A little drama similar to TikTok will make billions this year, even though it kind of sucks

Emily is a college student by day, but she works the night shift at a strip club to pay her tuition — she doesn’t think anyone will find out her secret, until a mysterious English teacher shows up one day! Do you know her? Will her secret be revealed? Pay 60 “tokens” to see what happens next, or you can watch an ad, or… Simply purchase a VIP pass for $20 a week and skip the ads altogether.

These stories are cliche, over-the-top, and full of depressing acting and writing. Yet these “micro-dramas” — like TikTok-like shows with episodes roughly one minute long — generate billions of dollars a year.

Drama mini apps are popular for the first time in China, and are expected to be a hit in the US app market. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, ReelShort reached nearly $1.2 billion in total consumer spending in 2025, up 119% from 2024; Another leading app, DramaBox, generated $276 million in total consumer spending last year, more than double its numbers in 2024.

The market doesn’t seem to be slowing down. TikTok has just launched its own standalone Microdrama app called Pine dramaand a new app from Hollywood veterans called Gamma Time She just raised $14 million, including checks from angel investors like Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, and Kim Kardashian.

It’s surprising to see short-form scripted drama apps having such success when Quibi’s collapse is only five years away. Quibi wanted to be like Netflix, but with 10-minute episodes designed to be watched on the go. Founded by Dreamworks co-founder and former Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi has raised more than $1.75 billion in funding from major Hollywood studios, then created shows with stars like Liam Hemsworth, Reese Witherspoon and Anna Kendrick.

No one wanted Quibi, and the app became a meme because of how massively it failed. But ReelShort — an app whose best offerings are called “My Sister Is the Warlord Queen” and “In Love with a Single Farmer-Daddy” — has become a hit.

“How do they succeed where Quibi failed? “They’re basically just into the female gaze,” Eric Wei, creator economist and CEO of Karat Financial, told TechCrunch. “They’re romanticizing, where the titles are all like ‘My Alpha.’ “This is like ’50 Shades of Grey,’ but for vertical video.”

OnlyFans isn’t the best comparison (those shows can be suggestive, though not pornographic), but Wei is right that sex sells. When a story looks like it might be hot, you’ll be asked to watch ads or pay money to continue. But the payoff isn’t at all convincing, so you keep watching, only to see another pop-up asking for more money, or some other mysterious in-app currency.

The business model behind these apps repeats the same dark patterns as mobile games. They are designed to attract users to free content, offering free in-app currency for logging in each day. As people spend more time on the app — which is designed to be addictive — they need more coins or tokens to unlock more episodes of the show, but there’s no way to earn enough to get what they want without shelling out real money.

Sometimes the mini-drama is interactive, allowing viewers to choose which path the story will take — but a good option (the woman stands up to her abusive ex) will cost a token, while a less satisfactory option (the abusive ex faces no consequences for his actions) is free.

Soon, the addicted viewer might relent and pay for the $20 ad-free weekly pass, which, after a month, will cost more than the HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Paramount Plus subscriptions combined.

As AI enters the picture, these companies will produce content at an even more alarming pace. LLMs are not capable of writing prestige dramas like HBO’s “Succession,” or even a sitcom like “The Big Bang Theory,” but the most successful hit dramas are so predictable and formulaic that they don’t actually require much human intelligence and creativity. You’d be surprised to know how many small dramas start with a scene in which a girl wearing glasses is pushed around by a mean classmate, only to be saved by some popular athlete, who notes that she’s really pretty if she just takes off her glasses.

PocketFM, the audio chain platform powered by Lightspeed, has already embraced AI. Last year, it released a tool it calls Co-pilottrained on thousands of hours of content to understand the “beats” of a formulaic story, helping writers add cliffhangers or twists into their stories that they predict will leave audiences wanting to watch more. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian company Holywater, which raised 22 million dollars To fund its micro-drama app My Drama, which calls itself the “first AI entertainment network.”

While smaller dramas could follow AI’s lead, Sean Atkins, CEO of Dhar Mann Studios, believes there is also an opportunity for creatives.

“Think about it — the short form is a little less loaded than the long one, and the vertical is less loaded,” Atkins told TechCrunch. “I think you’ll see a few more creatives starting to delve into this significantly, especially since they have experience with low-budget production.”

These companies have a great business model on their hands. But it thrives on short attention spans, in-app purchases, and content that feels like an adult “Cocomelon.”