The future never looks more vertical than from the 76th floor of Lotte Tower, the world’s sixth tallest building. Key stakeholders from Microdrama attended the conference “The Future Is Vertical: The Global Rise of Short Form Media.” This flashy location was aptly chosen by event organizer, short scripted video content company Crisp. This means shaping the next phase of an industry that will compete for $26 billion in global revenue by 2030.
One of the key topics at the conference was how games and web novels have shaped short drama. Neorigin CEO Chen Bo and MoboReels Chairman Dr. Zou Jianfeng, who hail from China, the birthplace and major market of the microdrama industry, spoke about the origins of the rising trend.
“There are many similarities between the gaming and short-form production industries,” says Chen. “For example, NeoOrigin’s micro-drama team is actually a spin-off from our game publishing team. We use the same methodology, business model, and publishing tools like Meta and Google. But in terms of production, short-form dramas and games are completely different. Games are more complex and expensive to create. They cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and take years to create. Whereas short-form dramas currently take a month in China and maybe two in South Korea. It will take months and will cost $100,000.
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Like Mr. Chen, Dr. Zou believes that most obstacles ultimately come down to budgetary costs. “I think all web novels can be made into a short script format. All you need is a good story. If it’s good, it has a climax and you can turn it into a short drama. I think cost is the main barrier. If the story is too complex, the price will go up and it will be difficult to convert it into a short script format.”
Globalization of short forms
But in the emotional business, you can’t succeed without an audience. Perhaps the global market perspective was most appealing to the microdrama operators, platforms, content creators, and technology providers who gathered from the Americas, Europe, and Asia to participate in the summit in Seoul, South Korea.
“China, the US and Japan are our biggest revenue markets, but there is great potential elsewhere,” Rising Joy CEO Cassandra Yang summed up during the Shortform Going Global panel discussion. “India has seen huge growth this year. Since September 2024, India has gone from zero to become the largest growth market for independent microdrama apps. Thailand and Indonesia have emerged, with Indonesia becoming the second largest download market after India. We are also looking at Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia…Microdramas are booming everywhere.”
For Martin Mošković, a veteran German film producer and former chairman of Constantin Film, these global opportunities are no different from the film and TV series industry. “In the creative industries, we are constantly reinventing the market. If we can emotionally engage our audience, we will succeed. The market will only be as big as we are successful.”
Hollywood didn’t believe in this phenomenon when short films first came out of China. Quibi wasn’t successful, but after discussing it with various industry experts, Moszkowicz believes this was due to two main factors: the business model was subscription-based, and the content produced was very expensive. “Budget management is extremely important in every part of our business. What we say in this job is, ‘No business is better than a low budget.’ Short films are on the right track because the budgets are so small. But scalability is the key to success. It’s not. There will be hundreds of series that will fail in the market. People will focus on what makes them feel good, but not necessarily the best or the most expensive. ”
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Cassandra Yang nods furiously at this statement. “The companies I work with run microdrama apps using gaming industry methodologies for user acquisition. But they all ask me how to improve retention. I tell them that without good content, retention drops in 7 days.”
For Ronan Wong, COO of AR Asia Productions, experimenting with new ways to tell stories is what makes microdrama such an exciting field. “We’re just starting out, so our content is pretty limited at the moment, which means our audience is pretty limited as well. There’s a lot of content that we haven’t explored: unscripted content, the horror genre, new formats that might appeal to Gen Z…” Industry veterans are excited by the recent mass adoption of mobile, especially in countries like Indonesia. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the penetration rate increased to about 90%. “I think we are underestimating an audience that has only just bought a mobile phone in the last few years. In Indonesia, the download rate for microdramas has already reached 7 million to 8 million, and we are seeing this trend in several countries. We are seeing growth, but not enough new content, not enough new channels to reach them. I think we will see new options emerge in the coming months.”
Moshkovic said traditional streamers like Netflix won’t be the first to jump into the short-scripted content pool because of their subscription-based model, but he predicts Hollywood studios will get into the business sooner rather than later. “Their initial snobbery about the format has changed over the last few years. Netflix, Apple and other OTTs have suddenly become so huge without studios. I’m sure they’re thinking, ‘Okay, we can’t take any more chances.’ I think Hollywood will follow suit, because where audiences go, studios go.”
short animation
Meanwhile, Hollywood’s absence seems to be a big draw for independent artists looking for new mediums to experiment with. “Within the traditional Hollywood structure, there is a lot of politics and bureaucracy that is difficult for independent creators to navigate,” Emily Yang, creator of the Emmy-winning micro-drama “White Rabbit” and co-founder of Shibuya Studio, said at the “The Future Empowers Creators with Short Animation” panel. “I’m very optimistic that the short-form drama market will become a more vertical place for artists, both figuratively and literally.”
Maciej Kuciara, co-creator of White Rabbit and co-founder of Shibuya, believes microdramas are a unique new way to ease the burden that comes with the medium of animation. “Historically, animation has been very complex. Going vertical means it can be much shorter. Telling mini-stories makes it much easier. You don’t have to know everything. Creators can work with the medium more freely, more creatively, and it costs less.”
Their work, White Rabbit, is not only experimental in its vertical format, but also in how they interact with their audience in getting the green light for the next episode. “Writing was the most difficult part for us,” adds Kusiala. “I think we had structure because of the voting system, but we had to make sure that every episode we were writing made sense…” This microdrama tells the story of Mirai, a girl who is unaware of her true nature as an AI, and the topic resonated at the conference as new technology creeps in with every panel discussion.
The outlook for future applications of AI was largely optimistic, with hopes that AI would increase production and reduce costs across industries.
“I think AI can reduce the production budget for microdramas,” said Minhong Lee, co-founder of Carpen Street. “But it’s the same with airplanes. We have very high-tech models now, but pilots are still essential. AI is important, but who uses it is probably more important. Together with Laila[Lee, business director at Carpenstream]we Having worked in the art industry for many years, I’ve learned that while AI can do a lot of things fast, viewers can tell very quickly if a character or setting isn’t interesting.Korean and Japanese viewers in particular don’t like that.”Imitating the style of other artists is important, but AI cannot do everything. We need to get better pilots, and we need to understand how and where we can use them better. ”
For Emily Yang, the polarization among artists, whether out of fear of losing their career, moral and ethical dilemmas, or concerns about the quality of AI-generated content, misses the point. “It’s just a tool to express an idea. If you have two directors with the same camera, one can tell a great story and the other can tell a very boring story. The story, not the technology, is important. In the end, audience tastes change. Many people don’t realize when AI is introduced into a project, and they don’t need to. It doesn’t matter.”
