AI artists are debuting in droves, but few are making money?

Article | Wen Yu Xian Sheng

In mid-October, the virtual girl group BABYQUEEN announced that member Mity would suspend activities due to "pregnancy," which sparked heated discussion for a time. Subsequently, the creator admitted that this was merely a fictional exit reason: operating multiple AI characters at the same time was simply too much work to handle. The attempts of a few enthusiasts unexpectedly punctured an imagination—AI can easily generate artists, but may not easily manage artists.

At almost the same time, Mango TV officially announced five native AI artists—Cheng Du, Fang Yu, Lin Enna, Qi Xu, and Zhan Yan—and launched "What a Friend" starring "them." With independent personas, social media accounts, real human screenwriters, and management teams all in place, the platform attempts to operate AI characters as long-term artist assets.

In recent years, from virtual idols such as Hatsune Miku that grew up relying on user-creation ecosystems, to AI-native artists such as Yuri Youli whose images and content creation involve generative AI, to AI actors such as Fang Taozi who emerged from AI short dramas, AI artists have gradually explored different development paths.

The former relies on AI short dramas to establish character recognition, then sustains popularity through independent accounts, out-of-drama content, and character interactions; the latter is built from the start as an independent artist, then gradually establishes recognizability through continuous content creation and persona management.

Both borrow methods from traditional artist management, but their starting points differ.

At present, the model more likely to generate buzz is still the "first the drama becomes popular, then the person" model similar to long-form dramas.

In June this year, the AI short drama "The Laid-Off Girl" went viral on Douyin, and the female lead Fang Taozi quickly broke out. She promptly opened a personal account and continuously updated lifestyle and fashion content, extending her persona beyond the drama. In less than two months, she gained 400,000 Douyin followers and successfully achieved commercial monetization.

It is reported that Fang Taozi's official Douyin single sponsored post quote once reached 258,000 yuan per 60 seconds, benchmarked against real-life influencers with millions or tens of millions of followers. As of October 22, she had accumulated 558,000 followers and a total of 35.9 million likes, becoming one of the most representative cases among domestic AI artists.

At the same time, the male lead of the same drama, Zhou Yiheng, also opened a personal account, updating lifestyle content such as cooking and fitness as well as spin-off stories of "The Laid-Off Girl." He currently has 275,000 followers in total. Although there is no clear commercialization move yet, the two continue to manage their CP relationship through joint vlogs, account interactions, and other methods, driving traffic back to the drama and providing space for subsequent content expansion.

Similar operating methods are very common among AI artists. Take Duan Yan and Rong Jiqiao from the AI short drama "Deep Love Invades the Rest of Life" as an example. The two not only opened personal accounts but also set up a couple account, continuously updating CP-oriented content, new drama start information, and behind-the-scenes footage. However, compared with Fang Taozi, the two sit between AI characters and independent AI artists, are more deeply bound to the drama, and the resulting consumption of matching bracelets and other items is also closer to film and television IP derivatives.

If the short-drama derivative type follows a relatively mature operating logic and is more likely to win audience favor, then the native artist type attracts more industry attention, behind which is exploration of the future business model of AI artists. To this end, many platforms and film and television companies have entered the field, trying to seize the initiative.

In March this year, Yaoke Media took the lead in officially announcing the signing of AI artists Qin Lingyue and Lin Xiyan, and tailor-made the AI short drama "The Bronze Strange Tales of Qinling" for the two. But unlike the logic of "the drama drives the person," such a path seems somewhat like putting the cart before the horse. More critically, early discussions about the two AI artists focused on negative content such as which real artists their faces resembled and portrait rights infringement, and by the time the drama launched, the heat had long dissipated.

In addition, there is Yuxiao Media's "real-person digital avatar" route. Unlike Yaoke Media's building native AI artists from scratch, the related images of the six AI actors it announced and launched are all based on real-person modeling with the authorization of the individuals, including influencers such as Xu Zhibin and Han Anran. However, this attempt still sparked public controversy, failed to generate sustained heat, and the accompanying AI short dramas had no follow-up.

For example, Yuri Youli, created by AI.TALK under Hanqing Studio, is an early native AI singer who broke out in China. Last year, her first MV "SURREAL" exceeded 12 million views across the internet, and she subsequently reached co-creation collaborations with brands such as Voyah, L'Oreal, and Chando. In September this year, she held China's first offline concert by an AI artist at the 2026 Bund Conference, extending content scenarios from online to offline.

Warner Music's AI virtual rapper Wu Aihua focuses on a retro wuxia persona, and her first MV "Wu Aihua" surpassed 10 million views. She also collaborated with Harbin Beer to create a customized rap MV, embedding brand content into musical works; HeyDream, incubated by Baidu together with Du Hua, attempts to combine a real-life girl group with AI comic drama content. The members themselves are still real idols, while AI is used to batch-generate visual materials such as comic dramas and short videos. The project once launched a co-branding with the Baoluzi brand and held offline pop-up events.

These cases show that AI characters are no longer satisfied with "performing and leaving" within a single work, but have begun striving for independent accounts, long-term personas, and opportunities for sustained operation. However, from being seen, to being liked, to being paid to support, there is still a long way to go.

Take Fang Taozi, currently the most commercially successful, as an example. At the end of July, after she posted her first contact lens advertisement, the news that her quote for videos over 60 seconds was 258,000 yuan became a hot industry topic. In just over a month, she went from a character in an AI short drama to an independent influencer, seemingly having completed the monetization path that real-life influencers need years to finish.

However, this advertisement was actually taken down in early August. The core controversy was that in the video Fang Taozi said in the first person that "the contact lenses were comfortable all day," prompting consumers to mock that "virtual characters have no eyes." The incident subsequently triggered discussion about the authenticity of AI artist advertisements and attribution of responsibility, and related matters were transferred to the local market supervision department for handling.

At the same time, the so-called 258,000 yuan was not the actual market transaction price. In September, CQ, the head of Fang Taozi's operating team In an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily, CHAN revealed that the team initially quoted 70,000 yuan, and after the character became popular, he raised the price to 258,000 yuan, hoping to "block commercial demand with a high price and avoid commercialization interfering with content creation."

At the same time, after the first advertising order sparked controversy, the team publicly stated that it would temporarily decline all advertising and commercial collaborations and refocus on content creation. At the end of August, she appeared in COSMOCRUSH, an e-magazine under Fashion COSMO, and the operator also explicitly stated in an interview that this collaboration was "unpaid."

Judging from this case, exposure, commercial quotes and actual income clearly cannot be equated.

For example, Duan Yan participated in a Tmall Qixi advertisement, and Yuri Youli and Wu Aihua also had actual brand collaborations, showing that companies have indeed begun trying to include AI artists in marketing placements. In particular, in Yuri Youli's collaboration with Voyah, the brand did not only look at whether the virtual image was novel enough, but also considered the account's traffic, follower profile and match with the brand positioning.

However, the influence of these AI artists is currently concentrated more in the entertainment industry, brand and media circles, and has not yet truly entered the public eye. Public commercialization cases are still mainly custom short films and brand co-creation, and there is still a gap before continuous endorsements and stable sales-driving.

Likewise, AI artists' appeal in offline performances also remains to be verified. Taking Yuri Youli as an example, although her performance at the Bund Conference was regarded as the first domestic offline concert by an AI artist, the operator did not define it as a traditional concert. Founder Zhao Hanqing said that this performance was closer to a live experiment or performance art of human-machine co-creation rather than a ticketed performance aimed at the market.

In addition, the popularity of a character can drive derivative consumption, but it does not mean the operator can directly benefit from it. This Qixi, bracelets labeled "Duan Yan same style" sold more than 10,000 units on a short-video platform, and calculated at the lowest selling price, sales exceeded 1 million yuan. However, according to an investigative report by Beijing Daily, this product was not authorized by the production team, and even the promotional images were AI images generated by the merchant itself. The production side stated that it did not participate in the design, production and sale of the related products and would not benefit from them.

Therefore, to judge whether AI artists can make money, one cannot look only at quotes, the number of brand collaborations or the GMV of related products, but must also clarify who receives the income, how much was actually settled, and whether the operator holds the corresponding authorization rights.

For brands, tens of thousands of followers are more like a threshold; whether followers are willing to actively interact and whether the audience profile matches the brand are the important basis for evaluating the value of collaboration. And to turn attention into sustained commercial value, AI artists must first solve the problem of long-term popularity.

After all, for an artist, one work becoming a hit is only the starting point. To maintain popularity, subsequent works, continuous topic output and constantly strengthening the audience's awareness of oneself are also needed. This is true even for real artists, and AI artists, who lack real-life experience and offline activity support, find it even harder to maintain audience interest.

Likewise, continuously producing attractive content is itself not an easy task.

Lu Xiaoxu, head of Xiaoxu Music, which once mass-produced AI virtual singers such as Lin Haisheng Hysen and Huayao Luantan, revealed in an interview that his team estimates the success rate of AI singers at about 25% to 30%. In their operating experience, if an account has produced ten consecutive pieces of content and Douyin views still have not reached 50,000, it may need rapid iteration or even abandonment.

Second is the underestimated operating cost. Taking the collaboration between Fang Taozi and Fashion COSMO as an example, the operator revealed that the entire set of AI fashion photos took about 15 days, requiring repeated adjustments to prompts, lighting, clothing, accessories and character image, and finally post-processing.

Although AI can reduce traditional shooting steps such as studios and stylists, content creation, image maintenance and account operations still require continuous investment. For AI artists, lower production costs are only the starting point; only when continuous investment can obtain returns through commercial collaborations and other means can the project possibly achieve profitability.

In addition, the virtual identity of AI artists does not exempt them from content and copyright risks. Duan Yan's advertisement once triggered questions from voice actors about AI voice authorization; the Fang Taozi colored contact lens controversy also shows that virtual identity cannot be an exemption from advertising authenticity requirements. The character can be fake, but contracts, consumers and legal liability are all real. Once a controversy arises, it may not only interrupt collaborations but also increase subsequent operating pressure.