This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
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.
More Candy Crush than Quibi
First things first: Microdramas are not the same thing as Quibi. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s failed attempt at creating a Netflix for short-form content relied on expensive Hollywood talent and massive production budgets, all while completely ignoring the world of short-form social video.
Microdramas are essentially the opposite of that. They’re cheaply produced, highly shareable shows consisting of dozens of 1- to 2-minute episodes based on successful romance tropes. Every other show seems to have a handsome billionaire who is willing to risk his reputation to free a damsel in distress trapped in a relationship with an abusive partner. Oh, and the billionaire is probably also into BDSM, just because. There’re also plenty of billionaires in disguise, stolen inheritances, and mafia bad boys.
It’s easy to make fun of these kinds of stories, but as someone who watches both Bridgerton and White Lotus, I’m not going to pretend to have some moral superiority. Having guilty pleasures is fine, actually. And boy, ReelShort does have a lot of them, all designed to get you hooked within the first five to eight 1- to 2-minute episodes.
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