China’s broadcasting regulator is rolling back its cap on television drama episodes and easing several long-standing restrictions, in a bid to boost content quality and production efficiency across the industry.

During a briefing earlier this week, officials from China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) announced they will no longer strictly enforce the 40-episode limit for television dramas, first put in place in 2020. While 40 episodes will remain the general benchmark, longer series may be approved through an expert review process based on subject, content, and need.

The administration is also easing restrictions on historical dramas and allowing seasonal series to air without a one-year gap between new seasons.

Since 2020, the NRTA has required that TV series not exceed 40 episodes, encouraging productions to limit their length to 30 episodes. In August 2023, the administration further implemented measures to prevent dramas from bypassing episode limits through splitting series into parts or producing multiple seasons.

According to reports, the average length of registered TV dramas has been consistently decreasing since 2017, dropping from 39.8 episodes per series that year to 28.8 episodes in 2024.

Industry insiders have noted that “watered-down dramas,” known in Chinese as “zhushui ju,” were once rampant, with many productions featuring hollow plots and tedious dialogue. Driven by financial incentives based on episode count and advertising income, some series stretched up to 100 episodes, resulting in diluted content that left audiences bored.

Efforts in recent years to curb low-quality productions have fostered more focused and higher-quality TV shows, leading to calls urging the relaxation of earlier restrictions to allow high-rated and creative dramas to exceed 40 episodes.

Authorities also raised the prime-time quota for historical dramas on satellite channels, previously capped at 15% of annual total airtime, to 30% last year. Going forward, more flexible scheduling policies will be implemented in response to market demand and audience preferences, they added.

The NRTA further introduced a pilot mechanism allowing series, sitcoms, and unit dramas to undergo review parallel to production and broadcast, with feedback provided per episode or unit.

The new policy has elicited mixed responses from viewers. On the microblogging platform Weibo, some welcome the new creative flexibility for high-quality storytellers. Others worry that without a hard limit, producers will regress to padding out plots to make more money, bringing back bloated “watered-down dramas” that neglect audience experience.

Industry observers suggest, however, that the updated policies will help traditional drama producers better compete with the rising pressure from short drama and video platforms, thereby strengthening confidence across the sector.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: VCG)