Mango Excellent Media shares jump as much as 64% after AI drama premiere

Mango Excellent Media shares jumped as much as 64% this week after Mango TV premiered an AI-generated drama. The gain was Mango Excellent Media's biggest weekly rise since January 2015. The rally made Mango the top performer on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Mango TV premiered "The Later Journey to the West" on Aug. 31. The show was billed as China's first fully AI-generated long-form television drama. The show used a "review-while-broadcasting" model. The regulatory framework allows producers to submit episodes for approval in phases. The framework allows creative teams to adjust later episodes based on audience feedback. Kunlun Tech shares also climbed after the premiere. China Literature shares also climbed after the premiere. China National Radio reported that roughly 128,000 micro-dramas entered the market in the first quarter. China National Radio reported that 95% of those titles were AI-generated. Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Xu and her colleagues described the regulatory shift as positive for platforms such as Mango and iQIYI. iQIYI is one of Mango's main rivals in Chinese video streaming. Citigroup analyst Brian Gong and his colleagues argued that investors are overlooking the near-term commercial upside in China's AI video models. Gong and his colleagues said ByteDance's Seedance remains the industry's quality benchmark. MiniMax Group's H3 model offers near-premium output at a lower cost. Kuaishou Technology's Kling has built a large global user base. The rally's durability may depend on how the show performs with audiences beyond its opening week.