Vertical Dramas Are Rewriting the Rules of Online Video

It was during a particularly humid summer day that I watched my very first Vertical Drama.

Vertical Dramas are short - 1 to 3 minutes long - episodic shows recorded and edited vertically for smartphones. Their popularity is so immense that it is capturing viewership from major streaming platforms, whose own vertical dramas are in development to align with this trend. Even the Latino community, known for its popular “Novelas,” just released its first “Micro-Novela” in this format. They are often watched within apps like ReelShort and Sereal+. To get a better sense of how popular these Vertical Dramas are, just take a look at the market leader, ReelShort, which boasts roughly 70 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs). In general, Vertical Draa viewers spend an average daily engagement time of 95 minutes.

There is an international appeal to vertical dramas: this format began in China, where studios first produced short form C-dramas, mainly in the genre of romantasy to appeal to a young, female audience. Today, many of these popular series are produced in Canada, and are now becoming most popular in the US. In the first quarter of 2025, the United States became the primary driver of the vertical drama industry, capturing 49% of global revenue: nearly $350M in a single quarter. These may be fantasy stories but they drive real revenue. Some charge per episode with constant cliffhangers to keep you interested, while others solely charge for the final episode to finally reveal how the story you watched will end.

This makes for an interesting contrast with the pay model of streaming platforms. Unlike Netflix or Disney+, these platforms do not primarily rely on a flat monthly subscription.

For example, viewership of Vertical Dramas largely relies on a “Coin” Model This main revenue driver (60% of income) lets users watch 8–10 episodes for free, then pay for individual subsequent episodes which are roughly 90 seconds long.

So beyond their international and drama driven appeal, what is making these stories so popular? Well, along with their alignment to the ever growing romantasy genre - we all know Heated Rivalry by now! - this type of storytelling is also known for resolving the decision fatigue presented by streaming platforms.

Key Takeaway

Today’s fractured media landscape also fractures our attention: Gen Z adults toggle between 6 platforms on average daily, each with its own rhythm and rules. But the growth of vertical dramas shows that audiences want stories that build over time to escape our world of short clips that do not build towards a message.

That is where I can see a brand leader or strategist apply something useful. Vertical dramas build emotion over time, not just a moment, and this approach can be applied beyond just romance or fantasy. Take a sneaker brand for example: the brand could tell a story about belonging, identity, or shared purpose across multiple episodes. Viewers like you and me can watch how this individual person grows into the part of a collective in a few episodes.

Brand strategists with an eye on Vertical Dramas will start experimenting with this format, turning short pieces into a collective narrative. When this happens, Vertical Dramas will inspire both their clients and their viewers.

Blinding Colors: A Story of Immigration In the Age of Artificial Intelligence

An excerpt from Blinding Colors, a speculative short story blending analog and digital forms — from AI instructions to spoken-word transcripts — to explore the dominance of AI generated content and the human voices that go offline to be heard.

Slide 1 - Client Ask: Rebuild brand trust among human personas who now live and speak exclusively offline.


Your audience is emotionally underfed, yet dopamine-saturated.Online audiences can correctly identify AI-generated content a mere 13% of the time, cementing a crisis of authenticity and misinformation online. The social media channels that once helped personas educate and inspire each other are now inundated by bots. Gone are the days of authentic human connections online: the touching music lyrics in an away message, bonding through baby photos, wanderlust from travel videos, and hoping for true love after “sliding in a DM.”


Your biggest challenge to drive shareholder value is rising above the overwhelming noise of overly polished AI-generated content.

Slide 2: Audience Update

The constant stream of mental stimulation is preventing them from actually feeling something real.
Because they crave real moments of connection with fellow personas, they have made the successful transition into offline forums, where they can exchange the facial expressions and physical touch available only through a real-life encounter. Your audience has been here before: having survived the isolation of a pandemic, they fully understand community is felt best through contact.

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