(Yicai) Oct. 30 -- China's film and television industry is being hindered by the rapid development of micro and short dramas, games and short videos, which are dominating the screens, causing many producers to lose money, industry insiders said at a recent broadcasting conference.

China’s film and television sector has had its ups and downs in the past 15 years, but its scale and the duration of programs watched have always increased, said Gong Yu, founder and chief executive officer of internet giant Baidu’s streaming service iQiyi.

In the past six months, parts of the industry have been struggling and this is mostly to do with sci-tech development and the rapid growth of micro- and short dramas, Gong said.

China’s box office takings slumped 28.4 percent from Jan. 1 to Oct. 29 compared with the same period last year to CNY38.3 billion (USD5.4 billion), according to film data platform Beacon.

The shrinking number of TV series and internet dramas is inevitable given that the film and TV regulator issued far fewer licenses in the first half than a year ago, said Hou Hongliang, chairman of film production giant Dongyang Daylight Entertainment. The full number for the year is also expected to be below that of 2023, he added.

Seventy percent of the series streamed on video platforms incurred big losses, said Su Xiao, founder of production house Shanghai Linmon Picture Media. So, industry players are not motivated to spend money on making more content. This is why there has been such a big drop in licenses for new episodes and it is in line with the sector's overall situation.

"The whole industry should turn to filming micro and short dramas, instead of viewing them as the enemy," Gong said. "We can upgrade the quality of the content to make these dramas more subtle and more in line with viewers’ tastes and values," he added.

“We really need to return to the core principle of creating high-quality content, to make audiences really love the programs,” said Li Ningze, senior vice president at China Literature's new classics media division and president of its new classics film department. "The tenet 'content is king' should apply to all entertainment products, whether they are movies, TV series, short- and long videos, or games," Li added.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor