Inside The Microdrama Boom Fueling India’s Next OTT Wave

It starts with a swipe. A woman slaps her cheating husband. A man discovers he has 24 hours to live. A child uncovers a family secret. It’s dramatic, messy, yet addictive, and all it takes is just 60 seconds. 

You’re hooked. Before you realise it, you’re four episodes deep into a vertical soap opera you didn’t even plan to watch. Welcome to the world of microdramas – bite-sized serialised storytelling that merges the emotional pull of daily soaps with the pace of Instagram Reels.

“The trick is the cliffhanger,” said Anshuman Misraa, who cofounded microdrama streaming app Reelies. “You end each episode in a way that the viewer has to see what happens next.”

What played behind the shift? It’s the shrinking attention span. The attention span for humans has reduced from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2025, falling shorter than that of a goldfish by 1 second. But, we can’t thrive with the goldfish memory. 

What caused this sharp loss in attention? It’s the unabated and unbridled influx of digital information. And, what happened next? Short-form content emerged and conquered our mind space. Bite-sized, instant-gratification content, such as microdramas, seemed particularly appealing through this shrinking engagement window.

Enter, Soap Opera 2.0: Entertainment Reaches Its Vertical Era

Think of microdramas as an evolved version of soap operas meant for the fast-paced generations, not designed for televisions but for phone screens.

When we talk about phone screens, in the world of Reels, it’s more about the short time and attention span of the user that they are fighting for, rather than star cast, expensive production setups, and the excitement. 

Although late to the microdrama party, India too sees a disruption in the entertainment space. Gone are the days of 1,833 episodes of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi running for over eight years. Entertainment startups are breaking down 30-40-minute, long-format stories into 60-120-second vertical videos or microdramas. 

“Microdramas are soap operas 2.0 but designed natively for mobiles. We strongly believe that microdramas are going to be the next phase of evolution for the entertainment industry and will redefine our entertainment ecosystem,” a spokesperson for Kuku TV said. Audio OTT startup Kuku FM rolled out the Kuku TV app for microdrama-related content earlier this year. 

Indian startups like Reelies, Kuku and ReelSaga are swarming on this exponentially growing market with their pool of microdramas that are short, crisp, engaging, and easy-to-digest – perfect for an upwardly mobile working class, dominated by a younger, tech-savvy section of consumers.

The global microdrama market, built on ultra-short, mobile-first fiction, stood at $6.54 Bn in 2024 and is projected to hit nearly $12 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.5%.

And India makes up a major chunk of this market, not just by virtue of its large smartphone-clad population or internet user base, but also for being one of the fastest-growing and largest OTT markets globally, pegged at $4.5 Bn with projections to reach $27.2 Bn by 2033. Notably, the Indian OTT market is expected to double in size by 2030, intensifying competition.

When it comes to video content consumption on social media, India throws up a thriving market. The country that was the launchpad for YouTube Shorts four years back, flaunts a viewership exceeding 1 Tn, while for Instagram, India represents the world’s largest Reels audience at 385.4 Mn. 

Miniaturisation To TikTokisation And Beyond  

India’s love for soap operas goes back to the eighties, majorly woven around family dynamics, interpersonal relationships, and social issues that resonated deeply with the viewers. The affinity deepened over time.

Fast forward to this day. Television shrank the entertainment screen to the living room and mobile phones reduced it further to the fists of our hands. From 167 Mn houses with television sets and 8,800 multiplex screens in 2015, India has emerged as a 1.2 Bn strong smartphone market in 10 years. Content evolved in sync with the miniaturisation of the entertainment interface. When short video platform TikTok began ruling mobile phone screens globally, content entered the phase of TikTokisation.

Following initial experimentation by Chinese social media platforms like Kuaishou and iQIYI, platforms such as Tencent Video, MangoTV, and Youku increased microdrama consumption within the country during the pandemic. The market for microdrama-focussed social media platforms in China is expected to reach $14 Bn by 2027 from $5 Bn in 2023. 

From around 2022, Chinese companies began actively expanding around the world, particularly in the US. Apps like ReelShort emerged as prominent players outside of China. By 2024, microdrama emerged as a distinct segment within short-form content, with the top 10 microdrama apps collectively generating over $1.7 Bn globally.

A similar surge in short-form content was seen in China a few years ago. Quibi, which was a pioneer in this segment, crashed down in barely six months in 2020. It also focussed on short-form, mobile-first content, but struggled largely because it was launched during the pandemic when people shifted to larger screens, and adopted a business model that required subscriptions for short content that could often be found for free elsewhere. 

Then how is it different in today’s India? This wave of microdrama has emerged after the pandemic, capitalising on a more ingrained mobile consumption habit and often employing freemium or ad-supported models to overcome initial adoption barriers.

When microdrama caught the fancy of the Indian audience, startups like ReelSaga and Reelies sprang up to ride this wave.

“The adaptation of soap operas and web series in short form appears to have immense potential to become a major hit within the country, especially in the non-metro regions,” ReelSaga cofounder Shubh Bansal told Inc42. 

Kuku TV spotted a trend – that of a gradual shift from user-generated content (UGC) like reels or shorts to professionally generated content (PGC) like microdramas in recent months. “Kuku TV has gained a user base of over 1 Cr barely within months,” the spokesperson said.

Similarly, Reelies, launched last December, claimed to have an average monthly consumption of 3,000 hours of content from about 4.5 Lakh users. 

Just a few days back, ReelSaga bagged $2.1 Mn in its seed round from investors like Picus Capital, Nazara Technologies, and 8i Ventures.

Nailing Unit Economics With High Returns On Low Costs 

Microdrama, according to the startups, has the potential to churn out a plethora of spin-offs and character arcs. Moreover, the production cost of generating such content is very low, compared to larger projects. 

“Since the cost of production is less, and now with AI, it’s even easier to experiment with IP to generate value within the shelf life,” Bansal said. 

Misraa of Reelies too stressed on the costs. Seasoned for over two decades in the media, it was easy for Misraa and his cofounder Anshumaali Jha to spot the cost advantage in making microdramas. The startup produces its own content. It shoots a 70-minute series in one go in a few hours and then breaks it into multiple parts based on the script. This short production duration helps them churn out the content at a significantly lower cost, he claimed. However, the founder didn’t disclose the exact differentials in producing such content.   

Reelies trains its writers to churn out a long-form story that can be spun off into 40-50 short stories, each with a catchy ending. To monetise its content, Reelies serves ads after a few free reel episodes. If a user wants to avoid watching the ads, they can buy subscription plans for INR 10 a day to INR 60 a month. 

“Compared to long form, it’s leaner to produce, builds a stronger engagement, and can drive better unit economics,” Bansal said about microdrama. 

Rival ReelSaga is exploring revenue streams like advertisements, micro-transactions, and brand integrations. The startup has so far kept its content free.

The Next Streaming Battle Goes Vertical

While small startups vie for a slice of the evolving market of microdramas, big players, too, have geared up for the race. Most major studios, production houses, and OTTs have begun experimenting with microdramas. Amazon-owned MX Player is trying out short movies and series on its platform under the brand name MX Fatafat. 

It won’t be a surprise if OTT giants like Netflix and Jio Cinemas enter the space soon. Earlier in May, TechCrunch reported that Netflix was experimenting with this type of content and would roll it out for iOS and Android devices shortly. Recently rechristened JioHotstar too is weighing micro-style encapsulations for multiple of its creator-led shows under Sparks.

Amazon’s live streaming platform Twitch recently unveiled Discovery Feed, which offers bite-sized clips extracted from longer live streams. These are accessible from Twitch’s mobile app.

“Everyone will be trying their hand in this space within a year. However, it is difficult to scale this as you really need a nimble organisation to make the unit economics work,” Reelies’ Misraa added. 

According to insights shared by the founders of microdrama startups, the primary audience for the content consists of Gen Z and young millennials, predominantly aged 18 to 36, drawn from middle to upper-middle income segments. Primarily hooked to the cliffhangers, they typically spend 30-45 minutes per session, binge-watching multiple short episodes often during commutes or short breaks.

Microdrama is no longer a Chinese-origin Indian success story. It has evolved into a global trend, driving investor attention to this space. ReelShort parent Crazy Maple Studio revenue in 2024 zoomed to $30 Mn, while even ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has started backing ultra-short storytelling ventures. 

These moves indicate that the space is no longer just a playground for emerging startups, but a strategic arena for the next wave of digital content monetisation.

In India too, the appetite for paid digital content is growing steadily. A report by FICCI-EY has projected that paid subscriptions are expected to rise nearly 30% over the coming two years, indicating a strong willingness to pay for mobile-first entertainment, especially when it’s convenient, snackable, and emotionally gripping.

“The Indian market is well positioned to see a wave of startups offering vertical video and episodic microdrama in the coming months – ready to rule the market in the near future,” 360 ONE Asset’s early stage VC head Abhishek Nag said. “A surge in India’s mobile-first consumers, our love for dramatic storytelling, and an evolving consumption pattern make this the ideal time to build in this space.”

Armed with its compelling hooks, backed by a growing investor interest, and designed to retain viewers, these 60-second soap operas have disrupted the entertainment space, but how formidable the trend is remains to be seen as the vertical storytelling unfolds along the way. 

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]