Microdrama

A microdrama is a series whose episodes last only one to two minutes. It is shot in vertical format, the way you would normally hold a phone in your hand. A complete season often consists of 60 to 100 such episodes and together tells a story of about ninety minutes. The plot is deliberately exaggerated: secret billionaires, revenge against the family, lost children, sudden weddings. Almost every episode ends in the middle of an unresolved situation, so that you immediately start the next one. The format was invented in China, where it has grown into a billion-dollar market since around 2022.

A billion-dollar market made of one-minute episodes

Microdramas are interesting because they answer a very old question in a new way: what are people willing to pay for voluntarily on the internet? Classic streaming services sell a monthly subscription for a large catalog. Microdrama apps, by contrast, sell individual episodes, often through a kind of coin-based credit system. The first ten to twenty episodes are free, after which each additional one costs a few cents. Anyone who wants to watch a whole season often ends up paying more than the price of a movie ticket.

The numbers behind this are remarkable. In China, revenue from microdramas in 2024 reportedly exceeded that of domestic box office sales, according to industry figures. Outside of China as well, providers such as ReelShort or DramaBox are growing rapidly and regularly appear in the revenue charts of the app stores. For investors and media companies, this is a signal that attention can be sold in very small portions.

It is important to distinguish this from ordinary short videos. A TikTok clip is a standalone piece financed through advertising. A microdrama is a continuous series with a script, actors, and a direct payment model. The format looks like social media, but economically it functions more like a 19th-century serialized novel.

How a cliffhanger becomes a paywall

Production is optimized for speed and low cost. A complete season is often shot in seven to ten days, usually at just a few locations such as a villa, an office, and a café. Budgets are frequently in the low six figures, far below those of a classic TV series. In return, an enormous amount of material is produced in a short amount of time.

The second building block is distribution. Providers cut dozens of promotional clips from a season and run them on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Anyone who gets hooked ends up in the app and watches the free episodes there. Right at the point where tension is highest, the paywall appears. This principle is also called a cliffhanger, meaning a deliberately open ending.

Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in this. Language models generate script drafts based on proven patterns, while automatic translation and voice synthesis create versions for new markets. Some providers are already testing fully generated images instead of actual filming. Additionally, the exact second at which viewers drop off is analyzed, and the next season is adjusted accordingly.

From the app store to the quarterly figures

Most commonly, people encounter microdramas as advertisements on social networks. Typical is a clip with garish subtitles, overly emphatic music, and a conflict within the first three seconds. Anyone who installs the app as a result sees the actual business model. In the app store charts, such apps now regularly appear alongside games and streaming services.

The term also comes up in business news for a different reason. Major platforms are noticing that microdramas are drawing viewing time away from classic series. Netflix, YouTube, and TikTok are therefore experimenting with their own short series formats. European production companies are also examining whether the model can be adapted locally.

A common misconception is that microdramas are simply cheap trash entertainment without significance. Economically, they represent a serious testing ground for payment models, AI-assisted production, and data-driven storytelling. However, the opaque pricing is criticized: anyone paying many small amounts can easily lose track of the total cost. Several consumer advocacy groups are therefore calling for clearer disclosure of what a whole season ultimately costs.