Youku Will Split Member Revenue 50/50 With AI-Made Short Films. Its Feature-Length Deal Pays 100%.

Chinese streamer Youku now pays creators of fully AI-generated short films a share of its membership revenue. The rate is 50%. For films that run past an hour and premiere on Youku, the rate is 100%, and it can go higher.

The short-film rule took effect on 1 November. Youku's content-partnership team announced it in a post that Chinese streaming trade site Liumeiti (lmtw.com) republished on 2 November, saying it is "open to all creators" with a 50% share. Liumeiti's 3 November write-up, by Gui Yin, set out the entry rules.

What qualifies

The film must be generated with AI from start to finish, shot horizontally, and run no more than 60 minutes in total. Anything between 5 and 60 minutes has to be cut into at least two episodes, each under 10 minutes, Liumeiti reported. Exclusive and non-exclusive titles both qualify. A film that already ran on another platform is still eligible, and the payout window is one year, according to a 7 November summary from industry newsletter Guduo AI and film site Dianyingjie.

The formula is simple: payout equals "effective net member revenue" times 50%. Liumeiti's worked example has a film generating ¥1 million (about $149,000 at the central bank's 9 November fixing of 6.7188) and paying the creator ¥500,000 (about $74,400). None of the coverage Posthype read defines how Youku attributes member revenue to a single title, and the rule is not yet on Youku's public partnership page.

What longer films get

That page, as Posthype read it on 9 November, sets the deal for "online story films," which must run over 60 minutes per part. Since 1 January those films get 100% of attributed member revenue, then a multiplier from 0.8 to 1.2 based on how many new members a film brings in over its first 90 days. Exclusive titles are paid for 730 days; non-exclusive titles for 180. The payouts apply only to films that premiere on Youku. The page's listed requirements include a broadcast production licence and an online distribution permit.

Fully AI-generated features get more on top. Since 15 June, a bonus scale pays exclusive AI features ¥150,000 to ¥1.35 million (about $22,300 to $201,000) by members' watch time over 90 days, and non-exclusive ones up to ¥900,000. Sequels from the same IP move up one bracket, and studios with two or more AI features get 10% to 30% extra per film, up to the same cap.

Half the rate, fewer strings

By Posthype's reading, Youku is pricing short AI work as cheap supply. A short gets half the share and half the window of an exclusive feature, but it can be posted elsewhere first and stay elsewhere. For a solo creator whose work already lives on Douyin or Bilibili, that may be the better deal.

The timing is awkward. On 5 November, a National Radio and Television Administration official told a micro-drama forum in Beijing that the regulator's line is "support live-action dramas, regulate AI dramas," Xinhua reported. Live-action would get "real support in funding, algorithms and awards." AI work must "stabilise volume and improve quality." Platforms must have humans review everything before it airs, the official said. Youku's rule is for AI films, not micro-dramas, but episodes under 10 minutes look a lot like the format the regulator was talking about.

Youku has not said how many AI shorts it has signed or what any has earned.