When Jeffrey Katzenberg-backed streaming platform Quibi collapsed in 2020, after just six months, it looked like the market for shortform drama was dead in the water. But roll forward five years and one of this year’s hot topics is rampant consumer demand for what are now referred to as ‘vertical dramas’ or ‘micro dramas’.
Katzenberg may have been right to blame the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for Quibi’s catastrophic collapse. But just as likely is the fact that the platform was off target when it positioned itself as subscription based platform with a sweet-spot of 10-minute stories. In reality, global audiences have fallen big time for freemium mobile apps that offer snack-sized series made up of 1-2 minute episodes.
In hindsight, it also looks like Quibi landed in the US a few years too early. While North American consumers are now flocking towards mobile-first micro dramas, the trigger for the current surge in interest has been Chinese apps like DramaBox and ReelShort. Research by OMDIA estimates that Asia’s top five micro drama apps reached a total of 150 million monthly active users in February 2025.
Cassandra Yang, co-founder of micro drama studio Rising Joy, says micro dramas really began to dominate the Chinese market in 2023/24. “Remarkably, within just two years, daily viewing time for micro dramas grew from a niche interest to surpassing traditional long-form dramas, a testament to their explosive popularity in China”.
Perhaps not surprisingly, consumption of micro dramas seems to be complementary to traditional drama viewing. It happens on the move, during work breaks and at bedtime. One factor that Yang believes is fuelling the genre is interaction between fans. “Consumption is quite individual,” she says, “but young audiences are engaging through social sharing, comments, and community-building.”
Now, she says, Rising Joy’s data shows demand for micro drama is increasing rapidly across the Americas (US, Brazil, Mexico), APAC (Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India) and MENA (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE). “This is no fleeting trend limited to a single region,” she insists, “but a multi-billion-dollar global market with staying power.”
Yang’s assessment is borne out by the fact that the above-mentioned ReelShort has broken into the US in a big way. Launched by Crazy Maple Studio in August 2022, the app now generates around 60-70% of its revenues from the US.
Seeking to tap into this momentum, entertainment studio Cineverse and Banyan Ventures, the venture arm of former ABC Entertainment Group and WME Chairman Lloyd Braun, have now launched a US-based studio and AI native platform built specifically for micro series (currently operating under the working title MicroCo).
“The average person scrolls through hundreds of feet of content a day, but almost none of it is built to last,” said Braun at launch. “We’re merging the storytelling rigour of series television with the pace, energy, and intimacy of short-form.”
Targeting a market segment that is projected to reach $10bn outside of China by 2027, MicroCo plans to produce series that are 1-3 minutes per episode and designed for binge-watching. MicroCo says it is exploring various revenue models, “including a mix of advertising, in-app transactions and other premium options for superfans”.
Digital entertainment powerhouse TheSoul Publishing is also getting in on the act, launching a micro drama app called SHRT in partnership with mobile tech company Playkot. At time of writing the app, available on Android and iOS, featured around 30 complete English-language series, with new dramas added weekly. Each series is developed inhouse or in collaboration with global content partners.
Explaining the appeal, TheSoul’s VP, streaming and content partnerships, Jonathan Shrank said the company sees micro drama as “an opportunity to utilise our experience in data-driven, flexible production in creating content that works across formats”.
Like his peers, Shrank believes micro dramas are here to stay: “Micro drama isn’t just a trend – it’s episodic television for the mobile generation. They fill a crucial gap in the entertainment ecosystem by providing snackable, sharable, emotionally-charged stories that can be consumed quickly, between tasks or commutes. Audiences are drawn to their immediacy, relatability, and frequency of pay-off.”
In terms of genres that work, romance, thrillers, mystery, horror, comedy and fantasy stand out. Dubai-based producer/distributor Kedoo Entertainment, for example, just launched Love Drama, an app devoted to short-form romantic drama series.
According to Kedoo, the app focuses on “universal themes including forbidden love, high society romance, timeless and historical tales, second chances and rekindled love, fated encounters and coming-ofage drama”. Series include Billionaire’s Secret Baby, From Gate ‘A’ to Her Heart and Wings After 40, with new titles added weekly.
Nick Okorokov, CEO & co-founder, Kedoo Entertainment says Love Drama is “dedicated to short-form romantic drama. Available worldwide on the App Store and Google Play, the app targets emerging audiences outside Asia, especially the English, Spanish and Portuguese speakers, where the format is underrepresented.”
Okorokov says the app builds on insights derived from “managing over 30 romance-focused YouTube channels since 2023”. Explaining the editorial tone, he says Kedoo dramas are “fast-paced, emotionally charged stories with frequent cliffhangers. This makes them irresistibly binge-worthy, especially during busy or stressful moments.”
According to Okorokov, some of Kedoo’s micro dramas began life as traditional drama – but this is not the optimal approach, he says. “Due to the series’ strong YouTube performance, we adapted them into vertical format by reimagining pacing, emotional appeal and narrative style to suit mobile-first consumption. That said, content resonates best with audiences when it’s created specifically for the purpose, and thus we’re actively exploring co-financing original productions.”
In terms of business model, Kedoo is keeping things flexible. “Users can access content via a freemium model, unlocking episodes after sampling the series by watching ads and completing daily missions. For quick access, they can get token bundles via optional in-app purchases to unlock content instantly at around $/£/€1.99 for 20 eps to start with. We also offer subscription plans providing features including ad-free viewing, offline downloads, and early access to content.”
One element that seems non-negotiable is that the production budget needs to be low. Assessing the MicroCo announcement, media analyst Evan Shapiro concludes: “Micro dramas are red hot but the costs must be small both for your studio and your consumer. The transactional mechanics are way different from anything (traditional studios) have done before. It’s actually closer to gaming than television.”
Despite the budgetary challenge, one producer keen to enter the market is UK-based Spirit Studios. Co-founder and creative director Matt Campion says his company is about to embark on the production of a slate of around six micro dramas: “We’re always really excited about new business models,” he says, “and we’re a company that knows how to make quality content at low cost. So we’re just prepping our first micro drama production, with a plan to launch in around mid-October.”
Campion said the aim is to produce around 90 to 100 minutes of content at a budget of around £200-300,000 “which is very tight for drama. We’ll split it into around 90 episodes for micro drama platforms, but we also envisage that it could have a secondary life as a movie-length piece of content on YouTube. That said, it’s really important to realise that making a micro drama is very different to a traditional drama.”
The plot for the first film was under wraps at press time, but Campion said it is based in the fashion world: “The story is going to be based around a collective of creators. Because that way we can tap into an inbuilt audience at launch.”
Much of the noise around micro dramas concerns dedicated apps like ReelShort. But it’s important to recognise there is also a parallel outlet for short form drama on social platforms like YouTube and TikTok. This market isn’t getting the same attention as the dedicated drama app market – presumably because it doesn’t deliver an obvious path to subscription/transactional revenues. But it does have a dynamism of its own.
Viral Nation head of programming Paul Telner points to Rags 2 Richmond as a “great example” of what can be achieved on social platforms. “This Vancouver series was shot in just eight days and hit nine million views in four weeks. It went viral globally, got media coverage across Canada and Asia, and within two months, we signed them at Viral Nation. Now it’s heading to production as a feature film.”
Telner says there is “a real hunger for something fresh” in the social media sphere though he believes there are still audience expectations around quality: “Rags 2 Richmond (pictured) worked because the quality was as good as any major TV series, plus it had this musical element and really distinct early-2000s look that made it stand out.”
Asked why micro dramas appear to have taken off on dedicated apps in a much bigger way than social, Telner says: “The thing about dedicated apps is that they solve the discovery problem. On social platforms, you’re fighting algorithms that are constantly changing. When you know there’s a dedicated app with curated micro dramas, it’s so much easier for viewers to find what they want and just binge.”
For shortform or micro dramas to break through on social, they generally need the kind of in-built audience that Campion referenced earlier. This could be spinoffs from traditional scripted series, stories rooted in iconic IP or dramas centred on creators.
For an example of the latter, look no further than Alan’s Universe, a shortform series that features on AlanChikinChow’s YouTube Channel (96.4 million subs).
Then again, the beauty of social is that there is always someone blowing up expectations. Creator Dhar Mann, for example, has built a short-form drama business with “stories that inspire, uplift, and bring a little more positivity into the world”.
With 25.9m subscribers on his YouTube channel, Dhar Mann drops a remarkable four new videos a week – produced at his 125,000 sq. ft. studio in Burbank, California. Key characteristics of his production model include “moving from idea to execution in days (not years), and letting real-time audience feedback drive decisions.”
If there’s one thing that unites shortform drama producers in the social space, it’s the need for brand funding. Speaking via LinkedIn, Dhar Mann acknowledged this is still a challenge: “Brands are used to spending in three lanes – linear, programmatic, influencer. Scripted creator studios don’t quite fit into these, so they often get overlooked, despite having massive viewership and emotionally engaged audiences.”
But he believes this is changing. “Brands are following their audiences and shifting more resources toward creators.”
In parallel, he is not oblivious to the opportunity the dedicated micro drama platforms represent. He has also just announced a new deal in the space with Fox Entertainment. Fox also recently invested in Holywater, a major Ukrainian producer and platform owner.
One final question is whether micro dramas can act as pilots for more traditionally-produced dramas. The general view is that this pathway is not easy, but no one is ruling it out: “Micro dramas tend to be lighter and less complex than long-form dramas, which explore broader themes with greater depth,” observes Kedoo’s Okorokov. “However, I imagine micro dramas can serve as a valuable testing ground to build engaged audiences and gather feedback, similarly to a pilot episode, before they’re expanded into longer formats. Together, these formats could complement each other, engaging audiences with different viewing preferences.”
This feature was originally published in The Drop magazine.
