(Yicai) Nov. 11 -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has begun internal testing of a standalone short-drama app in a bid to attract more shoppers as the bite-sized entertainment format continues to gain popularity, The Paper reported today.

JD.com has recently launched internal testing of its short drama app "JD Drama Fans’ Benefits Club," the report said. The new app is free to use and seeks to attract viewers by offering e-commerce coupons for watching short dramas and allowing users to purchase products featured in the shows which will then be delivered by JD.com.

JD.com began recruiting for short-drama operations positions as early as July last year. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Beijing-based firm also partnered with short-video platform Kuaishou to jointly invest CNY1 billion (USD140 million) to produce customized short dramas.

China's short-drama audience reached 851 million users as of May, accounting for 67 percent of the country's active mobile internet users, according to data from third-party research firm QuestMobile. DataEye Research Institute estimates that China's micro-drama market will surge 21 percent this year from the year before to exceed CNY121 billion (USD18.1 billion).

Competition for users' attention is intensifying. As of September, ByteDance Technology's short drama platform Hongguo had amassed 430 million users, making it ByteDance's second-largest app after Douyin.

The Hongguo standalone app recorded 168 million daily active users that month, exceeding the combined daily active user base of China's four major long-form video platforms Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku and Mango TV.

Editor: Kim Taylor