红果短剧 — the largest vertical drama platform in the world, and the one that proved the format does not need a paywall. A ByteDance subsidiary launched in mid-2023, Hongguo is free and entirely ad-funded. Monthly users climbed 212M (June 2025) → 236M (Q3 2025) → 245M (October 2025) → 304M at the February 2026 Spring Festival peak, per QuestMobile, on more than 100 million daily users (Caixin). Users spend 93 to 120 minutes a day inside it. It is also where Chinese AI enforcement bites hardest: 670 AI-made dramas sanctioned out of 15,000 in Q1 2026, and 1,718 titles pulled (Global Times).
Hongguo uses a freemium model: the first episodes are free, the rest unlocks via coins, ads or subscription.