Emily is a college student by day, but she works the night shift at a strip club to pay her tuition. She believes her secret is safe, until one day, her mysterious English teacher shows up at the club. Did he recognize her? Will her secret get out? To see what happens next, you must pay 60 tokens, watch an advertisement, or buy a weekly VIP pass for twenty dollars to skip the ads entirely.
These stories are pulpy and exaggerated, full of cringeworthy acting and writing. Yet these “microdramas”—TikTok-like shows with episodes about a minute long—are generating billions of dollars a year.
First popular in China, microdrama apps are poised for a breakout year in the United States app market. According to the app intelligence firm Appfigures, ReelShort reached roughly one point two billion dollars in gross consumer spending in 2025, a one hundred nineteen percent increase from 2024. Another leading app, DramaBox, made two hundred seventy-six million dollars in gross consumer spending last year, more than doubling its 2024 numbers.
The market shows no signs of slowing. TikTok just launched its own standalone microdrama app called PineDrama. A new app from Hollywood veterans called GammaTime recently raised fourteen million dollars, with backing from angel investors like Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, and Kim Kardashian.
It is surprising to see short-form, scripted drama apps achieve such success when we are only five years removed from the implosion of Quibi. Quibi aimed to be like Netflix, but with ten-minute episodes designed for on-the-go viewing. Founded by Dreamworks co-founder and former Disney chair Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi raised more than one point seven five billion dollars and created shows with stars like Liam Hemsworth, Reese Witherspoon, and Anna Kendrick.
No one wanted Quibi, and the app became a punchline due to its massive failure. But ReelShort—an app whose top shows are titled “My Sister is the Warlord Queen” and “In Love with a Single Farmer-Daddy”—is a hit. According to Eric Wei, a creator economy expert and CEO of Karat Financial, their success where Quibi failed stems from catering to the female gaze. He describes them as offering “romantasy” content, similar to “Fifty Shades of Grey” but for vertical video.
While the comparison to OnlyFans is not perfect, the principle that sex sells holds true. When a story seems to be heating up, viewers are prompted to watch ads or pay money to continue. The payoff is often unsatisfying, leading viewers to continue only to encounter another pop-up demanding more money or in-app currency.
The business model behind these apps replicates the same dark patterns found in mobile games. They are designed to get users hooked on free content, offering daily login rewards of free in-app currency. As people spend more addictive time on the app, they need more coins or tokens to unlock episodes, but there is no way to earn enough without spending real money.
Some microdramas are interactive, allowing viewers to choose the story’s direction. However, the desirable choice, such as a woman standing up to her abusive ex, costs tokens. The less satisfying option, where the abuser faces no consequences, is free.
Soon, a hooked viewer may relent and pay for the weekly twenty-dollar ad-free pass. After a month, this would cost more than subscriptions to HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Paramount Plus combined.
As artificial intelligence enters the picture, these companies will churn out content at an even more alarming pace. Large language models cannot write prestige dramas like HBO’s “Succession” or even a sitcom like “The Big Bang Theory.” However, the most successful microdramas are so predictable and formulaic that they require little human wit. Many begin with a scene where a girl with glasses is pushed down by a mean classmate, only to be saved by a popular jock who notices she is pretty once her glasses are removed.
PocketFM, an audio-series platform backed by Lightspeed, has already embraced AI. Last year, it released a tool called CoPilot, trained on thousands of hours of content to understand the “beats” of a formulaic story. It helps writers add cliffhangers or plot twists predicted to make audiences want more. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian company Holywater, which raised twenty-two million dollars for its microdrama app My Drama, calls itself an “AI-first entertainment network.”
While microdrama could fully adopt AI, Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins believes there is also an opportunity for human creators. He notes that short-form vertical video has lower production overhead, which could attract creators experienced in low-cost production.
These companies have a highly profitable business model. But it is one that thrives on short attention spans, in-app purchases, and content that feels like “Cocomelon” for adults.