Hongguo ends coins for new users, WeChat sets a 45-second episode minimum: what short-drama writers and producers should change this week (Nov 1–4)

Who this is for, and what it helps you decide

Writers, production companies and rights holders supplying Hongguo; teams publishing short dramas through WeChat mini-programs or Tencent's Lvpaopao; and editors cutting finished series into episodes for review.

It helps with two calls: whether WeChat episodes waiting for review need re-cutting or merging before November 4, and whether new Hongguo projects should still be paced for light viewers who stayed for the coins.

Hongguo: coins go in two steps

According to Hongguo's announcement, republished from its official account by Beijing Daily's bjd.com.cn on October 21, the app will remove its coin feature in stages. Users activated on or after November 1, 2026 no longer get the feature or its entry point, while existing users keep it for now; by December 31, 2026 coins will be switched off for everyone. Coins and cash balances already earned are kept, and deadlines for redeeming and withdrawing them will be "announced separately".

A November 1 article from the Foshan city government account, republished by Sina Finance and citing Hongguo's official account and CCTV Finance, says Hongguo has also added "rest" and "sleep" reminders: viewers who watch past a certain length of time, or late at night, may see a video in their feed in which a drama character asks them to put the phone down. The reminders are being extended to more users.

A Beijing News (Beike Finance) report on October 23 notes that coins were tied not only to sign-ups but to check-ins, watching ads, browsing products and playing mini-games. It also cites a revenue-share formula from earlier media reports in which "additional watch time" is the base term, and quotes a producer who can see payout totals in the dashboard but not the coefficients behind them.

WeChat: a 45-second minimum from November 4

According to a full-text reproduction by Bianniushi on Tencent News on October 29 and a Sina Finance flash item the same day, WeChat's notice says that to protect the viewing experience, the minimum length of a short-drama episode will rise from 30 to 45 seconds from Wednesday, November 4, 2026. After that, episodes under 45 seconds will not pass review, and creators are asked to check content in review and in production.

The reproduced text does not say which entry point the rule covers. WeChat's developer documentation shows that mini-programs approved for the "Entertainment – micro-drama" or "interactive micro-drama" category get media APIs including drama submission for review, so the notice most likely refers to that process; that is our inference. The notice also does not say whether titles already live with shorter episodes are affected.

What remains unclear

We could not find a publicly accessible copy of WeChat's original notice (the relevant developer-community lists require login, and we did not log in), so we rely on two matching reproductions. The text does not say whether the rule also applies to Channels, replacement episodes for approved titles, or interactive dramas.

For Hongguo, we read media republications of the official notice; redemption and withdrawal deadlines have not been published. There is no public data on how much watch time new users will lose without coins or whether payouts will change, and the views of commentators quoted in coverage are opinions. The thresholds for the reminders are not public either.

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

On WeChat the impact is immediate. If your series has episodes between 30 and 45 seconds, the simplest fix before Wednesday is to merge neighbouring episodes or restore cut transitions rather than stretch shots. Fewer episodes also means moving paywall points and end-of-episode hooks. For new projects, plan episode outlines at 45 seconds or more from the start.

On Hongguo the effect will be slower. Without coins to hold new users, the first few episodes have to keep them with character and suspense alone, which fits the platform's recent clean-up of formulaic dramas. Until watch-time data appear, we would not change pricing or revenue expectations; a useful signal will be whether the "additional watch time" line in the dashboard shifts after the full switch-off at year end. All of this is editorial inference.

Related research & methods

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

Microdrama Market Size 2026: $3.6bn Outside China, ¥100bn+ in China (Sourced Numbers Table)

How Long Should a Vertical Drama Episode Be? WeChat's 45-Second Minimum, China's 20-Minute Rule, and Fixing 30s Episodes