The debate surrounding Hongguo short dramas continues to intensify. Third-party reports indicate that in September 2026, Hongguo's free short dramas reached a deduplicated total user base of 430 million, surpassing Doubao's 419 million—both of which belong to the Douyin ecosystem. Related mobile internet data shows that during that month, China's mobile internet monthly active user base stood at 1.281 billion, with average monthly usage time per person reaching 189.8 hours. Short drama videos and short videos were the core engines driving growth in usage time, with their combined net increase in total usage time ranking in the top two across all tracks, far outpacing AIGC, while total usage time for online video declined during the same period. Recently, Qin Shuo and ByteDance Vice President Li Liang have engaged in multiple rounds of argument over claims related to "ByteDance Time in China's Internet" and Hongguo short dramas' usage time and market share. On November 2, Qin Shuo stated that he had filed a lawsuit against Li Liang, and Li Liang responded that he would actively defend the case. Previous data shows that in July 2026, Hongguo short dramas reached 168 million daily active users, doubling year-on-year and exceeding the combined daily active users of the four major traditional long-video platforms. The domestic micro short drama market has continued to expand rapidly in recent years and is expected to reach 150.59 billion yuan by 2030, making it the core engine of incremental film and television consumption.