In a potential tipping point for vertical video, COL Group has greenlit a sequel to its hit micro-drama “From Rags to Rank One.” This is unusual for a format that typically tells stories in one season.
The move signals ambitions beyond the CEO romances and supernatural love triangles that have dominated the field. COL is betting that the format can sustain serialized storytelling with true franchise potential.
The original series, based on a popular novel, follows protagonist Xu Mu, a modern-day character, thrown into a chaotic historical realm and journeys from basic survival to saving his nation. The show was a huge hit in China, garnering approximately 2.5 billion views on its first day. Users were glued for an average of over an hour, with over 2 billion total views.
Demand hasn’t cooled down. Nearly 3 million viewers have pre-registered their interest in the sequel, suggesting that despite the format’s bite-sized delivery, viewers are looking for a deeper story.
Follow-up ups the ante significantly. The series was shot at Hengdian World Film Studio over a month-long production, with a cast of over 40 principal characters supported by a crew of 1,000. This scale includes enhanced production design, period-accurate wardrobes, and massive action set pieces, making it a significant leap forward for vertical content.
“This is a significant sign that the microdrama format is evolving,” said COL Group General Manager Timothy Oh. “What started out as quick and easy storytelling has transformed into a platform for long-form series IP that audiences can truly relate to. The typical CEO-werewolf romance plot is a thing of the past, and we’re entering a new era of genre-spanning content from fantasy to sci-fi, male-led adventures and historical epics. It’s happening now, and we expect this trend to accelerate internationally.”
COL Group CEO Ray Tong sees industry-wide momentum behind this change. “Hollywood has recently shifted its focus to microdramas, so I think we’ll see more creative evolution in this area,” he says. “Stories are becoming more layered, the storytelling is more cinematic, and the appeal is becoming more universal. This is an exciting time for us and for everyone shaping what short-form entertainment can be.”
Both “From Rags to Rank One” films are available under international license through COL Group, which operates the US-based app FlareFlow, which is a major player in the vertical drama space.
The company went public over 20 years ago and has built a portfolio spanning intellectual property development, production and digital distribution. The company claims to operate the world’s largest microdrama distribution business, offering a library of English and Chinese languages to audiences from Asia to the Americas.
