Why Are Short Dramas Gaining Global Popularity?

Since ReelShort’s explosive rise to fame, "short dramas" have become a new trend, attracting numerous developers eager to capitalize on the opportunity. The market has expanded rapidly, intensifying media competition, while content and marketing strategies have become crucial in the short drama industry.

As an emerging form of entertainment, short dramas have quickly gained global audience appeal due to their concise storytelling and convenient viewing format. Driven by mobile internet and short-video platforms, short drama platforms like ReelShort have topped the U.S. iOS entertainment charts, with downloads skyrocketing since May 2023. Compared to traditional films and TV series, short dramas feature lower production costs, shorter release cycles, and diverse content. Their relatively weak cultural attributes allow them to transcend language and cultural barriers, making them a mainstream global entertainment trend.

By 2025, the global short drama industry is expected to reach a market size of hundreds of billions of dollars

According to AppGrowing statistics, in the 4th week of January 2025 (January 20 to January 26), the global ad volume for short drama apps saw a significant surge and remained high for several weeks. However, the overall ad spending of short drama apps did not show a noticeable increase during this period. This suggests that the rise in ad volume may not be due to new competitors entering the market but rather an increase in ad investment by some already launched apps.

In terms of regions, the main markets for short drama apps are currently concentrated in English-speaking countries, where users are generally more accustomed to paying for content, providing a stable source of app revenue.

The bottom ten markets are mostly in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, which have large populations. The substantial user base in these regions ensures high DAU (Daily Active Users) while laying the foundation for hybrid monetization.

Using AppGrowing's advertising audience analysis (limited to Europe), we found that the advertising audience for short drama apps is primarily female, with 39.7% of ads targeting only women and 47.2% of ads focusing mainly on female audiences. This suggests that female users may be more willing to pay for such content, making them the main target for competition. Additionally, in terms of age, 87.5% of ads are aimed at users aged 25-44, indicating that the audience for short drama apps is younger than expected.

The vast library of episodes in short drama apps serves as an incentive for developers to attract ads. In terms of creative format, short drama apps tend to favor videos, catering to the usage habits of mobile device users, with 98.1% of the content being vertical videos.

In terms of duration, 94.4% of the videos are longer than 1 minute. Longer videos often feature more complete storylines, allowing ads to effectively engage users' emotions and stimulate them to download and use the app.

Short dramas have entered an era of scalable development and may potentially tap into a trillion-dollar market in the future

In 2023, the total number of short dramas released exceeded 1,400, with a year-on-year growth rate of 50%. However, compared to the nearly 3,000 projects registered throughout the year, the production-to-reserve ratio has yet to reach balance. The market size has seen rapid growth, with the short drama market reaching nearly $40 billion in 2023. In China alone, the market size has already reached 37.39 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 267.65%, nearly 70% of the film market's size. The market is expected to surpass $100 billion within five years.

As an emerging form of entertainment, short dramas have quickly gained global audience appeal due to their concise content and convenient viewing format. Driven by mobile internet and short-video platforms, short drama platforms like ReelShort have topped the U.S. iOS entertainment charts, with downloads experiencing explosive growth since May 2023. Compared to traditional films and TV series, short dramas have lower production costs, shorter release cycles, and diverse content. Their relatively weak cultural attributes allow them to transcend language and cultural barriers, quickly becoming one of the mainstream forms of global entertainment.