Short-form dramas gain popularity among young viewers

Krafton Inc. CI

Information technology (IT) companies are engaging in fierce competition to dominate the short-form drama platform market. With each episode lasting only one to two minutes, short-form dramas in alignment with the viewing habits of younger audiences in their teens and 20s, who prefer fast-paced storytelling and shorter video formats.

New platforms that specialize in short-form dramas are emerging alongside existing platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, indicating that the industry has entered a significant growth phase. South Korean tech companies with expertise in intellectual property (IP) businesses such as games and webtoons are also making moves in the global short-form platform market, which Chinese companies initially entered.

Korean game company Krafton Inc. recently made a significant investment of 120 billion won ($90.8 million) in Spoonlabs, a global short-form drama platform, marking its entry into the related business. The company determined the business viability of short-form drama platforms internally and is seeking synergies with its existing businesses through the acquisition of original IPs.

In a statement to Maeil Business Newspaper on Wednesday, Krafton noted that it is “considering gamifying short-form dramas that have high potential for IP expansion and box office success.

Spoonlabs launched a dedicated short-form drama platform called Vigloo, which will begin releasing original content from Japan in September 2024 and ramping up marketing activities in Japan and the United States. Krafton subsidiary thingsflow is also using its original IP to produce short-form dramas and games.

Korean content platform RIDI has also recently begun reviewing the short-form drama business and Fox Media launched the short-form drama platform, Top Reels, in April 2024. The industry is closely watching the potential market entry of Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., which own a significant number of webtoon IPs and have operational capabilities for platforms.

For Korean platforms eager to attract young users, short-form content could serve as a new enticement, according to experts. Short-form dramas typically consist of 50 to 150 episodes and are characterized by rapid storytelling. Situations can flip within a minute, and a series can conclude within 50 episodes. Many dramas focus on provocative themes such as love triangles and revenge, tapping into the “instant” and “dopamine” trends that are popular among younger generations.

From a platform perspective, short-form dramas are highly profitable. Viewers can watch the first 10 to 20 episodes for free and are then charged between 500 and 1,000 won per episode, and watching a single series essentially equates to paying the monthly subscription fee for online video services like Netflix.

In contrast, production costs are much lower than traditional dramas, creating a low-cost, high-efficiency structure.

Chinese companies largely dominate the global short-form drama market currently, with representatives such as the Chinese COL Group’s ReelShort and Dianzhong Technology’s DramaBox.

ReelShort, which is focusing on the North American market, surpassed 30 million cumulative downloads in the first quarter of 2024. The company creates short-form dramas based on over 5 million web novel IPs it owns in China and is exploring IPs preferred in North America after establishing a subsidiary in Silicon Valley, while operating a studio in Los Angeles to handle all processes from IP discovery to filming, editing, and distribution.

DramaBox primarily targets the Chinese-speaking market and Southeast Asia, surpassing 7 million downloads in the first quarter of 2024 alone. Chinese companies are also adopting technologies to produces videos quickly and cheaply through artificial intelligence, reducing costs by substituting editors and local actors.

Kakao Ventures estimates the global short-form drama market to be worth 13 trillion won, with the Korean market valued at about 650 billion won.

According to iMedia Research, the short-form drama market in China alone hit 37.4 billion yuan ($5.28 billion) in 2023, and is projected to exceed 100 billion yuan by 2027.