My partner recently confessed something to me about his screen-time habits: When he’s giggling at his phone, he’s often watching short English-language soap operas that have begun showing up on his social feeds. The plots are basic, the acting is exaggerated, and the performers are stereotypically good-looking, but the constant twists and turns keep him spellbound and wanting more.
I knew exactly where these videos were coming from. It’s been four years since I first heard about the exploding popularity of Chinese vertical soap operas called 短剧, or duanju. Since then, the industry has become fully entrenched in foreign markets, including Hollywood.
Remember the streaming platform Quibi? It lasted only six months from start to finish. Compare that with three-year-old ReelShort, the first platform to export Chinese short dramas to foreign markets, which says it now has 55 million monthly active users. In the first quarter of 2025, ReelShort and similar apps like DramaBox, GoodShort, and DramaWave earned nearly $700 million from in-app purchases—either weekly subscriptions or one-time payments to watch an episode. That’s roughly 300 percent more than they earned during the same period last year, according to the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Globally, these apps were downloaded 370 million times in the first quarter, a 500 percent increase from 2024. So how did short dramas from China quietly become the hottest thing in entertainment seemingly overnight?
ReelShort arrived in Hollywood at a time when the legacy movie and TV business was struggling. Many actors and production teams were on strike or out of work after the major streaming giants slashed funding for original programming. Companies making vertical dramas were becoming more powerful and ambitious than ever, and they became a lifeline for some entertainment workers.
ReelShort representatives told me the company still sees itself as occupying a middle ground between TikTok and Netflix, but it looks to me like they are no longer satisfied with just being something in between. The company is rapidly expanding into different genres, including reality TV, thrillers, art house, and more. It recently launched a global competition for new show ideas pitched by social media creators. And it’s building fandom empires for its most successful actors, turning them into genuine international stars.
At least for now, the company says it’s continuing to double down on real, human actors and writers, rather than going all-in on artificial intelligence. “I don’t think it will even come close to what humans can do when it comes to the nuances and how people follow emotion,” says Sammie Hao, head of talent relations and brand partnership at ReelShort.
What Exactly Are Short Dramas?
Short dramas are similar to low-budget feature-length movies, but filmed vertically and cut into one-minute episodes (they almost always end on a cliff-hanger.) The size of the cast and investment in things like props and costume design is minimal. But compared to an amateur TikTok sketch, they are much more professional and regularly incorporate visual effects, editing, and directing.
To be honest, the short drama industry is still largely defined by storylines that hinge on tired tropes: the salacious adventures of a billionaire’s housewife, affairs with sexy werewolves and vampires, or rags-to-riches fairy tales. But they reliably deliver a shot of dopamine when they appear on your social feed, drawing traffic and generating revenue for the platforms.