Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow Sing-chi, a popular actor in mainland China known as the king of comedy, has inked a deal with Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to make an exclusive series, as A-list talent and Big Tech join hands to take advantage of a mini-drama frenzy.

The project - code-named "9527" in a reference to the 61-year-old comedian's 1993 film Flirting Scholar - will feature content from Chow as well as other "outstanding young creators", Douyin said in a statement posted to its official WeChat account.

The project's first drama from Chow, titled Jinzhu Yuye, is expected to air in May. Other titles are currently "in production", according to the statement.

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Mini-dramas have become hugely popular in China owing to their short episodes made with a soap-opera quality that typically puts them a cut above user-generated content. A normal season consists of dozens of episodes at a few minutes each.

Chow said the low-budget content has become a "fast-growing sector of technology and media innovation".

Douyin will also engage with other renowned directors to "keep exploring the production and innovation of micro-series" on its platform with 600 million daily active users, the company said in its statement.

Companies such as Douyin owner ByteDance, Kuaishou and Tencent Holdings have all been investing in the format amid a greater hunger for short videos that fit more easily into viewers' downtime. The format is heavily populated with romance stories and comedies, with episodes that end on cliffhangers to keep viewers hooked.

In January, Douyin launched an incentive campaign to invest as much as 5 million yuan (US$700,000) per series for select productions.

Some production companies rely on sexual or violent content to keep viewers hooked to mini-dramas. Photo: Handout alt=Some production companies rely on sexual or violent content to keep viewers hooked to mini-dramas. Photo: Handout>

Last week, Kuaishou updated its incentive policy to cover up to 50 per cent of production costs for certain series, up from 40 per cent. Tencent Video in November launched an interactive drama, allowing audiences to choose the protagonist's storyline.

The market for mini-dramas, some of which charge 1 to 4 yuan per episode, was expected to have reached 37.4 billion yuan by the end of 2023, up 268 per cent from the previous year, according to a report from iiMedia Research.