Love, Lies, Angry Ghosts: Indians Are Bingeing on Two-Minute Dramas

Every week, Neeta Bhojwani spends hours binge-watching dramas about wealthy men pretending to be poor and angry ghosts out for revenge.

The shows run into more than 50 episodes, each under two minutes - micro-dramas, as they are called, are bits of snackable fictional content, designed to be watched on mobile phones during snatched moments in the day. They are hugely popular in China, the US, South Korea and now India.

Bhojwani, a homemaker in western Udaipur city, says she first got hooked on micro-dramas when an ad popped up on her Instagram feed. She now watches them regularly, buying yearly subscriptions on platforms such as Story TV.

"Watching these is such a great way to pass time," the 36-year-old says.

Bhojwani is among millions of Indians across big cities and small towns avidly watching micro-dramas, which mostly have cliched plots and exaggerated acting styles similar to Hindi TV soaps. A typical plot could have a down-on-his-luck young man meeting a friendly genie or a couple from different classes defying all odds and melodrama to marry.

The market for these is booming in India - it's currently worth $300m (£222m) and projected to reach $4.5bn by 2030, according to a report by investment firm Lumikai, which calls micro-dramas the country's "fastest growing entertainment format".

They started picking up steam in India in 2024, with homegrown start-ups such as Kuku and Reelies which found audiences usually through social media advertisements. But until recently, they were still considered a fad, and not part of the mainstream.

That is changing now, with some of India's biggest producers investing in them. New entrants include India's oldest private TV network Zee Entertainment Enterprises and top TV show maker Balaji Telefilms, which have announced separate partnerships with start-ups to develop micro-dramas.

JioStar, the media company owned by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, launched a micro-drama platform called Tadka in April, which currently has more than 100 shows. The themes range from a coming-of-age tale set in a high school to a love story between a billionaire and a security guard.

Reports say Yash Raj Films, India's oldest film studio, and Red Chillies Entertainment, owned by actor Shahrukh Khan, are also eyeing micro-drama investments. Both companies did not respond to questions from the BBC.

"It is only natural for big media companies to get into this [micro-drama] space. If Disney or Warner Bros can be in anything from films and TV to streaming and theme parks, it makes sense for them or other larger firms to be in micro-dramas too," says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, media specialist and contributing editor at Business Standard newspaper.

The micro-drama boom comes at a time when Indian film and TV industries, including Bollywood, are dealing with changing audience watch patterns post the Covid pandemic while also competing with a plethora of other entertainment options. As digital advertising gains importance, television advertising revenues are falling, while box-office revenue continues to rise but from a fewer number of blockbuster films.

Micro-dramas originated in China - where they are called Duanju - through apps including Singapore-headquartered DramaBox, and ReelShort, which are together valued at $3-4bn, according to industry estimates. In 2024, micro-drama revenues outperformed the domestic box-office in China, according to reports.

All of this is encouraging Indian companies to eye micro-dramas as a potential growth industry.

- Author: Prasannata Patwa, BBC

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