As audiences chomp at the bit to watch China’s latest television sensation, The Protagonist, sometimes translated as The Lead, (主角), livestream broadcasters have taken up live readings of the novel that inspired the hit drama. Now it’s raising questions of copyright infringement.
The series premiered on CCTV and Tencent Video (腾讯视频) in May. It follows Yi Qin’e, a woman who rises from humble beginnings in a Shaanxi Qinqiang opera troupe to become one of the art form’s leading performers. Adapted from acclaimed author Chen Yan’s (陈彦) Mao Dun Prize-winning novel, the drama has become one of China’s biggest cultural talking points, accumulating more than 1.18 billion views across platforms.
Then livestreamers began broadcasting lengthy readings of the novel. The carefully curated home-studio settings, added with professional lighting, stylish bookshelves and even relaxing background music. Some went further: incorporating promotional images and cast photos from the television adaptation into their streams. This is where things got problematic.
Reading a copyrighted novel aloud during a livestream may infringe broadcasting rights, while replaying or editing those broadcasts could also violate reproduction rights. The use of promotional materials from the drama may create additional copyright or portrait-rights issues.
Many creators attempt to protect themselves by mixing commentary, analysis and personal opinions into their broadcasts. However, whether such content qualifies as fair use depends on multiple factors, including how much of the original work is reproduced.
And none of this is theoretical. In 2025, the Beijing Internet Court ordered a livestream host to pay nearly RMB 25,000 (about US $3,700) after reading and analysing a novelist’s work without permission.
As platforms begin cracking down on offending accounts – and several have livestream accounts reading The Protagonist have already been removed – the episode raises a broader question: how should copyright law adapt when every hit show can instantly become content for thousands of creators?
