Hollywood is in love with microdramas, for all the wrong reasons

"What if you could make hundreds of millions of dollars with cheaply produced content, all while sidestepping powerful distribution platforms like Netflix and YouTube? This promise is at the core of Hollywood's latest obsession: microdramas, a new form of storytelling that originated in China, gained momentum in India, and is now taking the US by storm. There have been countless stories in Hollywood trade magazines and business publications alike in recent months about apps like ReelShort, DramaBox, and ShortMax."

"These apps are supposedly poised to generate $1.3 billion in revenue in the US alone this year, with global revenues estimated to be around $8 billion. This has led a number of Hollywood companies to jump on the bandwagon: Cineverse and Banyan Ventures have teamed up on a new service dubbed MicroCo, E! Entertainment Television founder Alan Mruvka is getting ready to launch the microdrama app Verza TV, and Fox has invested in Holywater, the startup behind the microdrama app My Drama."

"There have also been a bunch of stories about the production of these mobile-first stories, with shoots being low-budget, non-unionized, and perhaps, at times, exploitative. But very little attention has been paid to the audience of these shows. All those stories about massive growth and huge revenue estimates ignore what it's like for consumers to actually use a microdrama app. So I decided to download ReelShort, the most popular microdrama app in the US, and take one for the team."

Microdramas are mobile-first, cheaply produced serialized short dramas that originated in China, grew in India, and are rapidly expanding in the United States. Apps such as ReelShort, DramaBox, and ShortMax claim massive user demand and are projected to generate roughly $1.3 billion in U.S. revenue and about $8 billion globally this year. Several Hollywood companies are investing in or launching microdrama services, including Cineverse, Banyan Ventures' MicroCo, Verza TV, and Fox-backed Holywater. Production models are frequently low-budget and non-union, raising concerns about exploitative practices. Audience experience and app usage patterns remain underexamined.

Read at The Verge