China Network Audiovisual Conference
- Chinese name
- 中国网络视听大会
- Organizer
- China Netcasting Services Association (中国网络视听节目服务协会)
- City
- Chengdu
- Held
- April
- Cadence
- annual
- Website
- 3820229236
The China Network Audiovisual Conference (中国网络视听大会) is an annual Chengdu industry conference for online audiovisual media, organised by the China Netcasting Services Association (中国网络视听节目服务协会) under the National Radio and Television Administration. Its 13th edition ran 14–16 April 2026 at the Chengdu Century City International Conference Center, drawing some 4,000 organisations and close to 10,000 delegates across eight main forums and eighteen themed ones — one of the longer unbroken runs among the events tracked here. Note the date is not fixed: the 12th edition opened on 27 March 2025, so the conference moved from March to April between editions. Its relevance to digital humans is concentrated in a programme rather than a show floor: the AI Creator Economy Forum, at which Shen Hao, chief scientist of a national key laboratory at Communication University of China (中国传媒大学), released the “2026 China Digital Human Influence Index Report” (2026中国数字人影响力指数报告). That report is a measurement instrument rather than a showcase, and its release here makes the conference the venue where digital human performance is ranked rather than merely displayed.
The same forum hosted the 2026 ACX “AI Super Creator Competition” (AI超创赛) award ceremony, confirmed regional-competition partnerships, and launched the Aichuang Creator Service Alliance (爱创创作者服务联盟). Veteran director Li Shaohong spoke there on the industry’s “Light Curtain Plan” (光幕计划) — the counter-effort to protect human short-drama performers in an era of generative casting, which also surfaced at the Beijing International Film Festival, making this conference one of two venues where the labour question is argued in public.
The 13th edition’s main venue was also where the National First AI Short Drama Laboratory (全国首个AI短剧实验室) was announced on 16 April 2026, by Chengdu Tianfu Kuanzhai Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (成都天府宽窄文化传播有限公司), a wholly-owned subsidiary of listed platform Tianfu Cultural Tourism (天府文旅) under Chengdu Culture and Tourism Group (成都文旅集团). The launch was paired with the release of a white paper jointly issued with Chengdu Media Group (成都传媒集团) positioning 2026 as the year of “intelligent leap” (智能跃迁) for the short drama industry through AIGC-driven restructuring of production relations. Sichuan’s network audiovisual industry showcased digital humans across multiple exhibitor booths at the same edition, alongside dynamic industry-map screens and naked-eye 3D immersive experiences in Chengdu’s Pidu district, while the Xinmang Fund (新芒基金) announced it would increase investment in Chengdu-based AI-native IP and digital human ventures.