Exclusive: The five small drama applications in Asia reached a total of 150 million active users (MAU) in February, while companies that are based in China have achieved great growth in this type during the past year, according to the OMDIA report.
Such episodes that last for about 6 to 90 seconds have seen, such as DRAMABOX, Goodshort, Reelshort, and ShortMax applications –
For example, DRAMABOX has seen 2,550 % of the application store revenue growth on an annual basis, while Shortmax has seen 3888 % growth. According to OMDIA analysis of the sensor tower data, the revenue of the Dramabox App Store (through 84 markets) increased from $ 8 million in 2023 to $ 217 million in 2024, while the App App Store's revenue grew from $ 36 million in 2023 to 214 million dollars in 2024.
Micro -drama appears as a major growth area in a video and a ripening flow in Asia, with production costs significantly and shorter production sessions. Some small drama producers have also turned into artificial intelligence in their process to increase cost efficiency.
However, dramas have also appeared about concerns about stories and content. For example, Chinese media organizations began tightening the regulations on the content of small drama, with Hongjo's instructions supported by stopping the launch of new five days to re -evaluation in December last year.
As of February 2025, Hongguo removed 130 small dramas from its application, as they were considered concepts that violate public order and social morals.
In Asia, the direction of the most prominent small drama is in China, where the main broadcast services began to embrace it in header on its portable platforms-like the Jeffrey Katzenburg short-term platform. Three out of five internet users watch accurate estimates, omdia, and according to a report issued by the Chinese Internet Information Center (CNNIC), there was slightly more than one billion short video users and 662 million users of small drama in the country in 2024.
Chinese signs are now encouragement of the creators of small drama content and IP holders to partner with them to participate in content production and distribution inside their video platforms. For example, Tencent Video provides support for the platform, including the tools of video content production, management and distribution via Tencent Cloud, as well as support for access audience, revenue models, product quality support, and copyright protection.
Viddsee has announced a short video platform in Singapore for a small drama list in October last year, which targets the Southeast Asian market and beyond.
The first few rings of small drama are usually served, then viewers pay fees to cancel the remaining episodes. The income model for small drama applications tends to be more flexible than traditional broadcasting services online-Users can choose to continue watching by watching ads or paying the subscription or payment price for each episode.
On many platforms, viewers can also spend metal currencies within the application to cancel subsequent episodes, earn metal currencies within the application by checking daily, staying on the application for at least five minutes, and following the social media accounts of the platform-strategies that drive the adhesion of the user and sharing.
When looking at the future, the OMDIA report highlighted that Micro-DRAMAS's advertising sales will increase, as well as telecommunications companies that provide data collected with small drama applications. For example, Telkomsel offers Flextv assembly package.
South Korea is also another major growth market in Asia for the short video content, as it offers signs and a fine drama. One of the local reports also showed that the content of the short shape between the types of video format, which was consumed by the most more than 58.1 % in 2023 to 70.7 % in 2024.
The OMDIA report also found that 20 % of the best applications downloaded in 2025 in the entertainment sector are small drama applications, including Dramabox, ShortMax, Microdrama, Reelshort and Flickrels, according to sensor tower data.
Active active users in the five small drama grew 5,848 % year -based from the end of 2013 to the end of 2014.
In December last year, TVing launched a section for short short video content. The service initially focused on the most prominent video clip of its library, including the original series, the baseball games, and the PRO basketball games. TVing plans to launch the original small drama content this year.
Likewise, in September of last year, Watcha Shortcha, a specially dedicated small drama service that includes content from South Korea, China, Japan and the United States.
More players, including gaming companies, have also started investing in small drama. For example, in India, Nazara Technologies has invested $ 250,000 in Reelsaga innovations, where she got a 3.57 % stake. In South Korea, the Pugb Krafton developer has invested $ 90 million in Seoul -based SPONLABS, the Dramo short drama player.
