The Vertical Bloom: 02/26/26
Your guide on the happenings of the vertical drama landscape.
Welcome to The Vertical Bloom, a weekly dive into the fast-growing world of microdramas and vertical storytelling. Here, we unpack the platforms, creators, and deals shaping the format that’s quietly redefining what it means to make—and watch—television in the mobile age.
Fresh Takes
COL Group Expands Distribution Reach to MENA
COL Group International is accelerating its global push, with CEO Tong Zhilei signaling that vertical video is entering its “next competitive chapter.” At MIP London, the company unveiled Narativ Media as its official Middle East and North African distributor, and named Rock Networks as the exclusive Southeast Asia telco partner for FlareFlow. The announcements follow COL’s recent appointment of Harbour Rights to handle Europe and Latin America. Through its Singapore-based microdrama division, COL says this coordinated distribution build-out—paired with an expanded content slate—positions the company to scale its library past 1,700 microdrama titles worldwide, a new precedent for the rapidly evolving industry.
BBC Studios Eyes Microdrama Move, Says CEO
Speaking to press at the BBC Studios Showcase, Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, outlined potential “inorganic growth” opportunities on the horizon. Noting the talent behind long-running series’ like EastEnders and Casualty—delivering high-quality storytelling at lower costs, he claimed that this model could translate directly to microdramas. Fussell added that the company is actively exploring the space, including how AI might be used with further conversations around microdrama expected in the months ahead.
Microdrama Daily Usage Outperforming Legacy Streamers, Says Omdia Analysis
Omdia reports a pivotal shift: U.S. mobile users now spend more time watching vertical video than Netflix, Disney+, or Prime Video on their phones—a major signal for a format still early in its lifecycle. The economics follow the attention. Global microdrama revenue reached $11B in 2025, is projected to hit $14B by year’s end, and exceed $20B by 2030. Some stats include—ReelShort averages 35.7 daily minutes per user, outpacing Netflix (24.8), Prime Video (26.9), and Disney+ (23). Netflix still leads in monthly U.S. mobile users (12M vs. 1.1M), but microdrama’s engagement intensity is significantly higher. If scale belongs to legacy streamers, intensity belongs to vertical—and in a mobile-first economy, we’ll see who wins…
A Quote from Maria Rua Aguete, Head of Media and Entertainment at Omdia:
“Microdramas are no longer a niche experiment. They are becoming a core driver of mobile video engagement. What stands out is not just revenue growth, but the intensity of usage. On mobile, microdrama apps are generating more daily viewing time than the world’s biggest streaming platforms.”
MIP London—Microdrama Panel Demystifies Audience Retention Strategies
At MIP London, the marquee panel “MicroDrama 2026: The Global Breakout” zeroed in on the economics driving the surge. Timothy Oh, General Manager of COL Group International, noted that as much as 90% of budgets are allocated to marketing over production—a sign that short-form has effectively become a user-acquisition business modeled on mobile gaming. Platforms now test thousands of trailer variations across social feeds to optimize installs. Anatolii Kasianov, co-founder and co-CEO of Holywater, added that acquisition costs can run $20–$30 per install, making data analytics and AI essential tools for controlling spend and sustaining growth. Taken together, the conversation made clear that microdrama’s future won’t be defined by storytelling alone, but by who can most efficiently buy, retain, and monetize attention at scale.
Platform Spotlight
JoyReels represents vertical’s localization thesis: culturally targeted, diaspora-focused, and calibrated for markets beyond the U.S.–China core. Rather than relying solely on billionaire-revenge loops, the platform leans into South Asian and MENA storytelling textures, tailoring tone and casting to specific audience identities while still operating within the microdrama monetization playbook. As the format globalizes, JoyReels signals a shift toward owning cultural niches as a competitive advantage—not just outspending rivals on installs.
Show Spotlight
Legally Sexy and Mr. Ice Cold (DramaBox):
Logline: A one-night stand with billionaire Leo Whitney leaves law student Summer Ellis unexpectedly pregnant. Her toxic sister, Angie, steals Summer’s identity and becomes Leo’s fiancee. Six years later, Summer crosses paths with Leo again—this time with her five year old daughter, Melody. Their buried truth begins to resurface, and love ignites.
Genre: Romantic / Billionaire / Corporate
This 57-episode DramaBox original headlines the trending page. The corporate-fantasy engine runs at full compression, distilling boardroom power plays and slow-burn romance into minute-long detonations where every glare is a hook and every insult a cliffhanger. It doesn’t reinvent the billionaire trope—it optimizes it, delivering emotional reversals with algorithmic precision and structuring tension as monetization rhythm. This is romance engineered for retention: archetypes kept clean, dominance dynamics heightened, and each beat calibrated for coin unlocks. If early microdramas proved the format could replicate soap, this series shows how ruthlessly it can industrialize it—turning melodrama into behavioral design.
To understand what this kind of success means for the industry, I turned to the people shaping it behind the scenes…
Industry Insider
Jesse Whittock, media journalist for Deadline, poses an interesting question: where are traditional distributors amongst the microdrama boom?
Usually quick to chase emerging trends, traditional TV distributors have been notably absent from the booming microdrama sector. While producers and platform executives lead the charge, major sellers have hesitated, viewing vertical as a platform-driven, direct-to-producer model that moves too fast and too cheaply for traditional margins.
With Chinese services commissioning at scale and AI accelerating output, the model often sidesteps distributors entirely. That caution stands in contrast to the numbers: Omdia values microdrama at $11B in 2025, with strong growth ahead and China dominating revenue.
A handful of smaller players are experimenting through partnerships and vertical edits of library content, but the broader question remains: in a business built on speed, data, and direct platform deals, is there real space left for traditional distribution?
Read the entire article here.