Guojin Securities: AI Short Drama Overseas Expansion Still at Low Penetration, Long-Term Market Space Expected to Keep Growing

36Kr learned that a research report from Guojin Securities states that the core business model of overseas short dramas is mainly user-paid in-app purchases (IAP), where the first few episodes are free to watch and subsequent episodes are unlocked with payment, while advertising monetization serves as a supplementary method. According to DataEye statistics, the overall overseas micro-drama market reached approximately $4 billion in 2025, with in-app purchase revenue across both iOS and Android apps totaling $2.279 billion, up 129% year-on-year; the overall overseas market is expected to exceed $5 billion in 2026. Downloads of overseas short-drama apps on both platforms reached 1.441 billion in the first half of 2026, up 79% year-on-year. Compared with local overseas content producers, domestic Chinese teams have strong systematic advantages, including a complete IP reserve, industrialized AI production capabilities, and mature monetization models that overseas competitors find difficult to replicate. Currently, the penetration of AI short dramas overseas remains low, and the long-term market space is expected to continue expanding.