Source: Financial Times (paywall)
Eighty-nine of the top 100 animated dramas on Douyin in May were AI-produced. Algorithmic content creation has moved from experimental to commercially dominant within a single content category, driven by the maturation of video synthesis tools and Douyin's algorithmic preference for high-volume, low-cost content that keeps viewers engaged. Chinese platforms are effectively outsourcing narrative production to machines. Talent-dependent media companies face a choice: compete on speed and scale they can't match, or retreat to premium, human-authored content that AI can't yet replicate at quality.