China's National Radio and Television Administration recently issued the Radio, Television and Online Audiovisual 15th Five-Year Plan, which sets out ten anticipated development indicators for the sector through 2030.
The plan calls for cumulatively producing 100 outstanding audiovisual theoretical publicity works, 100 outstanding TV dramas (including online dramas), 100 classic documentaries of the new era, 100 outstanding animation works, and 500 outstanding micro-short dramas by 2030.
It also targets no fewer than 20 provincial-level or higher radio and television new media clients with relatively strong influence, and an emergency broadcast active release terminal coverage rate of no less than 80% in administrative villages.
Beyond content metrics, the technological layout is equally dense and clearly directed. The plan sets an artificial intelligence penetration rate of no less than 95%, a combined share of ultra-high-definition terminals for cable TV and IPTV of no less than 95%, and no fewer than 150 million new-type terminal applications. These three anticipated indicators outline the basic contours of the radio and television audiovisual technology evolution over the next five years.
AI Enters the Deep-Water Zone of Application Exploration
The plan proposes strengthening AI capability building and application, advancing the aggregation of various audiovisual corpora, and reinforcing the layout, construction and coordinated scheduling of intelligent computing infrastructure. It calls for building industry-level common technical service capabilities and strengthening the efficient supply of data, computing power and models.
It also aims to create industry-specific vertical large models and intelligent agents, deepen innovative AI applications across content, networks, services, security and regulation, and drive new business models with typical application scenarios as the牵引.
Furthermore, the plan proposes building an industry-level common technology service platform, constructing high-quality audiovisual datasets, incubating industry models, and establishing pilot testing platforms to form a technical foundation integrating computing power, models and application development tools. It calls for using next-generation AI technologies represented by large models to develop intelligent agents and intelligent applications adapted to virtual-real integration scenarios, empowering program planning, content production, safe broadcasting, review and regulation, international communication and public services.
"At the current stage, AI is mainly concentrated in content production and creation, such as planning, storyboarding, dubbing, editing and micro-short drama generation; next is review and regulation, used to quickly screen massive amounts of audio and video; there is also communication and distribution for user profiling and recommendations; in addition, international communication's multilingual translation and dubbing, emergency broadcasting and other public services have also begun to use AI," said Zhang Xiaorong, dean of the DeepTech Research Institute.
The 95% penetration rate target means that AI's positioning in the radio and television audiovisual industry has entered the deep-water zone of "full-process embedding." The plan provides direction for AI's application and exploration in the broadcasting field.
Regarding the anticipated target for AI penetration in the radio and television audiovisual industry, Guo Tao, an angel investor and senior AI expert, believes this is a comprehensive indicator covering the entire industry chain. In terms of statistical scope, it takes into account both the breadth of technology deployment and the depth of application, including both the adoption rate of AI tools in business segments such as content production, broadcast control, regulation and services, as well as the degree to which AI transforms business processes and the proportion of business output generated with AI participation.
Unlike a single hardware penetration rate, this indicator places greater emphasis on whether AI is truly embedded in the business closed loop rather than superficial trial use. It anchors the industry's digital transformation goals, measuring the penetration level of intelligent computing foundations, vertical models, datasets and intelligent applications in the audiovisual industry, and assessing overall progress from auxiliary efficiency improvement to business model reshaping.
The indicator design also aligns with the multiple attributes of broadcasting regulation, public services and content production, balancing industrial application value with ideological security requirements. It is a comprehensive yardstick for measuring the maturity of AI transformation across the entire audiovisual industry.
But penetration rate has never been the plan's sole concern. According to current requirements from the National Radio and Television Administration, programs generated, produced and broadcast using AI technology must carry content labels; key production stages and finished content must adhere to manual review and gatekeeping; and "AI tampering" is strictly prohibited.
At the same time, developing AI is not about "replacing human labor." For example, in the micro-short drama sector, Wang Xiaoliang, director of the Network Audiovisual Program Management Department of the National Radio and Television Administration, previously publicly stated: "Live-action dramas are the main force of premium creation and must be strongly supported." Platforms are required to open "live-action drama" sections to ensure good works have market access and returns.
Multiple Factors Converge to Drive the Ultra-High-Definition Industry
In addition to AI, ultra-high definition is mentioned in multiple places in the plan. Public information shows that UHD completed a round of key accumulation by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. After 2025 was designated as the "UHD Development Year," newly shot TV dramas, online dramas and documentaries have fully achieved UHD; the total number of UHD channels of China Media Group and provincial and municipal stations will reach 23 by the end of this year, ranking among the world's leaders; the total number of UHD set-top boxes for cable TV and IPTV nationwide has reached 386 million, and UHD TVs above 75 inches are gradually becoming mainstream in consumption.
Liang Zhenpeng, a consumer electronics industry analyst, told reporters that there are several core motivations behind the broadcasting sector's vigorous promotion of UHD in recent years. First, national strategy drives industrial upgrading and public service upgrading, with multiple resonances across technology, ecosystem, autonomy and controllability.
"Specifically, the rigid牵引 of national strategy and policy system — the UHD industry has been incorporated into the national 'Two Heavy' and 'Two New' strategic systems and is one of the core pillars of Digital China construction," Liang Zhenpeng explained. Second, it is a rigid need for industrial upgrading, cultivating new quality productive forces and driving upgrades across the entire industry chain. UHD is a typical industry capable of driving hundreds of billions of yuan in market expansion across upstream and downstream sectors including content production, terminal manufacturing, chip research and development, and transmission networks.
Third, it is public service upgrading. UHD can upgrade public cultural services and greatly enhance the dissemination appeal of mainstream content, serving as key technical support for strengthening mainstream public opinion positions.
Wu Chunyong, a broadcasting industry analyst, added: "Internally, in recent years the national broadcasting system has been integrating on a provincial basis, and the entire broadcasting system needs to operate in a group-based form, doing market-oriented things from the group to local levels, such as 5G. Advancing UHD can accelerate the integration process. Externally, traditional broadcasting businesses are being impacted by emerging formats such as IPTV and OTT. Against this backdrop, UHD as a competitive new format needs vigorous promotion. In addition, current consumers or users do not have as strong a habitual dependence on watching TV as they do on using mobile phones. UHD can provide more innovative experiences for consumers and users, and also provide new innovative soil for the industry."
The plan's target of "a combined share of ultra-high-definition terminals for cable TV and IPTV of no less than 95%" means UHD will transform from a "highlight configuration" of leading platforms into a "basic configuration" across the entire industry.
An easily overlooked detail is the pace of implementation of proprietary technology standards. Domestic UWA (Ultra-High-Definition Video and Audio) image and audio standards are accelerating their application, and thousand-yuan-level UWA home audio systems are already becoming popular. This means UHD advancement is more than a systematic reconstruction from content production to terminal presentation, and from technical standards to industrial ecosystem.
Liang Zhenpeng also said: "Promoting UHD technology and developing the UHD industry can achieve independent control of core technologies and build standard discourse power. This is a key track for China's audiovisual field to achieve the leap from technology follower to standard leader."
New Intelligent Applications Target Longstanding Problems in Broadcasting
If AI involves innovation, efficiency and governance, and UHD is an opportunity for industry chain upgrading, then terminal upgrading directly targets a problem that has troubled the industry for years: why is the experience of turning on the TV becoming increasingly complicated for ordinary people?
The answer lies in the new concept of "integrated television." The technical standard jointly formulated by the National Radio and Television Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has as its core idea embedding set-top box functions into the television in software form, so that users need only one universal remote control to power on and off with one button and watch channel programs with one button.
The plan's definition of "new-type terminals" goes far beyond a simpler television. The 150 million application units in the anticipated indicators cover three forms: integrated televisions, plug-in miniature set-top boxes, and home comprehensive intelligent terminals. The latter offers greater imaginative space: integrating audiovisual programs, health care and companionship, children's education, and smart home, supporting dialect voice, gesture interaction and cross-screen linkage.
Wu Chunyong said that new-type terminal applications can bring convenience to consumers and users on one hand; on the other hand, for the industry chain, they create demand for upgrading and iteration, which can drive growth in related industries.
"The indicator that cable TV and IPTV UHD terminals account for more than 95% means that China's cable TV and IPTV viewing terminals will basically complete a comprehensive generational shift to UHD by 2030. The transition will move from incremental promotion entirely into the final stage of comprehensive stock coverage, with the core manifestation being the formal and comprehensive end of the standard-definition era and a comprehensive upgrade of home audiovisual infrastructure," Liang Zhenpeng said.
"The entire UHD industry chain will complete a closed loop and open the entry point for the next-generation audiovisual ecosystem, because the 95% UHD terminal foundation will directly support the deployment of 150 million new-type intelligent terminals, upgrading the traditional TV large screen from a single-purpose viewing tool to a home smart interaction gateway," he added.
It is worth noting that upgrading to new-type intelligent terminals does not mean mandatory replacement. "It only means that when replacing entire units in some regions, consumer subsidies can be叠加. Therefore, ordinary existing users have plenty of low-cost or even zero-cost alternative upgrade options," Liang Zhenpeng added. "Existing traditional set-top boxes can continue to be used normally until the end of the transition period at the end of 2027, and users will not be required to eliminate old devices to complete upgrades. Moreover, the vast majority of existing smart TVs can complete upgrades through low-cost solutions without replacing the entire unit at all."
Comments