Agency: Hongguo Free Short Dramas Become Douyin Group's Second-Largest App with 430 Million Unique Users

36Kr learned that QuestMobile has released its "China Mobile Internet Autumn Report." The report shows that as of September 2026, the mobile internet monthly active user base reached 1.281 billion, up 0.9% year on year; average monthly usage time per user in September was maintained at 189.8 hours, up 6.5% year on year. The report notes that AI-native products, short drama content, community commerce, local decision-making and instant fulfillment are becoming new main battlegrounds where major tech companies are restructuring their traffic matrices and competing for the starting point of user decisions. In September 2026, the top three apps under Douyin Group were Douyin, Hongguo Free Short Dramas and Doubao, with unique total user counts of 1.029 billion, 430 million and 419 million, respectively. In the same period last year, the top three apps were Douyin, Toutiao and Douyin Lite.