‘TikTokification’ hasn’t stopped with Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. Instead, it’s moving past social media and has now begun stepping into television through ‘micro dramas.’
Consisting of minute-long episodes and cliffhanger plotlines, titles like “Saved by the Sexy Cowboy,” “Claimed by the Alpha I Hate,” and “Falling for my Ex’s Mafia Dad,” have taken over social media.
How? Although the titles alone speak for their quality (and they are by no means well-made), micro dramas are driven by a level of anger-inducing acting and writing that has viewers simply begging for more.
But, while it can be easy to dismiss micro dramas as a joke—though you could argue that the product is—the money that it’s making is not.
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Quantity over anything else
The micro drama industry has boomed astronomically since its introduction to the Chinese market in 2018, through the worldwide launch of apps such as DramaBox, ReelShort, and NetShort. Since then, micro dramas have grown in market size in China, so much so that it has brought in more than the Chinese annual box office revenue in 2024, according to Tencent.
By 2027, it is also estimated that the industry’s market size will grow to a staggering $14 billion.
But how are micro dramas bringing in money?
Their business model operates through ads and user subscriptions. Inside ReelShort, by subscribing to be a VIP, you can gain access to all the platform’s content for a week for ₱580 or for a year for ₱11,650.
If you aren’t interested in a subscription service, users can also unlock episodes with the platform’s in-app currency, which you can gain by watching ads—or if you’re like me who wanted to binge “You Fired A Tech Genius,” you can buy enough ‘coins’ to finish a series for a little over ₱100.
But most importantly, micro dramas prioritize quantity over anything else. Each micro drama only takes seven to 10 days of shooting and costs between 300,000 and 500,000 yuan ($41,000 to $69,000).
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Why are ‘micro dramas’ so addicting?
That said, cost-saving practices will only go so far and won’t amount to a multi-million dollar industry without the right product to back it up. The secret sauce? Consumer marketing that feeds on viewer frustration.
If you’re familiar with ‘fake’ mobile game ads that show users playing the game the wrong way—such as “Last War: Survival” and “Whiteout Survival”—you’d be surprised that their shoddy quality hasn’t prevented these games from taking top spots on both the Android and Apple app stores.
Just through showing obnoxiously wrong gameplay for their marketing, they have “angered” players enough to actually try the game for themselves and “prove” that they could do it better.
The same applies with micro dramas as their cliffhanger storylines are often accompanied by comically evil antagonists that you simply want to see fail. And partner that with an easy-to-watch format, optional payment options, and no-pay unlockable content, it’s plain to see how micro dramas are carving out their own niche. They may not replace quality produced films and shows, but they’ve certainly found the key to making money.