficiency easily replicable; systematic content management becomes the new threshold. AI is standardizing basic production and lowering costs. Yet insight into real emotions, human relationships, and social context remains irreplaceable.
Liu notes the industry may split: AI will mass-produce standardized low-cost content, while works with emotional depth and cultural value will grow scarce. The industry debate is no longer whether AI replaces creators, but what content remains irreplaceable. Producers like Liu offer the answer: lasting resonance comes from understanding real human emotions and observing society closely—skills technology cannot copy.
Media Contact:
- Mia Lin
- Crest PR Agency
- mia.lin@crestpragency.com
