3rd November 2026 – (Hangzhou) Mainland developers fighting a crowded home market are turning show flats and clubhouses into film sets, planting project names and living scenes into short dramas — and in one Hangzhou case an outlay of under RMB200,000 has already delivered more than 100 million online views.
According to mainland reports, Xingyao Property this June released an 18-episode series it planned itself, Please Don’t Love Me, the Programme Will Err. Built around women’s growth and workplace pressure, it was shot entirely in the show flats and clubhouse of the group’s Mu Fangzhou project for a total spend below RMB200,000. Soft placement replaced hard sell: a character named Mu Fangzhou echoes the estate Mu Fangzhou, so viewers absorb project cues while they binge. Related parties say network exposure has topped 100 million views, and some watchers have booked viewings after recognising the sets.
CITIC Pacific Properties has meanwhile launched a “Xin Hui Theatre” run of AI micro short dramas — all machine-made — weaving property services and city life around two of its Shanghai luxury residential schemes. Industry voices note that short dramas typically take under two weeks to make and cost only a few hundred thousand yuan; on the same budget a strong title can out-traffic a traditional promo film, though clicks still turn into deals only if the product, amenities and buyer’s real needs line up.
Xingyao marketing executive Wang Menghan called the shoot an accidental cross-industry experiment rather than a business pivot. The views help brand and project fame, she said, but a home purchase is a large outlay and final sales still rest on genuine living demand; marketing mainly lifts attention. Comparing live-action and AI work, she noted Xingyao filmed before AI shorts were common. AI clips are faster and cheaper now, yet current technology struggles to capture real finishes and can make planted scenes feel forced, so they may not suit every launch. The firm, she stressed, did not shoot like a media advert; media channels still lead publicity, and the marketing core remains getting buyers on site and into contracts.
Beyond making their own shows, some groups rent idle stock to production teams. Greenland Group opened a “Ju Yinli” short-drama base on 604 mu in Zhengzhou in September 2025, aiming to host more than a thousand shoots in unused commercial and office space while building a platform for filming, production and rights trading. Other large firms use a “landlord plus placement” model, opening idle retail and villa show units in Hangzhou, Zhengzhou and Chengdu so crews can shoot without the developer funding the series — collecting rent and brand exposure at once.
Tongce Research Institute head Song Hongwei said short drama is now mainstream entertainment, far cheaper and quicker than conventional film and further sped by AI script and edit tools. Developers are riding the wave for short cycles, low cost and targeted reach; good titles can beat classic promo films on the same spend. Stories that stage everyday life after move-in give more immersion than static show flats, and soft placement softens hard sell.
Yet Mr Song tied the experiments to land spend and sales pressure. Xingyao alone this year took Xia Sha and Eastern Bay residential sites in Hangzhou for a combined RMB1.33 billion and topped up stock with partners elsewhere, still chasing young near-suburban buyers — a fit with its drama pitch. Building in-house content teams is costly for mid-size firms, and endless outsourced series raise bills; success needs precise audience targeting and reusable sets that cannot simply be copied, while a mistargeted plot can stir backlash. He expects only selective trials, not industry-wide spend.
E-house China R&D Institute deputy head Yan Yuejin listed three conditions for results: buyers overlapping the drama audience, low-cost own content capacity, and show areas that look good on camera. Homes are low-frequency, high-ticket goods with long decision cycles, so online traffic rarely converts straight into sales. For now, short drama is a brand-youth tool, not the core sales channel — a caveat that sits beside the 100-million-view Hangzhou hit and the AI Shanghai push.