Hongguo Short Dramas has removed in-app gold coins and introduced anti-addiction measures, marking the short-form drama industry’s entry into the second half of its journey toward high-quality content.
Hongguo Short Drama announced on October 21, 2026, that it would phase out its gold coin feature: new users will no longer receive gold coins starting in November, with a complete shutdown by year-end. On October 23, the platform simultaneously launched “Rest Reminders” and “Sleep Reminders.” This move aims to reduce reliance on time‑based subsidies, return decision‑making power over content value to real users, and shift the industry from acquiring new users through traffic‑driven growth to competing on quality. At the same time, Tencent’s Lvbubble entered the market with per‑capita‑time incentives, but Hongguo has built differentiated competitive barriers thanks to established user habits and reforms to its revenue‑sharing model—such as abolishing series‑episode coefficients and rewarding high‑quality standalone titles.
Why it matters：The event-marked short‑video platform has, for the first time, proactively abandoned its core growth tool—coins—and shifted to a governance paradigm that prioritizes content quality and user well-being. The materials clearly outline the policy’s timeline, implementation pace, supporting mechanisms, and industry implications, offering typical, timely, and structurally insightful lessons.
