According to information disclosed by the National Radio and Television Administration, 724 domestic online drama series totaling 12,103 episodes were approved for distribution in the first half of 2025, compared to 830 series and 13,686 episodes in the same period of 2024, representing year-on-year decreases of 12.77% and 11.57%, respectively. According to Yunhe Data, long-form video platforms launched a total of 271 drama series in the first half of 2025, a decrease of 33 series year-on-year. Among these, 137 new domestic dramas were launched, an increase of 7 series year-on-year, while domestic archived dramas and overseas dramas launched 71 and 63 series respectively, decreasing by 36 and 4 series year-on-year.
The four major platforms - iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku Video, and Mango TV - launched 56, 84, 33, and 17 domestic drama series respectively. Except for Mango TV, which increased by 5 series year-on-year, the other three platforms all experienced varying degrees of decrease in quantity. The concentration of top-tier drama series in the market declined year-on-year, with an increase in drama quantity but fewer breakout hits, shifting the market pattern from "one standout" to a "dispersed" landscape. In the first half of 2025, only 3 drama series broke 50 million views per episode, 2 fewer than the same period last year.
In recent years, micro-short dramas have rapidly become a hotspot in the audiovisual industry due to their flexible and diverse formats and rapid dissemination advantages. According to the "2024 China Micro-Short Drama Industry Research Report," China's micro-short drama market reached 50.5 billion yuan in 2024, exceeding movie box office revenues for the first time. The market size is expected to reach 63.43 billion yuan in 2025 and 85.65 billion yuan in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.2%.
As of August 31, 2025, all A-share drama companies had disclosed their 2025 semi-annual reports. Huanrui Century, Ciwen Media, Baina Qiancheng, Huazhi Digital Media, and Huace Film & TV recorded combined operating revenues of 1.358 billion yuan, up 62.75% year-on-year; combined net profit attributable to shareholders was -17.822 million yuan, down 106.72% year-on-year, turning from profit to loss.
**Baina Qiancheng's Drama Business Plummets 90% as Company May Completely Pivot to Marketing Track**
Based on semi-annual report data, among the 5 drama companies, some celebrated while others worried. Huace Film & TV was the only company to achieve growth in both revenue and net profit while maintaining profitability, with year-on-year increases of 114.94% and 65.05% respectively. Huace Film & TV also had the highest revenue scale at 790 million yuan, exceeding the combined revenues of the other 4 drama companies and being 4 times that of second-place Ciwen Media.
Baina Qiancheng experienced the largest year-on-year revenue decline, decreasing 46.43% to 136 million yuan compared to the same period last year; net profit was -20 million yuan, with losses reduced by 33.34% year-on-year. Both Huanrui Century and Ciwen Media fell into a situation of increased revenue but decreased profit, with revenues achieving substantial growth but net profits declining 139.86% and 262.10% year-on-year respectively, turning from profit to loss. Huazhi Digital Media was the only company with declines in both revenue and net profit, with year-on-year decreases of 19.68% and 54.39% respectively.
For drama companies, film and TV series sales constitute the core revenue source. In the first half, Huace Film & TV's TV drama production and copyright distribution business revenue reached 524 million yuan, up significantly by 153.38% year-on-year, accounting for 66.29% of total revenue, up 10.06 percentage points year-on-year. Ciwen Media and Huanrui Century's film/TV drama and derivative product revenues surged 284.55% and 446.61% year-on-year respectively, accounting for 99.81% and 67.90% of their total revenues.
Huazhi Digital Media's TV drama business revenue was 29.5089 million yuan, down 38% year-on-year, accounting for 66.44% of total revenue, a significant decline of 19.63 percentage points year-on-year. With weakening core business, Huazhi Digital Media deployed various measures for self-rescue, adding script creation and sales business during the period, generating revenue of 7.5472 million yuan, accounting for 16.99% of total revenue.
Baina Qiancheng was undoubtedly the most successful in transformation. While drama business still contributed 32.01% of revenue in the first half of 2024, drama business revenue this period was only 8.0024 million yuan, plummeting 90.17% year-on-year and accounting for 5.87% of total revenue, falling below 10% for the first time. Meanwhile, Baina Qiancheng's marketing and planning operation service revenue totaled 111 million yuan, accounting for as much as 81.60% of total revenue.
**Huace Film & TV's "Blossoms in Adversity" Becomes Phenomenal Hit While Huanrui Century Gets Nothing**
In the first half, Huace Film & TV had 2 works premiere, with "Blossoms in Adversity" scoring 7.8 on Douban, breaking Mango TV's historical viewership records, and winning the "Best Art Direction Award" at the Shanghai TV Festival's Magnolia Awards, becoming a phenomenal IP. Additionally, Huace Film & TV started production on 6 projects and completed filming on 5 projects, with 3 projects obtaining certificates.
In contrast, the quantity and quality of long-form dramas from Ciwen Media, Baina Qiancheng, Huazhi Digital Media, and Huanrui Century both declined.
In the first half, Ciwen Media's "Burning Sins" aired on iQiyi with a Douban score of 6.6, delivering a mediocre performance; "The Light King of Purple River" aired on iQiyi and Tencent Video but couldn't generate ratings due to low viewership, with main content effective play share peaking at only 2.80%.
Baina Qiancheng's "Criminal Investigation Scene" aired on Tencent Video but couldn't generate ratings due to low viewership, with main content effective play share failing to reach 2% and highest ranking only at 12th place. Huazhi Digital Media and Huanrui Century had no releases at all, hoping their reserve products can successfully air in the second half.
Regarding short drama business, Huace Film & TV's premium short dramas including "In the Name of Love," "Next One is Happiness," and "Dear Sworn Enemy" all exceeded 200 million views, with "In the Name of Love" surpassing 540 million total views and "Dear Sworn Enemy" breaking 320 million views within one month of launch. Ciwen Media aired 3 web micro-short dramas including "Northeast Stories: The Great Era 1&2" and "Legend of Kuang Qingtian." Huanrui Century mainly conducted short drama business through its Douyin accounts "Star Love Theater" and "Phoenix Theater," accumulating over 2 billion total views as of August 25, with total followers growing from 100,000 to 2 million, and multiple short dramas breaking 100 million views on Douyin.
Huazhi Digital Media collaborated with partners including Shanghai Nishang Feiying Technology Co., Ltd. to jointly build the Shanghai Yangpu International Short Drama Overseas Platform (Dramabyte), launching a short drama channel on DANA, Indonesia's largest third-party payment platform. Baina Qiancheng did not disclose short drama business progress.
**Huazhi Digital Media's 400 Million Yuan Private Placement Still Cannot Fill Funding Gap**
As a capital-intensive industry, the film and television industry has extremely high dependence on working capital. Due to long production cycles and difficulty predicting distribution and broadcast performance, film companies commonly face long collection cycles and accumulated accounts receivable, with average capital turnover cycles exceeding one year.
As of June 30, 2025, Ciwen Media's accounts receivable book balance reached 564 million yuan, of which 397 million yuan was aged over 2 years, surging 58.39% year-on-year and accounting for 70.37% of total accounts receivable, up 11.54 percentage points year-on-year.
Notably, Ciwen Media's bad debt provision ratio for accounts receivable is significantly lower than industry peers. According to semi-annual reports, Huace Film & TV, Baina Qiancheng, Huanrui Century, and Huazhi Digital Media's bad debt provision ratios for accounts receivable aged 2-3 years range from 27.94% to 50%, with an average of approximately 37.33%.
However, Ciwen Media's provision ratio is only 15.78%, not even reaching half of the industry average. Does this suggest that Ciwen Media may be under-provisioning or failing to provision for bad debts on accounts receivable to inflate profits?
Overall, Huazhi Digital Media undoubtedly has the worst liquidity, ranking last in both inventory and accounts receivable turnover efficiency. In the first half, Huazhi Digital Media's inventory turnover days reached 4,615.38 days (approximately 41 years), shortened by 68.72% year-on-year; accounts receivable turnover days were 966.18 days, extended by 5.15% year-on-year. As of June 30, Huazhi Digital Media's inventory and accounts receivable were 230 million yuan and 908 million yuan respectively, totaling 1.138 billion yuan and accounting for 55.65% of total current assets.
According to semi-annual reports, the top five inventory items are film and TV works: "Raging Sandstorm" (movie), "Crimson Spring Chronicle" (TV series), "Anaya Love Story" (TV series), "Till the End" (TV series), and "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by Hotpot" (movie). Among these, "Till the End" started filming in April 2025 and is currently in production; "Crimson Spring Chronicle" was suspended after its 2015 project initiation due to script revisions and main cast changes, restarted in 2021 with completed filing, but remains in restart preparation as of now; both "Raging Sandstorm" and "Anaya Love Story" have been shelved for years with official domestic release still far off.
Although Huazhi Digital Media completed a private placement in the first half, raising 405 million yuan for debt repayment and working capital supplementation, its asset-liability ratio remains far higher than peers. As of June 30, Huazhi Digital Media's asset-liability ratio reached 81.22%, 32.48 percentage points higher than second-place Huanrui Century; current ratio and quick ratio were 1.22 and 0.68 respectively, both ranking last in the industry.
After repaying some debts, as of June 30, Huazhi Digital Media still had 250 million yuan in short-term borrowings, roughly equivalent to its cash and cash equivalents balance. Additionally, borrowings and interest in other payables reached 1.044 billion yuan, including 946 million yuan payable to controlling shareholder Zhejiang Yitong; even excluding related party payables, borrowings and interest still approached 100 million yuan.
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