Original title: Second in Global Revenue! Over 50 Spots on the Top-100 Chart! What's NetShort's Secret?
Author: DataEye Research Institute
Source: DataEye Short Drama Going Global
Cover image source | pexels
DataEye Research Institute data shows that in September this year, the estimated combined in-app purchase revenue of overseas micro-short-drama apps across both platforms was approximately $285 million, with the TOP3 products together accounting for 45% of the TOP20 total revenue.
Among them, NetShort deserves special attention. Its September revenue reached $29.22 million, up 8.1% month over month, and it officially surpassed ReelShort to become the No. 2 on the chart.
At the same time, a landmark event also appeared on DataEye's September overseas AI-drama Top-100 chart: NetShort returned to the top of the chart with a "chubby wife comeback" drama, breaking the previous four-month streak where another platform held the No. 1 spot, and occupied more than half of the Top-100 chart seats.
From commercial revenue to hit shows, NetShort's momentum is fierce. What's behind it?
This issue, the DataEye Research Institute conducts a data-based breakdown and analysis of NetShort, hoping to provide reference for industry practitioners.
NetShort data performance
(1) Estimated revenue trend
DataEye Research Institute data shows that over the past year, NetShort's estimated revenue across both platforms has shown an overall continuous upward trend.
Overall, from $14.2 million in September last year to $29.22 million in September this year, NetShort's estimated in-app purchase revenue over the past year has grown by more than $15 million, an increase of 105.8%. September's estimated revenue hit another record high, approaching the $30 million mark.
For the entire first three quarters of this year, NetShort's estimated total revenue exceeded $200 million, with both revenue and downloads ranking in the global market's top three.
(2) Advertising trend
ADX overseas short-drama version data shows that from January to September this year, NetShort's advertising intensity showed a fluctuating upward trend, rising from about 34,000 creative groups initially to about 180,000 groups by the end of September, an increase of several times.
Notably, under a relatively aggressive advertising strategy, NetShort's cumulative creative volume in September reached 933,000 groups, more than 230,000 groups higher than the second place, firmly holding the top position in the overseas market, highlighting its strong advertising capabilities.
(3) Content performance
On the content side, looking back at NetShort's September results, it showcased both "height" and "depth."
In terms of "height," on the September overseas short-drama Top-100 chart, NetShort had 3 dramas in the TOP10, with the highest ranking third, and a single drama heat value of 12.677 million; on the September overseas AI-drama Top-100 chart, NetShort had 6 dramas in the TOP10, with the highest ranking first, and a single drama's advertising creative count approaching 38,000 groups.
In terms of "depth," on both the September overseas short-drama Top-100 chart and the overseas AI-drama Top-100 chart, a single platform—NetShort—occupied more than half of the seats on both charts, 54 spots on the former and 53 spots on the latter, demonstrating extremely strong content reserves.
(4) Summary
From the above data, it is not difficult to see that this year, NetShort's momentum has been fierce. Whether in commercial revenue or content performance, it has firmly ranked in the overseas market's first tier, with advertising and heat all exploding, showing strong impact.
From a latecomer to the overseas market to a leader now sweeping more than half the chart seats and ranking in the revenue TOP2, what does NetShort rely on? Of course, not just aggressive advertising. The DataEye Research Institute believes that NetShort's current position is most fundamentally driven by two aspects: content and AI.
Content: insight, user understanding, and localization
Currently, the short-drama markets both at home and abroad have almost fully shifted toward AI dramas, and NetShort is no exception. So under the market's "All in AI" backdrop, how can one stand out from the competition?
From NetShort's example, the DataEye Research Institute believes the first point is that in a rapidly changing industry, insight into the market is extremely important.
Take the top drama on the September overseas AI-drama Top-100 chart, "Fat Wife Turns Hot, CEO Begs for Reconciliation," for example. It is a typical "chubby wife weight-loss comeback" theme, essentially combining the "comeback" core with a "plus-size" shell.
The plus-size theme itself is not a particularly hot genre, but this time it not only topped the Top-100 chart, and 2 of the TOP3 on the Top-100 chart were both plus-size dramas from NetShort's platform—which is quite intriguing. This means the market had obvious demand for this type of content during this period, and how to capture this demand from the market level in advance and supply corresponding content tests whether one's market judgment insight is sharp.
This also proves from the side that NetShort's insight into market themes is precise and bold enough. Beyond laying out traditional themes such as romance, comeback, werewolf, and Western fantasy, it is also continuously trying special tracks such as plus-size and horror.
Another example is the first truly successful AI drama overseas in the early AI-drama boom at the beginning of the year: NetShort's "One Move God Mode." The son of Poseidon, god of the sea, appears on the surface as a despised humble farmer. Holding a rusty pitchfork (actually the trident of Poseidon), he participates in the knight selection, gradually revealing his identity and completing the comeback transformation from the bottom to a legend.
Although this type of Western fantasy short drama is already ubiquitous today, during the initial transition from the live-action drama era to the AI drama era, Western fantasy themes were still relatively rare.
How did NetShort uncover this demand?
Traditional overseas long dramas, films, and other works have fully demonstrated the appeal of Western fantasy works, while live-action short dramas, limited by factors such as cost, found it difficult to present such grand worldviews and scenes. The breakthrough in AI technology directly removed this limitation.
NetShort captured two points at the first moment: first, the AI efficiency revolution filled the gaps such as high-cost special effects from the live-action drama era; second, there was a vacancy in similar content in the overseas short-drama market. It launched this high-quality work in time, which is precisely a reflection of keen insight under market changes.
In addition to insight, the DataEye Research Institute believes the second point is NetShort's full understanding of content and localization.
Making content is not simply shooting the script. What kind of script suits what kind of market? What content do audiences love to watch? What content can feel refreshing?
All of these require creators and platforms to have a deep understanding of scripts and user psychology.
Take NetShort's another hit drama, "Horror Game: Seduce My Ghost Teacher or Die," for example. The plot is also very simple: the female lead is trapped in a campus horror survival game and is bound to a "romance survival system," having to win over a dangerous and sexy ghost teacher, completing one intimate task after another to stay alive.
There is no doubt that the feature of this drama is combining the "sweet romance" core—the most evergreen theme in female-oriented content—with the highly contrasting special shell of "horror game," creating a "dangerous love" atmosphere through "if you fail the mission, the protagonist dies." After all, the same romance placed under an urban safe zone versus under a horror death line carries completely different dramatic tension.
This also means the drama tapped into a unique psychology of users: they not only like watching romance, but also prefer a more thrilling and tense romantic experience.
For example, when the female lead is voted out by the whole class and would be eaten by monsters if she leaves the classroom, the strict ghost teacher secretly helps her, portraying her inner tension and anxiety alongside the male lead's unexpected contrasting behavior perfectly, creating an "ambiguity within thrill" that immerses viewers.
Some viewers commented: "You can feel the story through the characters' expressions and atmosphere. Although it's not long, the emotional impact is very strong."
When sweet romance content is supplied in large quantities, NetShort's choice is not to add more "sugar" to this drama, but to use the reverse tension, thrill, suspense, and uncertainty to contrast and highlight the sweetness of romance, satisfying a highly stimulating romantic feeling.
However, this combination also tests the creators' control over content. If "romance + horror" blends well, it becomes a "dangerous love" hit; if blended poorly, it may become a dud drowned by the market.
From the plot and visuals, it can be seen that to better blend romance and horror elements and achieve localization, the "horror game" set in this drama is not traditional Chinese-style horror, but rather Western-style horror leaning toward gore and monsters, with characters and environments all featuring a strong Western aesthetic.
AI: the efficiency amplifier
Beyond content, what must be mentioned is the deep transformation AI technology has brought to the industry. From script analysis, content production, and language dubbing, to creative materials and advertising, AI runs through almost the entire micro-short-drama industry chain.
Therefore, the DataEye Research Institute believes that the way platforms use AI and their efficiency will also greatly affect their performance in the AI era, and this is extremely evident in NetShort.
For NetShort, based on its actual performance this year, the DataEye Research Institute believes the biggest impact AI has brought to NetShort mainly lies in two aspects.
First, in content.
The improvement in content production efficiency brought by AI needs no elaboration; practitioners surely have the most direct practical experience. But truly leveraging this efficiency gain is not simply "making a few more dramas," but "making a few more good dramas." The one-word difference carries vastly different meanings.
NetShort CEO Wang Li once emphasized: AI is not just an equalizer, but also an amplifier of gaps—the gap between top-tier and ordinary creators will further widen.
Corresponding to the real market, a phenomenon can be clearly observed: while production capacity has exploded, the premium content rate has not improved at the same pace. One major reason is that most vendors use AI to quickly produce dramas to bulk up volume, so capacity went up but the proportion of premium content did not. Moreover, the large supply of dramas may actually scatter users' attention, doing more harm than good.
What is NetShort's approach? We cannot know the platform's internal methodology, but using the latest September overseas charts as a baseline, perhaps some clues can be found.
As mentioned earlier, on DataEye's September overseas AI-drama Top-100 chart, NetShort alone occupied 53 seats and 6 of the TOP10 spots, combining content depth and quality. In terms of themes, the 6 dramas in the TOP10 covered tags such as plus-size, sports, werewolf, racing, horror game, and dragon clan cute baby.
Short dramas of different themes from the same platform all making it to the top of the charts is naturally inseparable from AI acceleration, allowing NetShort to better leverage its content understanding and market insight, validate promising theme combinations at low cost, let the market give the answer directly, and rapidly iterate based on market feedback, ultimately building a "hit pipeline."
For example, the tag combinations such as "romance + horror" and "comeback + plus-size" mentioned earlier all fit this logic. Under this high-frequency testing and market orientation, NetShort's single platform occupying more than half the seats on the Top-100 chart has its underlying logic supported.
Second, in the market.
At the market level, creative materials and advertising are inseparable, and they are an important part of overseas short-drama competition. If good content can determine whether people stay, then good materials and advertising determine whether more people can see it.
Reflected in the market, this is what was mentioned at the beginning of the article: NetShort's advertising trend has risen straight up since Q2 this year and now firmly holds the No. 1 position in overseas app advertising. The DataEye Research Institute found that NetShort uses AI-produced materials for advertising on most dramas. On one hand, AI produces in batches to quickly validate volume-driving materials; on the other hand, NetShort also uses AI to create many scenes not in the dramas to guide users to download, plus AI's optimization of advertising, bringing NetShort's dramas into more people's view.
Another point worth mentioning is that NetShort's layout in global multilingual markets is also inseparable from AI's help.
Taking September data as an example, beyond the core overseas English market, ADX overseas short-drama version data shows that in a large number of markets such as Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Thai, Hindi, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Turkish, NetShort occupied more than half of the seats in the TOP10 advertising dramas, demonstrating strong strength. This also proves from the side that AI has helped NetShort at the market level in advertising, dubbing, and other processes.
NetShort occupied 4 of the TOP5 spots in the September Turkish market advertising short dramas
On one hand, NetShort uses AI to cheaply dub market-approved dramas into multiple languages; on the other hand, it uses AI to create materials and advertise across multilingual markets, enhancing global influence.
Under this model, DataEye's related charts also often show multiple language versions of one drama from NetShort's platform simultaneously appearing on the charts.
Overall, if NetShort belonged to the industry's first tier in the live-action drama era, then today, boosted by both content and AI, NetShort has truly demonstrated dominant-level strength.
Through NetShort's example, one may realize: the most important thing AI brings to the industry is not making a few more dramas, but how to make and validate more good dramas. And more important than AI acceleration is the understanding of content and insight into the market and users.
For most practitioners, the reference value of the NetShort sample lies precisely here: when AI brings production barriers down to the same starting line, what determines the gap is no longer production capacity, but the efficiency of converting capacity into premium content. Whoever has more accurate theme judgment, faster validation, and denser iteration will have a better chance of standing ahead in the new round of competition.
