China Post & Securities Securities released a research report highlighting that the nation's first AIGC long-form drama has secured a primetime slot on a satellite TV channel. The firm believes that "Journey to the West: The Prequel" marks a pivotal transition for AI-driven filmmaking, moving from short films and micro-dramas into the realm of feature-length narratives, professional production, and mainstream broadcast distribution, thereby entering the phase of industrial-scale validation.

The Seedance model is pushing AI long-form dramas into industrial verification, with reusable digital assets poised to reshape production costs. The fusion of policy support and technological advancement is expected to shift seasonal and serialized productions from a one-time delivery model to a cycle of small-batch release, feedback, and iterative updates. This approach could shorten IP development cycles, improve cash flow for production companies, and increase the hit rate of content. Here are the primary insights from China Post & Securities.

Event: The First AIGC Long-Form Drama Hits Primetime Satellite TV

On August 31, Mango TV's AIGC long-form drama "Journey to the West: The Prequel" premiered on its platform and secured a primetime slot on Hunan Satellite TV, becoming the nation's first AIGC series to achieve this milestone. The show is powered by ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and Seedance 2.5 AI technologies, with production organized through Mango TV's proprietary "Mango Lingchuang" platform. To date, the project has accrued 109 character assets and 143 scene assets, adopting a production model that integrates simultaneous filming, review, and broadcast.

Seedance Drives AI Long-Form Dramas into Industrial Validation, Reusable Digital Assets Could Restructure Production Costs

Long-form dramas require maintaining consistency in characters, scenes, actions, and emotional expressions across hundreds of minutes, demanding higher levels of controllability and full-process coordination in AI generation. "Journey to the West: The Prequel" utilizes Seedance 2.0 and Seedance 2.5 for AI support, while "Mango Lingchuang" centrally manages character settings, scene assets, and production workflows. The creative team, alongside AI production staff, handles storyboard design, batch generation, shot selection, localized revisions, and final editing. The firm argues that AI's core value-add isn't simply replacing actors but boosting efficiency in storyboard previews and visual production. It reduces repetitive generation through reference controls, lowers costs associated with traditional reshoots and rework via localized adjustments, and consolidates characters, scenes, and props into reusable digital assets. As the asset library expands, the marginal production costs for subsequent episodes, seasons, spin-offs, and derivative content are expected to decline. This could enhance the feasibility of adapting mythological, sci-fi, and mid-tier IPs, concentrating industry value further into premium IPs, creative direction, digital asset management, and distribution channels.

"Radio & TV 21 Measures" Improve Content Supply, AI Production Aligns with Simultaneous Review and Broadcast

The "Radio & TV 21 Measures" optimize management across aspects like episode counts, seasonal broadcast intervals, content review, scheduling, and copyright protection, while piloting a simultaneous review and broadcast mechanism for certain drama types. In the first half of 2026, a total of 61 dramas premiered in primetime slots on satellite channels, a year-over-year increase of 10.9%, signaling an improvement in new content supply. Traditional long-form dramas face high modification costs post-production, whereas AI can regenerate specific characters, scenes, and shots, aligning well with episode-by-episode production and phased review systems. The firm posits that combining policy and technology could drive seasonal and serialized dramas toward a small-batch release-feedback-iteration model, shortening IP development cycles, improving production companies' cash flow, and boosting content success rates.

Risk Warnings: Risks include AI long-form dramas underperforming in reputation and commercialization, slower-than-expected improvements in video model capabilities, and weaker-than-projected user growth and payment performance for AI short dramas.