TAICCA Data Shows 90% Audience Overlap in Film and Music, AI Costs Remain Unclear

Taiwanese viewers are consuming entertainment across multiple formats simultaneously, creating a distinct market for intellectual property that spans film, television, and gaming. This cross-platform behavior stands in contrast to the growing friction surrounding artificial intelligence in content production, where cost savings are often offset by legal uncertainty and technical barriers.

Joy Lin, a research analyst at the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, presented these findings on Friday at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei. The agency’s annual survey, which collects approximately 2,000 valid responses, found that 96% of respondents watched audiovisual content in 2025. Additionally, 75% reported reading published works and 75% played video games.

The data indicates a high degree of audience overlap between different media types. Ninety percent of surveyed individuals engaged with both audiovisual content and music. A separate study involving 2,018 participants aged 15 to 69 further examined these consumption patterns. Among the 1,242 respondents who had watched Taiwanese audiovisual productions in the past year, 40% also watched screen adaptations of those works.

Consumer preferences for genre vary significantly between local and foreign productions. Taiwanese content was more closely associated with everyday life, family relationships, and romance. In contrast, foreign productions showed greater strength in action, fantasy, and suspense. Romance emerged as a key area for cross-platform development, with connections identified between romance, school-life stories, comics, popular music, and mobile games.

Viewers of Taiwanese romantic dramas displayed high engagement with foreign media. Eighty-four percent of these viewers also watched foreign series, while 63% watched foreign films and 58% watched foreign animation. These figures suggest a ready audience for stories that move between platforms and borders.

In a second presentation, TAICCA analyst Chhoa Hiok-chong addressed the integration of AI in audiovisual production. Industry estimates cited in the session placed AI adoption in post-production and visual effects between 70% and 85%. Adoption rates in pre-production were lower, ranging from 60% to 75%, while on-set production saw the lowest uptake at 15% to 25%.

The presentation highlighted international examples, including Netflix’s Argentine series "The Eternaut" and productions by South Korean company CJ ENM. These cases illustrated potential savings in production costs and visual-effects workflows. However, technical obstacles persist, including maintaining visual consistency across shots, controlling cameras, and ensuring narrative continuity within established pipelines.

Legal risks accompany the rapid adoption of AI tools. The Database of AI Litigation recorded 489 AI-related legal cases through August 2026. Of these, 153 involved cultural and creative industries. The presentation also examined protections negotiated by Hollywood unions, including SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. These agreements cover digital replicas, consent, compensation, and creative control.

Consumer sentiment regarding AI-generated content remains mixed. A November 2025 survey by Luminate found that 51% of U.S. respondents rejected fully synthetic virtual performers. A September 2026 survey in Japan found that 44.7% of consumers would be less willing to purchase content once they knew it was AI-generated. In South Korea, a January 2026 survey indicated that 81.6% of respondents supported advance disclosure of AI-generated content, while 80.3% favored mandatory AI labeling.

During a Q&A session, attendees questioned whether reported AI production savings account for upfront costs, including experimentation and revisions. Chhoa noted that the Ministry of Culture has existing guidelines on generative AI in arts and culture to address these regulatory questions.