What defines a microdrama
- Vertical 9:16 video, made to be watched one-handed on a phone
- Episodes of about one to three minutes
- Long series, commonly 50 to 100 episodes
- A hook in the first seconds and a cliffhanger at the end of every episode
- Fast, plot-driven stories: romance, revenge, family and workplace drama
How microdramas earn
The opening episodes are free. After that, each episode is unlocked with coins that viewers buy in packs, by watching a rewarded ad, or with a subscription pass that opens everything. Viewers who are caught by a story pay small amounts repeatedly rather than one price up front.
Much of a title's audience is acquired through paid social advertising, with clips from the opening episodes as the ad. The economics rest on the revenue per viewer exceeding the cost of acquiring them.
What a microdrama app needs
- A full-screen vertical player with swipe between episodes and instant start
- Autoplay into the next episode, with auto-unlock for paying viewers
- A coin wallet, coin packs and rewards
- Episode-level locks and a pass or subscription option
- Deep links from ads straight into a specific episode
- Analytics per episode: where viewers drop and where they pay
Last reviewed