Giants Enter: The "Interactive Experiment" Between Web Novels and E-commerce

In March 2026, ByteDance's Tomato Novel and e-commerce giant Pinduoduo independently launched gray-scale tests for AI interactive stories. This move marks a shift in the logic of internet content production from traditional linear storytelling to "computable tree-like storytelling."

In the test interface of Tomato Novel, users are no longer passive readers but become core variables in the story's development. At key plot points, the system will pop up interactive options, and each click by the user will directly determine the character's fate, potentially leading to an "unexpected death" of the protagonist, followed by a storyline rollback function. Meanwhile, Pinduoduo also launched AI interactive dramas such as "Return Again" within its App, deeply integrating entertainment content with e-commerce scenarios, significantly increasing user retention time through frequent interactions.

Blockbuster Validation: The Explosion of Interactive Movies and Games Through "Hurry Up and Get Rich"

The commercial potential of interactive content has already been preliminarily validated in the market. During the 2026 Spring Festival, the AI interactive movie game "Hurry Up and Get Rich," jointly produced by Zhongnan Media and Mango TV, achieved impressive results, with a total playback count exceeding 11 million times and a single-day peak of over 330,000 unique visitors.

This "watch-and-play" model not only provides high engagement but also achieves efficient social viral spread through incentive mechanisms such as unlocking red envelope covers. With the iteration of AI video generation technology (such as Ji Meng and Sora), the production cost of interactive dramas is decreasing exponentially, making previously expensive movie and game production gradually more accessible and scalable.

Core Restructuring: Narrative Power Shifts from Authors to Users

The rise of AI interactive stories is essentially a disruptive force in content production:

  • Users Are Variables: AI can dynamically generate differentiated endings based on real-time choices from millions of users, offering an extremely personalized experience.

  • New Retention Path: Unlike short videos that users watch and leave, interactive dramas build a natural retention loop due to their multiple branches and replayability.

  • New E-commerce Touchpoint: Pinduoduo is trying to convert in-game items into purchasable products through the integration of "Pinduoduo Try-On" and AI social features, achieving a short chain from "content" to "transaction."

Prospects and Challenges: Market Feedback Remains the Ultimate Judge

Although AI manga and interactive movies are showing remarkable vitality, the industry still faces challenges such as content consistency, depth of narrative logic, and whether users are willing to pay for "choice rights." Currently, major platforms are still observing whether to fully shift to interactive formats or keep them as auxiliary functions. Platforms like Tomato Novel are collecting data through gray-scale tests to assess user stickiness after AI rapidly converts text into video.