If a newly released drama series had nearly 100 episodes, would you be willing to spend time watching it? What if each episode were only ten minutes or even two minutes long? In China, this type of short drama series allows you to enjoy a condensed version of a soap opera, packed with all the usual dramatic moments, but in the time it takes to watch a movie.
The ultrashort duration of these mini-dramas, primarily shown in vertical format, caters to the short attention spans characteristic of the short-video era.
This new way of storytelling developed rapidly in China during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kuaishou, the biggest competitor to ByteDance’s Douyin in the country, mentioned in its earnings report that in the fourth quarter of 2023, “heavy users of short dramas” on its platform reached 94 million. The group is defined by Kuaishou as those who watch over 10 episodes per day.
“Character arcs are out, cliffhangers are in”
Micro-dramas have surged as a fresh format that helps fill viewers’ fragmented down time, being seen as ideally suited to a commute or short trip on the bus or subway, while delivering eye-catching plots in seconds. The format has challenged the traditional approach to soap operas, which features well-known actors in major roles and long-form episodes.
Dean Burns, vice president of Shanghai Vancouver Film School, said that “character arcs are out and cliffhangers are in” as one of the reasons why micro-dramas have become popular, during a speech at ChinaJoy 2024, China’s biggest gaming convention.
Short dramas are also in tune with the latest trend of mobile-first consumption and bite-size entertainment, according to Burns.
Male-oriented “Nanpin” and female-oriented “Nvpin” are the two major narrative styles in Chinese drama content, characterized by their focus on appealing to each gender’s supposed preferences. While “Nanpin” usually contains elements such as combat and fantasy, “Nvpin” depicts stories of female protagonists, attempting to reflect women’s desires and needs in scenarios such as in the workplace and in their romantic lives.
Popular micro-dramas include My Wife and My Boss, I Got Married Without You, and The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband. These share common plot features including romance, conflict, and revenge.
During this year’s Chinese New Year, a series called Hi, Mom took China’s social platforms by storm. It tells the story of a female college student who travels back to the 1980s, and shows the clash between her modern mindset and those of the past.
The ultrashort drama accumulated over RMB 12 million ($1.66 million) in user payment recharges within 24 hours, Chinese media outlets reported.
A Hi, Mom viewer who finished the series in two days told TechNode, “The plots made me addicted to it. It’s cool to watch honestly, but I feel like it’s kind of a waste of time once I’m done with it.”
Can micro-dramas make money?
Typically, viewers are free to watch the first few episodes of micro-dramas until, usually at the point of a cliffhanger, they are prompted to pay to unlock the remaining episodes.
But the question is, does producing mini-dramas make money? Do the user payments go directly to the production companies’ pockets?
In 2023, public data shows that China produced more than 3,000 online micro-dramas. “I think now participators may have rushed in too eagerly,” Lu Enwen, CTO of China-based marketing service provider Yujin Culture, told a forum at ChinaJoy. “Our data indicates that the percentage of people losing money in the industry has increased from 80% last year to 90% this year, or even 95%.”
He added there is too much homogenization at present in the industry, with many content producers focusing on skits.
Crazy Maple Studio, the parent company of ReelShort, a platform that provides micro-drama shows with English-speaking actors, reported only RMB 240,000 in net profit in 2023 despite enjoying rapid growth and being ranked the number three entertainment app in the US last November.
On the one hand, producers of short dramas rely on guiding users to pay to watch what happens next for monetization. On the other, they have to pay distributors first to place ads on various traffic platforms, such as Douyin and Kuaishou, in order to reach a wider user base.
According to media outlet Southern Weekly, 90% of the revenue in the industry has been spent on advertising fees, with industry profit margins below 10%.
At the ChinaJoy forum, several industry professionals noted that some companies are rapidly producing sensationalized micro-dramas. This is because companies can cover previous costs “as long as one or two out of ten projects succeed,” according to attended speakers, in large part thanks to the low initial investment required.
A recent revenge-themed short drama, Shi Gu Qian Jin, broadcast on the Baidu app, garnered around 20 million views in one week, revealed Yan Yusong, vice president of Hong Kong-listed Linekong Interactive Group, the producer of the micro-drama. However, he added, “This actually counts as a failed work [due to the relatively low view clicks].”
Going global
Outside of China, audiences are increasingly drawn to captivating, plot-twisting micro-dramas. With many of the short dramas circulated in the Western and Southeast Asian markets, although the actors are not of Chinese descent, the teams behind these dramas are often from China.
The phenomenon comes at a time when Chinese regulators are imposing stricter guidelines on the billion-dollar-drama industry.
“Most practitioners of overseas micro-dramas are Chinese because Chinese people are hardworking and can endure the high-intensity workload of short dramas,” Keson Su, vice president of MeetSocial, a digital marketing agency that primarily serves cross-border merchants, told the event at ChinaJoy.
The company has a micro-drama-focused division MeetForce, which Su serves as the head of. He noted that the firm has opted not to use Los Angeles as a filming base but instead has set up overseas bases in Eastern European countries such as Serbia. “We sometimes hire British actors to fly in for filming when there are specific requirements for a British accent,” he said.
