❯ COL Group says AI short dramas and video generation account for 55% of China’s token consumption, the largest use

Three uses take nine-tenthsA-share listed COL Group said at an investor-relations event that, according to industry token-usage data it cited, AI short dramas and video generation account for 55% of China’s AI token consumption, e-commerce and marketing 24%, and software development 15%. According to MyDrivers, the figures have drawn renewed attention in recent days. On these numbers, short dramas and video generation consume more than twice as many tokens as software development.

Why short dramas use so muchCOL Group explains that short dramas demand fast video generation and turnaround. Live-action-style AI dramas have stricter frame-rate and 1080p requirements and typically use two to three times the tokens of 720p comic-style AI dramas; production teams also generate and screen shots over and over, known as “pulling cards,” which keeps consumption high.

Market size drives demandA report by the research center of the National Radio and Television Administration and others shows China’s micro-drama market topped $14 billion in 2025, about 78% of the global market. According to NetEase, COL Group said about 1,500 new AI short dramas launched per day in China in the first quarter, and it expects the global short-drama market to exceed $100 billion around 2030, with China about half.

▮ SIGNALChina’s largest AI usage is in content production rather than coding, and the shape of compute demand follows the country’s most mature consumer market.