China’s Rednote Boosts Long Video Market with Cash & Incentives for Creators

On May 27, a popular Chinese social media platform announced plans to bolster its presence in the medium and long-form video space. The company is establishing a content creation fund, launching a traffic incentive program for video views, and enhancing its distribution system to better serve user preferences.

The platform revealed it has created two categories for its new content funding initiative. The first supports creators pushing creative boundaries, offering up to 1 million RMB (approximately $147,475 USD) per project throughout the year. The second targets emerging creators with smaller followings but strong potential, providing personalized mentorship along with a maximum annual stipend of 1 million RMB.

Through the video traffic incentive program, creators have the opportunity to earn traffic vouchers by completing designated tasks. Each individual can receive up to 80,000 vouchers per month. The company plans to distribute a total of 50 billion such coupons.

Traffic vouchers serve as free advertising credits that creators can use to boost the visibility of their posts or videos, aiming to increase views, reads, and engagement. Each voucher grants one promotional push, effectively expanding a creator’s reach without additional cost.

This strategic initiative reflects a clear goal: to diversify content offerings. An industry expert involved in a recent competition explained that in addition to short videos, there’s growing demand among users for higher-quality content with better aesthetic appeal and more in-depth insights.

Additionally, industry insiders observe that the mid-to-long video segment has not seen many new creators in recent years, with content styles, themes, and formats becoming somewhat static. From a commercial standpoint, producing longer videos is less viable, as the overall market size remains significantly smaller compared to short-form user-generated content.

The platform’s monthly active user count has surpassed 400 million. Its recent Video Creator Trend Report indicated that nearly 100 million users watch mid-to-long videos daily, with viewing time increasing by 43% last month compared to the previous year. Furthermore, over 42 million creators are producing mid-to-long videos on a daily basis.