Tiny episodes, massive appeal: Short-form serials are gaining viewers and empowering independent studios
From independent creators to major platforms, micro-series are helping redefine how viewers connect and consume content worldwide
Foragers, snackers, and grazers: Confronted by an abundance of content, social media audiences are constantly searching for something good to consume. They sift through endless streams that might match their metadata but might not satisfy their emotional or intellectual appetites. Could serialized short-form storytelling—like micro-series and micro-dramas—offer greater sustenance and continuity in a highly fragmented attention economy?
A micro-series—sometimes called a micro-drama or short-form serial—is a scripted video series told in bite-sized episodes lasting just a few minutes each, designed for mobile-first consumption and rapid engagement. Mobile apps like DramaBox, ReelShort, ShortMax, and DramaWave, among others, are generating billions in revenue and hundreds of millions of users in Asia and the United States.1 This explosive growth is redefining what audiences expect from digital entertainment—and signals new opportunities and challenges for creators, platforms, and brands alike.2
In 2025, in-app revenue for micro-series content is forecast to reach US$3.8 billion.3 In 2026, Deloitte predicts that the revenue growth of in-app micro-series will more than double, reaching US$7.8 billion. Deloitte also predicts that the United States will account for half of global revenue in 2025, but its share will decline to 40% as other markets convert more views and downloads into cash. As more audiences are exposed to micro-series, we believe they will find the combination of short-form and serial entertainment compelling, buoyed by increased virality on social media. Additionally, we anticipate that more micro-serials will break out on social platforms, commanding more attention time and climbing the charts of US social media engagement. Finally, we expect some savvy video-streaming providers will experiment more with short-form serialized content offerings directly on their services.
Although short-form serials seem like a made-for-social innovation, they could challenge the dominance of leading social platforms. The capricious nature of the algorithmic feed on social platforms could make it difficult to “follow” a series and keep up with new episodes. This could push more audiences and creators onto competing micro-series apps. At the same time, there is some evidence that younger generations are feeling overwhelmed by social media, unable to keep up with, or let go of, the infinite feed.4 Could a short-form throwback to linear TV be the solution?
Micro-dramas are capturing audiences
The growing popularity of serialized short-form content appears to be gaining traction on leading social video platforms while also supporting the growth of new competitors: successful micro-drama services that are competing for the finite amount of time people have for digital entertainment.
Micro-drama mobile apps are growing in popularity, offering potentially hundreds of 60- to 90-second serialized episodes loaded with plot twists and cliffhangers to keep audiences engaged and wanting more. These new micro-serials are produced quickly and cheaply, constantly refined by audience interactions, and often leverage leading social video platforms to drive discovery and buzz.5
China’s iQiyi offers over 15,000 free and paid micro-dramas and has seen considerable growth in its watch time over the past year, adding e-commerce capabilities around the micro-drama ecosystem.6 As of 2024, Chinese media reported approximately 662 million micro-drama users nationwide.7 Leading Chinese video streamers are partnering with short-video platforms to coproduce premium mini-dramas, perhaps anticipating an integrated future of long- and short-form content.8
Given the growing global momentum of micro-dramas, India is seizing the opportunity with a surge of innovative platforms and established media companies entering the market.9 Over-the-top platforms like Zee Entertainment, and Kuku FM have launched dedicated micro-drama verticals, with platforms reporting doubled daily watch times following the introduction of short-form pilot content.10 In India’s highly price-conscious market, where average revenue per user is modest, platforms are experimenting with micro-payment options for individual episodes, while others are rolling out flexible subscription plans, including hybrid models that blend subscription fees with advertising income.11 Viewers can watch the first few episodes for free, but then they need to pay to watch the story unfold.
Leading micro-drama apps now regularly appear among the top 25 US app store downloads.
The appetite for short-form serials and micro-drama apps is also spreading beyond Asia.12 One report found that global revenue from micro-drama apps surged from US$178 million in Q1 2024 to nearly US$700 million in Q1 2025.13 The United States has become the top-grossing market for short-drama apps like DramaBox, ReelShort, and GoodShort.14 Leading micro-drama apps now regularly appear among the top 25 US app store downloads.15 Crossovers onto social video platforms have given them a boost in the United States,16 and social platforms themselves are seeing more engagement with micro-series content.17 Even leading streamers are dabbling in short-form video and vertical content.18
Deloitte’s own Digital Media Trends survey of US consumers found that in March 2025, about 30% of Generation Z and millennials were familiar with micro-series or micro-dramas. Among them, nearly half are watching more micro-series content now than they did a year ago, and nearly half would like to see more micro-series content on the subscription video-on-demand platforms they already subscribe to, suggesting a competitive path for streamers (figure 2).
More audiences are being drawn to independently created short-form, narrative-driven content. In response, a growing number of creators are building their own independent studios, leveraging data, artificial intelligence, and social platforms to amplify their reach.
The rise of social, cost-effective, and data-driven studios
Media and entertainment are being reshaped by the behaviors and economics of short-form content, the capabilities and reach of social video platforms, and the dual forces of prestige and unwieldy costs associated with premium content. As audiences devote more of their entertainment time and ascribe greater value to short-form content, independent creators are evolving into modern studios, elevating the quality of independent video at a fraction of the cost.
More than just an economic advantage or capitalizing on shifting audience behaviors, new creator studios can be fast and responsive, quickly adapting to audience feedback. They leverage engagement data to see what works and what doesn’t, reducing the risks of content decisions.19 They interact with viewers to reinforce community bonds and grow fandoms. They employ AI wherever it can shorten time-to-market, reduce production overhead, and grow their reach across geographies.20 And they are free to experiment with editorial tactics that maximize engagement and retention.
Rising engagement with micro-series could mint more creator studios powered by audience interactions and amplified by technologies, making it easier for them to move fast and reach global audiences. It could also drive more competition for top creator talent among micro-drama apps, streaming video services, and social video platforms. Of these, social platforms could be the least advantaged unless they make it easier for audiences to discover and keep up with serials.
Tools and tactics supporting modern short-form content creators
Creators and media executives should consider how new independent studios—built from scratch—are leveraging tools and platforms to reach and engage global audiences at minimal cost.
AI-enabled production pipelines: Studios can use generative AI tools to compress production cycles and lower the barrier to achieving high production value, like auto-generating B-roll or simple animations, and automated subtitle generation, voice cloning, or dubbing AI to overcome language, dialect, and accent gaps.21 Tools are also emerging that can convert long-form stories into short-form serials.
Editorial tactics: Stories often leverage tricks like increasing the density of “hooks” (plot twists and reveals) and ending every episode on a cliffhanger to trigger the viewer’s “need-to-know” impulse. Successful micro-dramas frequently borrow from fan fiction and online novel tropes, such as rich versus poor romances and time-travel revenge, which have proven audience appeal.22
Community growth: Creators should engage viewers through comments, even adapting later episodes in response to fan feedback. Participating in behind-the-scenes streams and social media discussions can help transform a series into a thriving fandom. Releasing episodes on a steady schedule of daily drops at consistent times helps build appointment-viewing habits. Micro-dramas can become durable mini-soap franchises with recurring characters or themes that can extend into multiple seasons or spin-offs. Creators who master cross-promotion, intellectual property merchandising, and multiplatform distribution—like novelizations or soundtrack releases from AI-generated music—can find an edge in sustaining their “mini-Marvel” universes on a budget.
New key performance indicators: A data-driven feedback loop can help short-drama studios test multiple storylines and double down on those with high retention. Key metrics include tracking completion rates, average episodes watched per user, series subscription uptake, and even story-specific return on investment, like whether a series drives merchandise sales or increases platform watch time.
Monetization: From episodic micro-payments and monthly subscriptions to soundtrack sales, merchandising, ads, and product placement, short-form serials are exploring multiple monetization pathways to fund their growth.23
An antidote to brain rot and doomscrolling?
The 2024 word of the year, as determined by Oxford University Press, was “brain rot,” a term used to “capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.”24 A related term, “doomscrolling,” reflects the tendency of some users to display addictive behaviors on social media.25
Some evidence suggests that more people are moving away from social media toward smaller, more intimate, and protected sources of information, entertainment, and community.26 Perhaps this is a response to a sense that social media is no longer “social” but just “media”—too fragmented and commoditized.27 It could be due to documented concerns about the mental health implications of overuse.28 It could soon arise from an inability to trust online content and information, as some synthetic content begins to erode truth and evidence. Or it may simply be that foraging for intermittent rewards is fundamentally tiring and unfulfilling.29
Micro-dramas may not signal a great change in the new mass media, but the growing interest in more serialized short-form independent content could challenge social video platforms, traditional studios, and streamers, shifting the balance of power and potentially elevating a new tier of high-quality, cost-effective independent studios.
Some evidence suggests that more people are moving away from social media toward smaller, more intimate, and protected sources of information, entertainment, and community.
The bottom line: Creators and independent studios are becoming more capable of meeting and responding to audiences
Independent creators and studios are gaining influence, forging closer ties with brands, and discovering new channels to reach their audiences. Challenges with engagement and monetization on social platforms—or the chance to come together on their own platforms—could push more creators toward other channels, such as video streamers and micro-drama apps, and even lead to new creator-led entertainment services.
Creators are amassing audiences across platforms and building closer relationships with brands.30 This has led to some tension between popular creators and the platforms they publish on, particularly around profit-sharing and content moderation.31
Social media platforms have evolved from the social graph to the interest graph, offering endless streams of content based on user interactions rather than on who users explicitly choose to follow. This can make it harder for creators to connect with their audiences when the algorithm decides that something else is more likely to foster engagement with the platform. Creators can spend large amounts of time and money developing audiences and brand relationships, only to see their content deprioritized or even shut down by seemingly capricious algorithms.
For the most part, algorithmic feeds and interest graphs are not geared to support serialized narratives. If micro series popularity continues to rise, social platforms may adapt trending algorithms to support ongoing narrative content, helping creators effectively reach and retain dedicated viewers, and signaling a potential shift in media consumption dynamics. They may implement “series-aware” algorithms, or “continue watching” rails.
The alternative could see more creators migrating to dedicated creator-studio applications, like micro-drama apps that are dominating mobile downloads. They may also be poached by streaming video providers looking for more short-form content to fill their slates and appeal to younger audiences. Indeed, streaming video services could be well-positioned, having built their services on serialized and appointment-based content. If more creator studios embrace serialized short-form productions, streamers could be the beneficiaries. Or perhaps the time is right for new, creator-led platforms to emerge, built on the technologies and learnings of streamers and social media.
By
Chris Arkenberg
Ankit Dhameja
Tim Bottke
Gillian Crossan
The authors would like to thank Jeff Loucks, Brooke Auxier, and Daniela Gonzales for their contributions to this article.
Cover image by: Jaime Austin; Adobe Stock
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