Research on Policy Optimization for Coordinated Development of Digital Content Industry in China’s Yangtze River Delta Region—Based on the PMC-Index Model

The digital content industry is developing rapidly worldwide, with the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region emerging as China’s representative hub through its comprehensive industrial chain, enterprise clusters, and innovation capacity. The coordinated development of the digital content industry in the YRD is crucial for promoting regional integration and enhancing industry competitiveness. While industrial policies play a vital guiding role, there is a lack of systematic evaluation from a regional perspective. This study uses the Policy Modeling Consistency (PMC) Index model to systematically evaluate 54 Digital Content Industry Policies (DCIPs) in the YRD to assess policy characteristics, gaps, and regional coordination foundations. The results indicate that the region has established a relatively mature policy framework that includes various policy types, evidence-based decision-making processes, and well-defined objectives. It also faces challenges, such as homogeneous types of policy instruments, vague incentive measures, and insufficient regional policy synergy. From the perspective of inter-provincial differentiation comparison, Shanghai achieves the most balanced and effective policy formulation, Jiangsu excels in balancing policy quantity and quality, Zhejiang stands out for its forward-looking approach but lacks innovation support, while Anhui falls behind in both policy coverage and effectiveness. The research proposes actionable recommendations, including establishing coordinated mechanisms to promote specialized industrial divisions, fostering a collaborative policy community, optimizing policy instruments, and implementing a dynamic policy adjustment mechanism. Together, they aim to enhance the coordinated development and competitiveness of the digital content industry in the YRD.