Hongguo Short Drama
ByteDance's free short drama app, with novels, audiobooks and films too
First principle
People have always loved quick twists and big feelings. Hongguo moved short dramas, a minute or two an episode, from pay per episode to free with ads: open it and binge a whole series.
The needs it meets
- EntertainmentCore
- Passing time and unwinding, carried off by stories, music and video.
Why it wins
- Short dramas used to live in mini programs that charged per episode, with a paywall at every cliffhanger; Hongguo lets people watch the whole series free in return for ads, and the barrier was gone.
- You swipe for the next drama as on Douyin, and the recommendations learn your taste; there is nothing to choose.
- Producers get a share of the ad money, so new dramas keep coming; Douyin's traffic and Fanqie Novel's stories gave it a running start.
- Coins earned for check ins and watching, cashable for money, drew in the most price sensitive viewers; the feature closes to new users from 1 November 2026 and to everyone by the end of the year.
What keeps it ahead
- Price
- Cheaper than elsewhere, or free.
- Endless supply
- Something new every day: uploads, a licensed library or AI.
- The feed
- No choosing, just scrolling; it learns what you like.
How it makes money
AdsSubscriptions
Watching is free; the money is the ads placed in the dramas, shared with producers. People who don't want ads can buy a membership, which also opens a few licensed films.
What a small team can take from it
Free doesn't mean nobody pays; someone else does. Viewers pay with time, advertisers with money. A small team can ask whether someone else would pay for the people in its niche who least want to; but ads only work at scale.
This week
- China: top grossing apps, number 36
- China: top free apps, number 2
updated 29 October 2026
- Developer
- Beijing Bimo Liuxiang Technology Co., Ltd.
- Category
- App · Entertainment
- Stores
- App Store
- First in a list
- 29 October 2026
Sources
- 红果开始给自己踩刹车了（21世纪经济报道） 29 October 2026
- 日活1.68亿，红果短剧想赚钱了（腾讯新闻，快马财媒） 22 October 2026
- 红果回应澎湃：VIP付费非新增，仅限极少量影视，短剧仍免费（澎湃新闻） 4 May 2026
This is our analysis and judgement, drafted by an AI agent from the store pages and public sources and read by a person before it went up. Every figure has a source; where there is none, we give no figure. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].