LayarHijau – China’s decision to remove the 40-episode limit for television dramas has sparked renewed debate after the phrase “40-episode cap for long-form dramas lifted” suddenly began trending on Weibo.
The policy itself, however, is not new. The removal of the 40-episode limit was part of a broader set of measures issued by China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), officially titled “Several Measures to Further Enrich Content on Television Screens and Promote the Supply of Radio and Television Audiovisual Content,” commonly referred to as the “21 Radio and Television Measures.”
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The measures were released in August 2025. That means the policy had already been in effect for roughly a year when the topic suddenly resurfaced as a major discussion point on Weibo in August 2026.
Its return to the spotlight has since divided viewers. The debate is not simply about whether dramas should be longer or shorter, but about how much room a story actually needs to be told properly.
China Removes the 40-Episode Limit
One of the most notable changes under the “21 Radio and Television Measures” is the removal of the hard 40-episode cap for individual dramas.
Under the previous system, stories that required more room to unfold could be forced to fit within the limit. This raised concerns that important plot points might have to be compressed or cut simply to bring the entire drama within the permitted episode count.
The new policy gives productions more flexibility. A drama is no longer required to stop at 40 episodes. If the story genuinely calls for more episodes, a longer run can be approved as long as the completed script passes the relevant review and meets regulatory requirements.
In other words, creators have more freedom to determine a drama’s length based on the needs of the story rather than an arbitrary episode ceiling.
The “21 Radio and Television Measures” also introduce other changes. Multi-season dramas are no longer required to leave a mandatory one-year gap between seasons, allowing streaming platforms to schedule follow-up seasons according to market conditions.
Restrictions on the proportion of costume dramas airing during prime time on television and appearing on platforms’ homepages have also been relaxed. The measures further open the door to adaptations of selected overseas works, including productions from Japan and South Korea.
For anthology dramas and sitcoms, authorities are also testing a more flexible review process in which episodes can be submitted in stages, potentially shortening the gap between production and broadcast.
Viewers Are Divided Over Story Length
The removal of the 40-episode cap has prompted two very different reactions from viewers.
On one side are those who believe the change was long overdue. They argue that a story should be given as many episodes as it genuinely needs. If a narrative requires more than 40 episodes to be told properly, important parts of the story should not have to be compressed or removed simply to meet an episode limit.
That view reflects a long-running complaint about dramas in which certain storylines have been heavily condensed or cut down because of restrictions on episode counts.
Others, however, are worried that removing the cap could create a different problem: dramas that become excessively long without having enough meaningful material to justify the extra episodes.
Their concern is not with long dramas themselves, but with the possibility of productions adding episodes simply to stretch the story.
One widely discussed comment joked that if dramas can now go beyond 40 episodes, viewers can hardly imagine how much filler might end up being added.
Another group of viewers argued that the number of episodes has never been the real issue.
A 70-episode drama can still be compelling if the story is strong, while a 16-episode drama can feel tedious if the writing is weak.
In that sense, the debate is not really about whether dramas should have 40 episodes or more. It is about whether the length of a drama actually serves its story.
Some viewers also pointed out that the policy currently making headlines was already issued last year. They questioned why a measure that has been in place for roughly a year suddenly became a major topic on Weibo.
Long Dramas Can Still Draw Strong Audiences
Despite the debate over episode counts, viewing data shows that longer dramas are not automatically less appealing to audiences.
According to the China Viewing Big Data (CVB) report on domestic television dramas in the first half of 2026, released by the National Radio and Television Administration in July, several longer productions continued to perform strongly.
The Lead (《主角》), for example, ranked first in national television ratings for dramas airing during CCTV’s prime-time slot.
Meanwhile, Good Times Together (《好好的时光》) and Swords into Plowshares (《太平年》) also ranked among the top performers, placing second and seventh, respectively. Both The Lead and Swords Into Plowshares, each have 48 episodes.
The figures suggest that a drama’s length does not automatically determine whether it will succeed. A longer production can still attract viewers if its story, characters and execution are strong enough to hold their attention.
It’s Not About Being Long or Short, but About the Story
Ultimately, removing the 40-episode cap does not mean Chinese dramas are expected to become longer across the board.
Instead, the policy gives creators more freedom to determine the length that best suits a particular story. A narrative that genuinely needs more time no longer has to be compressed simply to meet an episode limit, while a story that can be told effectively in fewer episodes has no reason to be stretched unnecessarily.
The debate among viewers shows that audiences are not simply demanding shorter dramas. They want stories to feel complete, but they also do not want to sit through extra episodes that exist only to extend the running time.
That concern has become even more relevant as traditional television dramas face growing competition from web dramas, microdramas and AI-generated short-form content, all of which compete for viewers’ increasingly limited attention.
Ultimately, removing the 40-episode cap only gives creators more room to tell their stories. Whether that freedom results in more complete dramas or unnecessarily lengthy productions will depend on the quality of the scripts and the creative decisions made by each production team.
For viewers, the issue is simple: it’s not how many episodes a drama has, but whether every episode deserves to be there.
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