A solo AI-manju creator's numbers
做AI漫剧闷声赚钱，我在大红果时代拿下百万大结果
C · Weak signal A WeChat profile (Wenduji, republished by 36Kr) of one pseudonymous AI comic-drama creator; vivid but a single anecdote, with cost figures that do not reconcile and a platform user figure that conflicts with QuestMobile data reported elsewhere.
Summary based on the full text·Original: about 8 minutes to read
In short
A 4 November 2026 profile from the WeChat account Wenduji (温度纪), republished by 36Kr, of "Xu Fei", a creator with no film background who makes AI comic dramas (manju) for the Hongguo short-drama platform. He adapts freely licensed Fanqie novels, generates video overnight when queues are shorter, and has earned close to RMB 1 million in revenue share in under half a year. He calls himself "an unfeeling money machine on the AI manju line" and cannot hand the work to anyone else.
Key numbers
- RMB 600 + 800compute cost plus regeneration ("card draws") for an average 50-minute drama, per the creator
- over 1 billiontotal plays across his roughly ten dramas, with one passing 100 million
- nearly RMB 1 millionrevenue share from his hit dramas
- 120 minutescontent he must deliver to the platform each month
- about RMB 2 per secondcost of the cheapest AI video tool when he made his first drama
As reported by the source.
Chinese·Web page·opens 36kr.com
What it reports
- Background: left school at 14, built marketing short-video accounts to RMB 1 million a month in his early twenties, then lost it in stocks and property.
- Started with RMB 5,000 per drama from an outside investor and a shared studio costing RMB 3,500; the first drama earned only a RMB 500 platform incentive. He then made three dramas in 19 days.
- Hongguo scripts mostly come from Fanqie novels, open to creators; the platform splits revenue by traffic between the creator and the novel's author.
- Costs: about RMB 2 per second on the cheapest tool at the start; an average 50-minute drama now costs RMB 600 in compute plus RMB 800 in regeneration. The article's opening gives an average of RMB 2,000-3,000 per drama.
- Results: about ten dramas, over 1 billion plays in total, one above 100 million, and nearly RMB 1 million in revenue share from hits.
- Face-merge problem: prompts like "Song dynasty official on a city wall" tend to produce a famous actor's face, which fails copyright review and wastes the paid output.
- He works 8 pm to 8 am because generation queues are shorter at night, owes the platform 120 minutes of content a month, and has had an assistant job ad open for months.
- New Hongguo rules from 1 November favour completed dramas of 90-180 minutes.
- The article puts Hongguo at 21.66 million daily and 411 million monthly active users in August 2026.
How they got it
A feature based on interviews with one creator, quoted under a pseudonym, plus platform figures without a named source.
Limits
- One pseudonymous creator; figures are his own and unverified.
- Per-drama cost figures (RMB 2,000-3,000 vs 600 + 800) do not reconcile.
- The 21.66 million daily-user figure conflicts with QuestMobile's 177 million daily users for August 2026 cited in another 36Kr feature the same week.
Why it matters for companies
The profile shows how far AI production pushes the cost of content toward zero for one person with distribution instincts, and how the bottleneck moves to editing, hooks and following platform rules. It is a reminder that rights and likeness checks now sit inside the generation workflow: unusable output from face-merging is a real cost line. As evidence, treat it as one anecdote.
Key passages in translation
Chinese original
我不算什么创作者，我只是AI漫剧流水线上一个没有感情的赚钱机器。
I'm not much of a creator; I'm just an unfeeling money-making machine on the AI manju production line.
Chinese original
平均一部50分钟的剧，算力成本600块，加上抽卡800块。
An average 50-minute drama costs RMB 600 in compute, plus RMB 800 in card draws.
Chinese original
我可能没办法把我的能力复制给别人，你看我天天昼夜颠倒上班，就是晚上生成视频排队的少。
I probably can't copy my skills to someone else. You see I work nights every day, because the video-generation queue is shorter at night.
Summary based on the full text. Read the original for the full argument and data.Read the original on 36kr.com
- Tags
- Future of work, AI video