Taiwan media claims: The AI short drama "Huo Qubing" has just been released and has already reached 500 million views. Are there any suspicious aspects?

Taiwan media reports that an AI short drama “Huo Qubing,” which took 48 hours and cost 3,000 RMB to produce, has reached 500 million views. But is such an astonishing amount of traffic reasonable? “Crypto City” compares this to MrBeast’s video viewership to discuss the plausibility.

AI Short Drama “Huo Qubing” Sparks Media Attention in Taiwan

Today (3/3), multiple Taiwanese media outlets reported on an AI short drama titled “Huo Qubing,” claiming that the show went viral online, achieving an incredible 500 million views shortly after release.

Several media sources pointed out that the AI short drama “Huo Qubing” was produced by Yang Hanhhan AIGC, with a total length of about 23 minutes, sparking lively discussion online. They also stated that the production cost was only about 3,000 RMB, which is significantly cheaper than traditional live-action short episodes that typically cost tens of thousands of RMB to produce.

Image source: Crypto City screenshot

Image source: Crypto City screenshot

Director Yang Hanhhan AIGC Reveals Production Tools

Director Yang Hanhhan AIGC posted on Weibo in response, thanking viewers for their support and revealing that the film was completed within 48 hours before Seedance 2.0’s launch. All video and images in the work were generated using the streaming platform for animated dramas launched by 360 Group. After the visuals were generated, the director used JianYing (a video editing app) for post-production editing, and also mentioned that a theme song of the same name was produced for viewers to search.

Media estimates suggest that Yang Hanhhan’s AI-generated special effects cost has been significantly reduced to just 3 RMB per second.

Image source: Weibo

Is 500 Million Views for the AI Short Drama “Huo Qubing” Reasonable?

According to the streaming platform used by Yang Hanhhan, the AI short drama “Huo Qubing” was completed on February 4, 2026. However, only a 4-minute-23-second version is visible on the platform, and I have yet to find the 23-minute version mentioned by media outlets.

Image source: Streaming platform for animated dramas

On several mainstream social and video platforms, I found posts sharing the 4-minute-23-second content, such as a Weibo post with 640,000 views, and the AI short drama “Huo Qubing” posted by Yang Hanhhan AIGC on Bilibili and Douyin, with total views not exceeding 20,000. Combined with scattered views from other social media, it’s hard to imagine the total reaching 500 million plays.

For comparison, YouTube’s most subscribed channel, MrBeast, with about 470 million followers, uploaded a roughly 22-minute video on January 25, which has now reached 110 million views. While multiple Taiwanese media outlets have reported Yang Hanhhan’s AI short drama “Huo Qubing” as having 500 million views, they did not provide verifiable data sources.

Huo Qubing was a famous general during the Western Han Dynasty. There have been TV adaptations in China, and in the AI era, Chinese netizens also love creating AI videos or short dramas based on this theme. Popular historical topics also include the Three Kingdoms, Xin Qiji, and others.

Perhaps the total traffic of all netizens frequently creating and sharing Huo Qubing AI videos in recent years could reach the 500 million mark. But Taiwanese traditional media reporting this story have pointed out that just Yang Hanhhan’s AI video alone has achieved 500 million views—does this seem exaggerated?

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