Hongguo tops 200 million daily users as WeChat's Lvpaopao grows and FlareFlow enters Thailand: distribution choices for short-drama creators (Oct 29–30)

Who this is for, and what it helps you decide

Screenwriters and small studios supplying Hongguo, Lvpaopao and similar platforms; web novelists considering short-drama adaptations; and distributors planning to take vertical dramas into Southeast Asia.

It helps you decide which domestic platform to pitch first, whether to prepare a cut aimed at social sharing inside WeChat, and whether to enter Southeast Asia through a standalone app or a telecom operator's channel.

Hongguo's numbers and Douyin's argument

According to a ZAKER Finance piece republished by 21jingji.com on October 30 and a Yicai Global report the same day, QuestMobile data show Hongguo reached 356 million monthly users in May 2026 and 168 million daily users in July, up 107% year on year and more than Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku and Mango TV combined. By total time spent, Hongguo ranks fourth behind Douyin, WeChat and Douyin Lite; Yicai Global puts its July share of app time at about 5%.

21jingji.com and Kuai Technology (republished on ifeng.com) also cite QuestMobile as showing 203.23 million daily users in September, the first time above 200 million and ahead of Kuaishou's 192.47 million on the same basis; Kuai Technology gives average daily use of 165.98 minutes. We have seen these September figures only in media reports.

On October 29, Douyin Group vice president Li Liang wrote on Weibo that short dramas differ from TV series and films mainly in medium and presentation, with content quality as the core, and that AI lets genres such as historical and science fiction depict hard-to-film scenes at lower cost, according to these reports. The 21jingji.com piece also recounts his public dispute with commentator Qin Shuo over the phrase "ByteDance time" and Hongguo's October 27 notice that it had removed 20,426 low-quality or formulaic dramas, which we covered on October 30.

Lvpaopao inside WeChat, FlareFlow in Southeast Asia

21jingji.com says Tencent's Lvpaopao began as WeChat's short-drama mini-program, was renamed in July and fully replaced the old entry point in October; it has no standalone app and spreads through social signals such as "friends watching". Citing 36Kr data, the article puts its weekly active users in the first week of October at 89.68 million, up 44.1% from the first week of September. Yicai Global separately cites QuestMobile for 143 million monthly users in August. The two figures use different definitions and should not be compared directly.

Overseas, Variety reported exclusively on October 30, and a COL Group press release confirms, that COL's vertical platform FlareFlow will launch in Thailand on November 2 on AIS Play, the entertainment service of operator AIS, at THB39 a month (about $1.15, per Variety). The lineup is English-, Chinese- and Korean-language series, all with Thai subtitles, and the deal was brokered by Singapore distributor Rock Networks. FlareFlow says it has released more than 5,000 series in 14 languages and has over 50 million registered users. Variety notes that ReelShort also entered Southeast Asia through an AIS partnership in April.

October in review (our coverage, Oct 17–31)

Taken together, platforms expanded and tightened at once this month: the second version of Fanqie's long-form posting rules took effect, capping new books, updates and word counts by author level (Oct 22 issue); Hongguo removed formulaic dramas and the regulator published third-quarter micro-drama licensing figures (Oct 30). On the tools side, Jimeng launched a short-drama studio (Oct 28) and China Literature put DramaBuddy inside Tencent WorkBuddy (Oct 31); in English, the second Wattpad–ReelShort adaptation premiered on schedule.

Today's distribution figures add the last piece: platform rules are filtering what gets made, while viewer time is concentrating in a few free platforms.

What remains unclear

We did not read QuestMobile's original report; every user and time figure comes from media accounts. Monthly, daily and weekly users and time share are different measures, and coverage (app only, or including mini-programs) may differ between sources. We did not read Li Liang's Weibo post directly and rely on what multiple reports agree on.

None of this shows which platform pays creators better or what anyone earns. FlareFlow's user and catalogue numbers are company claims; the release says only that it will "explore" Thai content development and creator collaboration, with no terms.

What it may mean for creators (editorial inference, untested)

For writers and producers in China: as viewing time concentrates on Hongguo, its review and anti-duplication rules effectively decide the fate of most titles, so distinctive characters and premises matter more than chasing the latest template. Lvpaopao's social distribution may suit stories that people want to share and discuss, making it worth testing as a second platform, though we have not seen public creator revenue terms.

For web novelists and overseas teams: the pipeline of Fanqie supplying stories and Hongguo supplying viewers keeps strengthening, so authors with finished novels should read adaptation licensing terms closely. In Southeast Asia, low-priced telco bundles are emerging as a channel that favours teams with multilingual catalogues; new original creators are unlikely to benefit directly soon. We will keep watching whether Lvpaopao or FlareFlow publish creator partnership terms. This is editorial inference.

Related research & methods

Hongguo acts on 20,426 formulaic short dramas as China's regulator posts Q3 licence numbers: what writers and AI drama teams should check this week (Oct 27–29)

China Literature puts DramaBuddy inside Tencent WorkBuddy as Wattpad's second ReelShort adaptation launches: two adaptation routes for web novelists (Oct 27–29)

Fanqie's second-version posting rules: daily caps on new books, updates and words, by author level