Major internet companies are steadily expanding their presence in the short drama sector.

On November 12, some users noticed that the "Top Stories" feature on WeChat's Discover page had added a "Short Drama" entry, which is currently undergoing limited gray-scale testing. Just one day earlier, JD.com was reported to have quietly launched a short drama mini-program called "JD Drama Rewards Club." From social media giants to e-commerce platforms, major players are accelerating their entry with their respective ecosystem advantages.

Regarding WeChat's internal testing of the short drama entry, a source close to Tencent (HKG: 0700) revealed that the "Top Stories" feature is testing a short drama entry on a small scale, allowing users to view recently watched short dramas. The entry is mainly designed to help users more easily find high-quality short drama content they enjoy, so that creators' good content can be seen by more people.

As a latecomer to the short drama sector, Tencent (HKG: 0700) is rapidly catching up by leveraging the WeChat ecosystem. Currently, the user base of the "Lüpaopao" short drama mini-program within WeChat continues to climb. According to QuestMobile data, as of September this year, Lüpaopao's monthly active users reached 156 million. In the first week of October, its weekly active users hit 89.68 million, a significant increase of 44.1% compared to the first week of September.

In terms of business model, Lüpaopao short dramas adopt an IAA (in-app advertising) monetization model with all content free and ads inserted between episodes. The platform itself does not directly produce content; all episodes are provided by third-party short drama producers or authorized distributors, with Tencent (HKG: 0700) only providing the entry and traffic. Unlike Hongguo Short Dramas' strength in heavy operations, Lüpaopao short dramas use the "social relationship chain" as a distribution advantage, featuring dedicated "Friends Watching" and regional popular recommendations on the homepage, leveraging WeChat's acquaintance network for content dissemination.

Major internet companies are fiercely competing in the short drama sector. Besides Tencent (HKG: 0700), e-commerce giant JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) has also entered the fray. On November 11, it was observed that JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) had recently launched the "JD Drama Rewards Club" short drama mini-program. The account verification entity is Beijing Jingdong 360 Du E-commerce Co., Ltd., which is also the verification entity for mini-programs such as JD Shopping and Jingxi. Testing revealed that the mini-program is currently fully functional, with a relatively clean interface and only two categories at the bottom: "Swipe" and "Mine." The mini-program description states "Free short drama collection, all popular shows are here." As of press time, JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) had no response to the above situation. With the successive entry of giants, the traffic landscape and commercialization paths of the short drama market are expected to undergo new differentiation.