China's digital publishing industry continued to expand in 2025, with artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping content production and digital cultural products gaining traction in overseas markets.

The industry generated 1.88 trillion yuan (about 277 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 7.51 percent year on year, according to an annual report on China's digital publishing industry released on Thursday.

AI is increasingly being integrated into publishing, with applications ranging from topic planning and multilingual translation to content review, recommendation and distribution, according to the report.

Some traditional publishing houses are turning their professionally edited and reviewed content into new knowledge services, such as AI-powered question answering and database subscriptions.

Wang Biao, director of the digital publishing institute at the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, said AI applications in publishing have evolved from supporting tools into an important part of the production process since 2025.

Digital cultural products are also gaining momentum overseas, with online literature, video games and online films and TV series emerging as major drivers of China's cultural exports, according to the report.

In 2025, overseas sales of Chinese-developed video games exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, marking double-digit growth for the third consecutive year.

By the end of 2025, more than 12,000 short videos and micro-dramas had been adapted from online literature. Meanwhile, more than 300 overseas apps related to Chinese micro-dramas had been launched, with cumulative global downloads exceeding 1.2 billion.

Measures taken in 2025 to strengthen industry policies, develop publishing talent, improve digital publishing standards and advance copyright governance contributed to the industry's high-quality development, said Wang.