AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
There's another short video trend from China drawing views in the U.S. - microdramas. These are shows cut up into short episodes, just 60 or 90 seconds long or shorter than the theme music BJ Leiderman does for our program. Microdramas have been popular in China for years. Now several short drama apps are seeing huge audiences in the U.S. and beyond, as Sherisse Pham reports.
SHERISSE PHAM, BYLINE: A husband forcing his wife to donate blood to keep his lover alive. A human falling in love with a werewolf in disguise. And this plot...
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AVERY LYNCH: (As Natalie Quinn) I married a stranger because my mom is in the hospital and I have no way to pay her medical bills. And I am drowning in debt, trying to pay them off.
PHAM: Spoiler alert, that stranger turns out to be a secret billionaire. These are the kinds of stories driving the explosive popularity of so-called microdramas. If you're not familiar with the short video format, here's how Anne Chan, CEO of AR Asia Production, a microdrama distributor based in Hong Kong, puts it.
ANNE CHAN: It's like a soap on steroid. It's your "Bold And The Beautiful" on steroid, basically, or your telenovela on steroid. It's the same thing, but they make things happen faster.
PHAM: Like TikTok videos, microdramas are shot vertically and meant to be watched on your phone. They became a billion-dollar industry in China during the pandemic when people were looking for an escape from reality. Microdramas are popular because they're easy to watch. The episodes are short, the plot twists addictive. And for fans like 35-year-old Ji Hu, the fairytale endings are super satisfying.
JI HU: (Non-English language spoken).
PHAM: "It's especially perfect for dreamers, like us," she says. "The male characters always have billions in assets, or the female lead makes an incredible comeback after being treated badly and turns things around in the end."
Now Chinese entrepreneurs and companies are mingling with Hollywood to take these dreamy dramas overseas.
JOEY JIA: So we want to entertain people when they have time, even if they have 1 minute.
PHAM: That's Joey Jia, CEO of Crazy Maple Studio and founder of ReelShort, one of the most popular microdrama apps in the U.S. Like others, he saw how addictive microdramas were in China and thought they could be successful in other countries. He was right. Outside of China, the Top 10 microdrama apps made over $1.7 billion in 2024, according to research analytics firm Appfigures. So are apps like ReelShort competing with the likes of Netflix and Disney+? Well, yes and no. Jia says microdramas feed a different kind of user.
JIA: Well, you know compared with people who go to McDonald versus people who go a to fancy French restaurant, right? So we offer, yes, fast food. We admit it.
PHAM: ReelShort and others also took inspiration from Chinese apps offering different ways to pay for content. Users can buy subscriptions to watch as much as they want, or they can buy digital coins and spend them to watch specific episodes, or they can watch an ad to unlock an episode. The first 10 episodes are typically free and end on a cliff-hanger. Here's Anne Chan again.
CHAN: You never watch 10 episodes, never. Like, I would lie in bed, and I would just watch for one hour, and then that's 70 episodes. The good apps - they know that tricks. They manage the script very well.
PHAM: So the next time you find yourself with some spare time, maybe tune in to a microdrama. You're mostly guaranteed a happy ending and lots of drama along the way.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) You ungrateful brat.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Touch my wife again, and you're dead.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Be prepared for the consequences then.
PHAM: For NPR news, I'm Sherisse Pham in Hong Kong. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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