Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. has just notched five consecutive limit-up days, with its share price surging 61.14% over that five-session stretch. But the company itself has disclosed that its AI video business generated roughly only 80 yuan in June revenue, with July bringing in just 75,000 yuan—less than 0.01% of last year's total turnover.
On the other hand, the company's semi-annual report paints a far more impressive picture. Its first AI comic drama, "Time Travel 1988," has already released 170 episodes, amassing over 120 million views across platforms, with a Red Fruit heat score exceeding 40 million.
So here's the puzzle: on one side, 120 million views; on the other, 80 yuan in June revenue. And still, the stock delivered five straight limit-ups. Even more telling, after those figures of 80 yuan and 75,000 yuan were laid bare, the fifth limit-up still arrived. The real question, then, is: what exactly is the market buying?
What the market is buying was never about the 80 yuan itself. The day the first limit-up hit, something else happened to coincide. On August 31, "Journey to the West: The Sequel" premiered on Mango TV and simultaneously aired during Hunan TV's prime-time slot. That same day, Mango Excellent Media jumped 20% to its limit-up, followed by another 20% the next day. Soon, a wave of film, short-drama, and content companies began to stir as well.
But what's genuinely new about "Journey to the West: The Sequel" isn't that AI can finally produce long-form content. AI comic dramas have already achieved that. Over the past year, platforms like Red Fruit and Douyin have seen a flood of AI-generated comic dramas—cultivation, rebirth, time-travel—churning out episode after episode, with dozens, hundreds, or even more installments hardly raising eyebrows. Turning web novels into videos via AI and retaining audiences through steady updates was a path already being trodden.
What "Journey to the West: The Sequel" actually advanced was switching arenas. Instead of staying put on short-drama and comic-drama platforms, it was made into a long-form series with roughly 40-minute episodes, landed on Mango TV, and even secured a prime-time slot on Hunan TV. This signals AI-generated content beginning to move from the already crowded short-drama and comic-drama markets into the territory of traditional long-form series.
More importantly, there's the cost factor. "Journey to the West: The Sequel" went from project initiation to broadcast in under five months, and according to the creative team, its production cost was only a fraction of what similarly scaled productions would typically run. That's what has capital markets genuinely excited. AI comic dramas have already proven that cheap AI-generated content can be mass-produced and does attract viewers. "Journey to the West: The Sequel" then pushes the question one step further: if AI can also handle traditional long-form dramas—historically higher in cost and longer in cycle—what happens then?
The impact wouldn't be limited to AI video companies alone. It would also reach those holding vast troves of stories and copyrights. Publishers are among them. Previously, turning a novel into a TV series required actors, sets, costumes, post-production, and visual effects. Adding it all up, only a small minority of IPs were ever truly viable for screen adaptation. If AI drives down that layer of cost too, what wasn't worth adapting before might become worth it, and what has been sitting idle in copyright vaults could be revived as video content.
Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. happens to sit squarely within this narrative. It's a publisher by origin, and it also happens to have an AI comic drama, "Time Travel 1988," already 170 episodes deep with over 100 million views. So what capital markets are seeing isn't: this company made 80 yuan from AI in June. Rather, it's: can the content this company holds be turned into videos in batches at lower costs going forward? These two statements describe the same business, yet their valuations diverge wildly.
How far is 120 million views from profitability? That's precisely where the problem lies. Being able to produce something doesn't mean being able to profit from it. What actually sustains Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. today remains textbooks, supplementary teaching materials, and books. In 2025, the company posted operating revenue of 1.518 billion yuan, with textbook and supplementary material revenue alone exceeding 1 billion yuan. By the first half of this year, operating revenue stood at 659 million yuan, up 5.62% year-on-year, yet net profit attributable to shareholders fell 34.46% to 78.678 million yuan. Against these figures, AI video revenue barely registers beyond the decimal point of the financial statements.
Of course, one can't simply divide the 120 million views of "Time Travel 1988" by 75,000 yuan to calculate how much each view is worth. The company hasn't disclosed whether all of that 75,000 yuan came from "Time Travel 1988," nor has it revealed which platforms the view counts correspond to, what statistical period they cover, or how revenue is recognized. What's certain right now is that "Time Travel 1988" has captured substantial traffic. But the company's entire AI video business has yet to convert that traffic into money capable of moving the listed company's bottom line.
This, in fact, is the most compelling aspect of the AI content industry right now. Whether it can be done increasingly looks like a non-issue. The real question is how much of the revenue streams—platform procurement, playback sharing, advertising, memberships, and licensing—will ultimately and consistently land in content creators' pockets. AI can slash production costs, but whether a business model holds up ultimately hinges on revenue. So "Time Travel 1988" has proven Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. can produce AI comic dramas and attract traffic. What it hasn't proven is whether that traffic can be converted into steady income.
120 million can be touted, but the 80 yuan needs mentioning too. It's precisely at this juncture that the Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. story shifts from AI comic dramas to a different issue. In its semi-annual report, the company told investors: 170 episodes, 120 million views, a Red Fruit heat score over 40 million. All of that is worth reporting. The problem is, when AI has become one of the most sensitive labels in capital markets, investors seeing "120 million views" will naturally follow up with: how much money did it make? What's the actual impact on the listed company's performance?
And in the semi-annual report, that part wasn't made clear. Later, as the stock hit consecutive limit-ups, the company at one point stated in related announcements that its AI video business had "generated no operating revenue," before further disclosing figures of roughly 80 yuan for June and around 75,000 yuan for July. The Shanghai Stock Exchange ultimately determined that the semi-annual report failed to adequately explain the revenue scale, proportion, and actual impact of the AI video business on operating results, and that subsequent announcements contained inconsistent statements about revenue—constituting inaccurate information disclosure and insufficient risk disclosure. As a result, Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. and its then board secretary were issued regulatory warnings.
This isn't really that complicated. It's like a restaurant telling you: 1,000 people queued outside today. That's an impressive figure. But if you're a shareholder of that restaurant, you'd probably ask the follow-up: how much did the cash register actually take in at the end of the day? That's why the issue was never whether 120 million views can be reported. Of course it can. The problem is that if you're going to report 120 million, you also have to disclose the 80 yuan alongside it.
Why did the 80 yuan still not block the fifth limit-up? But the truly interesting part of the Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. saga comes at the end. By the time the fifth limit-up arrived, the market already knew this AI video business was generating virtually no revenue at present. And still, the stock went limit-up. This suggests that by at least the fifth board, it's hard to attribute the rally simply to investors being unaware of how much the company currently earns. They already know. Yet some were still willing to buy.
Because capital markets don't just price in today. At this stage, funds are no longer trading on how much Heilongjiang Publishing&Media Holdings Co.,Ltd. earns from AI right now, but rather on how much this business might earn in the future. The market is willing to believe that today's still-tiny AI video revenue could, in a few years, grow into a real business. This kind of imagination isn't entirely without basis. But between imagination and the income statement, there's still a long way to go.
The company's real moneymakers remain textbooks, supplementary materials, and publishing distribution. The AI video business model has yet to validate itself through financial data. Yet the stock has already climbed 61% in five days. So the most intriguing thing about these five limit-ups was never that 80 yuan somehow merited five straight boards. Of course it didn't. What the market was really buying was the story behind that 80 yuan. As for whether that story ultimately pays off, no one knows right now. Perhaps years from now, looking back, 80 yuan really was just the starting point. Or maybe the 120 million views will end up being just a flash in the pan. Capital markets can bet on the former. But until the results are in, a story is a story, and a financial report is a financial report.
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