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Report: Hongguo Free Short Drama surpasses Doubao in users to become Douyin Group's second-largest app
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- DeepHorus
QuestMobile released the 2026 China Mobile Internet Autumn Report on November 3. As of September 2026, mobile internet monthly active users reached 1.281 billion, up 0.9% year-on-year. The report shows that Hongguo Free Short Drama's deduplicated total users reached 430 million, surpassing Doubao's 419 million and becoming Douyin Group's second-largest app; Douyin ranked first with 1.029 billion.
The "silver-haired" trend among mobile internet users continues. Users aged over 46 surpassed 40%, up 2.6% year-on-year, among whom users aged over 51 approached 30%. The user scale in the 25 to 45 age range fell to 39%, already below 40%, and the user age structure has reversed.
User time spent is concentrating toward short dramas and short videos. Short drama videos and short videos contributed 111.5% of growth, cannibalizing time from online video, comprehensive information, and other fields. Douyin Group's top three apps therefore became Douyin, Hongguo Free Short Drama, and Doubao; last year they were Douyin, Toutiao, and Douyin Lite.
AI applications maintained high growth. In September 2026, AI-native apps had 546 million monthly active users, up 82.1% year-on-year; AI applications from device manufacturers had 783 million, up 16.9% year-on-year. During the same period, AI application plugins and PC web端 declined by 15.6% and 10.4%, respectively.
The landscape of leading platforms remained stable. Tencent Holdings, Douyin Group, and Alibaba maintained the top three positions, with deduplicated total users of 1.280 billion, 1.259 billion, and 1.258 billion, up 0.9%, 5.2%, and 0.4% year-on-year, respectively. Baidu Group, JD.com, and Ant Group ranked fourth to sixth.
The report data indicate that short dramas and AI are becoming important pillars of mobile internet growth. Hongguo Free Short Drama rose to second place within Douyin Group, showing the pulling effect of short drama applications on user scale. As the aging trend continues and AI applications accelerate in popularity, competition among leading platforms in app matrices and user time will continue.
