(Yicai) April 19 -- Strict rules are coming next month for China’s booming market for short video dramas, The Paper reported today.

Short online dramas, usually just a couple of minutes long and running to around 100 episodes, have become hugely popular. The Chinese market for them is expected to hit CNY100 billion (USD13.8 billion) by 2027 after growing almost four times last year to CNY37.4 billion (USD5.2 billion), according to IIMedia Consulting data.

Their popularity has prompted the move to regulate the market, and from May 31 short drama producers will have to file information about them with their local radio and television authorities, the report said, citing staff at the online audio-visual divisions at various provincial-level radio and TV bureaus.

Short dramas will be regulated by one of three overseers, according to how much they cost to produce, the report said.

Those with investment of over CNY1 million (USD138,000) will be managed by the National Radio and Television Administration, while those with investment of between CNY300,000 (USD42,400 and CNY1 million will be managed by provincial-level radio and television administrations. Dramas costing less than CNY300,000 will be managed by individual platforms.

Their producers will need to be licensed to make radio and television programs and each short drama will have to get a network series and film publishing license or a program registration record number. A series of events will be held to introduce and promote the new rules to producers and operators, the report said.

The rules will help to standardize the industry in the long term, said Zhang Yi, chief executive at IIMedia Consulting. In the short run, it will definitely be a problem for some startups, he said, but the impact will be transitory.

The new filing rules provide a premise for regulators to step in if needed, said Zhai Wei, executive director at the competition law research center at the East China University of Political Science and Law. It will also help in teasing out the bad from the field while keeping the good, and industry players will have to pay more attention to content and quality, he said.

Editor: Tom Litting