Short, dramatic and episodic: how micro-series are taking over the internet

A 30-second recipe, a one-minute beauty tutorial, a quick news recap, a restaurant recommendation or an answer to a question we would once have typed into Google. We are used to social media serving us everything quickly. Now, another format we used to associate with much bigger screens has joined the list – TV series. Only, we are no longer talking about 45-minute episodes.

Microdramas, or mini-series, are primarily made for mobile phones, filmed vertically, and an individual episode can last as little as 45 seconds to two minutes. The format first took off in China and, in recent years, has been rapidly expanding into the U.S. market, where the number of monthly microdrama viewers is growing from 26 million in 2024 to 66 million in 2025. In the U.S. alone, microdramas are projected to generate around $1.5 billion in revenue during 2026, with that figure expected to approach $2 billion next year.

An Old Viewing Habit, a New Screen Size

Interestingly, there is actually very little that is new about the basic idea behind microdramas. For decades, television soap operas have known exactly how to end an episode: precisely when someone discovers a secret, opens a door to find someone who absolutely should not be there, or says half a sentence that leaves us willing to wait for the next installment. Microdramas have simply adapted that logic to scrolling through content.

The story starts almost immediately, there is no time for lengthy introductions, and the episode ends before the viewer gets all the answers. Reuters highlights the combination of very short episodes, getting straight into the heart of the story and so-called cliffhangers as some of the defining characteristics of the format.

Perhaps the most important difference between an ordinary short-form video and a mini-series is therefore the intention behind it. A TikTok video often tries to deliver all the information within a minute. Serialized content deliberately leaves something unfinished. It does not just want to be watched. It wants you to come back.

And the fact that platforms see serious potential in this way of communicating is also evident from TikTok. In June this year, TikTok and the Sundance Institute launched a special four-week program dedicated to writing micro-series content, focused on developing stories designed from the outset as short, serialized digital formats.

A Brand No Longer Interrupts the Series. The Brand Is the Series.

For the communications industry, this is where things get particularly interesting. For years, brands have been trying to find ways for advertisements to look less like advertisements. Native content, product placement, creators and branded entertainment have largely pursued the same goal: to become part of the content audiences actually want to consume, rather than an interruption they want to skip.

Mini-series take that idea one step further. Instead of buying a few seconds of attention within someone else’s story, a brand can build its own. The point is not simply to put a product in the frame. A good branded series tries to build a situation, character or plot around it that can work as entertainment in its own right.

Crocs is a good example. Earlier this year, the brand published the mini-series Charmed to Meet You on ReelShort, a platform specializing in short, vertical series and dramas designed for mobile viewing, with its Jibbitz charms becoming part of the story. The series generated nearly ten million views and soon received a sequel. A few months later, Crocs connected the format to commerce as well. Its seven-part mini-series Déjà Shoe was published on TikTok Shop, with products featured in the episodes available for purchase without leaving the platform. In a single piece of content, three things that were once separate are brought together: entertainment, advertising and shopping.

Soap Operas and Reality Shows in an Unexpected Place

It is particularly interesting that among the companies entering this space is Procter & Gamble, a company historically so closely associated with sponsoring radio soap operas that the term soap opera itself emerged from such advertising models. Today, P&G is once again experimenting with serialized dramas, only this time designed for social and digital platforms.

A good local example is Erste’s project Zero Bucks Given. Erste describes it as a financial reality show: eight contestants live together in the same house, manage a limited budget and take part in various challenges related to money. Instead of creating a single educational video about personal finance, the topic has been turned into a series with its own participants, episodes and situations that audiences can follow.

That is an important part of the broader trend. A mini-series for a brand does not have to mean actors falling in love over 27 episodes. It can be a reality format, comedy, short sitcom or a series of connected situations. The key is that each post is not an isolated piece of content; there is a reason to watch the next one.

Can Every Brand Make Its Own Series?

Technically, yes, but that is probably not the right question. A much more important one is whether there is actually something to tell across several episodes. As interest in microdramas grows among companies, so does the risk that the format will become just another template into which old advertising messages are repackaged.

Splitting a traditional commercial into five parts does not make it a series. To create one, you still need a character we care about, a situation that can evolve, a strong enough opening to stop someone from scrolling, and something that makes us want to open the second episode after watching the first.

And that may be the most interesting part of the trend for communications. Branded content increasingly requires more than just a good advertising message. It calls for thinking that is closer to editorial and production work. Who is our main character? Why do we want to see them again? What happens in episode two? Can the audience participate in the story? And perhaps most importantly, would the content be interesting enough if we removed the logo?

Because on a platform where skipping an ad takes just one swipe, perhaps the biggest compliment content can receive is a very simple one: “When does part two come out?”