ShareChat says AI cut microdrama costs by 40%, but viewers still drop its AI shows sooner

ShareChat's CTO says AI cut the cost of a microdrama series by about 40%, the same company figure as August. Viewers still drop AI titles sooner, so per viewer who reaches episode 20 the saving is nearer 28%.

ShareChat's AI dramas cost about 40% less to make, by its own count. The number sitting next to it is harder: viewers give up on them sooner, and a cheaper episode only pays if people keep watching.

Chief technology officer Nitin Jain told The Economic Times on Nov 10 that AI has cut the cost of a microdrama series by about 40%, against a 70% target, and that parent company Mohalla Tech is hiring creative directors to make AI dramas at scale for its QuickTV app. Almost every figure he gave was already in the company's own release on Aug 4, including the Rs 15-20 lakh (about $16,000 to $21,400) industry estimate that the saving is measured against.

About half of the viewers who start an AI title reach episode 20, against about 60% for live action. Put those figures together and the cost per viewer who gets to episode 20 falls by about 28%, not 40%, on our math. That is still a real saving, just a smaller one, and it shrinks further if the gap holds while AI grows from a tenth of the catalog toward a third of it.

Jain says story, script, cliffhangers and cultural context still need people, which reads like a job description for writers and directors who can hold an audience for 20 episodes.

Our take: ShareChat deserves credit for publishing a number that makes its own AI shows look worse. Until AI titles hold viewers as well as live action does, the 40% is a pitch rather than a result.

Source: The Economic Times, Nov 10, 2026; Mohalla Tech release, Aug 4, 2026.

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