To date, ByteDance has launched 7 short-drama apps (Free Drama, Hongguo, Hongguo Manju, XianNing, Muye, Melolo, PineDrama), opening a new entry point beyond Hongguo, which boasts 168 million daily active users. This article cross-validates the current state of the short-drama industry using four data sources: QuestMobile, EaseView (Yiguan Qianfan), Sensor Tower, and the National Radio and Television Administration. Hongguo's DAU exceeds the combined total of four major long-video platforms, but the industry's MAU growth rate has dropped from 314% to 64%, and creators' earnings per 10,000 plays have fallen from one or two hundred yuan to single digits. The success of a matrix strategy ultimately depends on whether their content libraries are truly distinct.
