The Vertical Bloom: 11/13/25
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
Research Shows 28M Americans Consume Microdramas…and Counting
A study by Activate Consulting shows that 28 million Americans—over half (52%) between the ages of 18 and 34—now consume microdramas, driven by how heavy social and internet use is reshaping attention itself. The report notes that today’s consumer effectively lives a “32-hour, 17-minute day” through constant multitasking, spending more than 13 hours on media daily. If audiences are already bending time to accommodate more screens, what happens when storytelling finally adapts to match their pace?
DramaBox Spotlights Disney Accelerator Demo Day, Partnership Announced…
At Disney’s Demo Day, the company signaled a new frontier in storytelling: Disney is preparing to release original microdrama content across its digital platforms. In partnership with DramaBox, Disney Publishing is developing short-form adaptations of young-adult fantasy novels, marking the studio’s first move into serialized vertical storytelling. Disney Music is also getting in on the experiment, collaborating with DramaBox to transform select albums into dramatic, music-driven micro-series.
Poster for Disney’s 2025 Accelerator Demo Day, including DramaBox
A Look Into European Microdramas at the Digital Content Forum.
At the Digital Content Forum at the BFI, digital creators and legacy execs converged to discuss the next wave of storytelling—and Europe’s microdrama surge took center stage. Heavily fueled by AI, productions are budgeted between £100K–£300K ($130K–$390K) and “...shot in just eight weeks (per source)”, although we believe they meant 8 days, as is industry standard. Matt Campion dished details of Spirit Studios’ debut micro-drama, a time-machine period-drama set in the UK but tuned to U.S. audiences. Metrotone Media’s Katharina Gellein Viken, meanwhile, revealed a new micro-drama in the works, a mockumentary about the making of a low-budget British gangster flick. New genres. New voices. A format finding its stride.
HOLYWATER Partners with Amo Pictures to Double Down on Vertical Content Production
Microdrama powerhouse Holywater—owner of platforms MyDrama and MyMuse—has struck a deal with Amo Pictures to produce more than 70 new vertical series. The Ukrainian-Polish studio, which already generates over 1,000 hours of content annually across markets including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe, marks a major expansion partner for Holywater as the microdrama format continues scaling beyond Asia and into global production pipelines.
Some quotes from Amo Pictures CEO (Anatolii Dudinskyi):
“This collaboration allows us to scale up production, implement new technological solutions, and maintain high quality standards in vertical content.”
From Holywater’s CEO’s (Nesvit and Kasianov):
“Amo Pictures has already proven itself to be an extraordinary partner, helping Holywater create some of our biggest global hits. With the quality they consistently produce, it’s no mystery why their work has gained such traction, and why so many companies are eager to work with them. This new partnership lets us significantly scale our past shared successes as we continue redefining storytelling for the next generation.”
Platform Spotlight
Singapore-based AniShort is carving out a lane of its own in the vertical space—bringing anime into the microdrama era. The platform delivers 1–2 minute anime episodes built for mobile, adapting proven webtoons and novels across genres like shōnen, fantasy, and action. Subbed, dubbed, and globally accessible, it’s an experiment in how anime aesthetics and microdrama pacing can coexist. While still early in scale, AniShort’s model reflects a clear shift in short-form storytelling—where localization meets style, and attention spans find a new canvas.
AniShort Logo // Posters for Top-Performing Series’
Show Spotlight
Loving My Brother’s Best Friend (CandyJar TV):
Logline: When a shy teen comes home with a post-summer glow-up, she is suddenly on the radar of her brother’s best friend, a reformed playboy who knows she’s off-limits but can’t stay away.
Genre: Romance / Drama / Thriller
This 44-part series on CandyJar TV, packages the classic “off-limits crush” trope into sleek, bite-sized episodes. The show’s short arcs and emotional pacing have made it a standout hit, hitting the front page of the platform with individual clips reaching tens of thousands of views and circulating widely across TikTok and YouTube. Its breakout star has had tangible repercussions as well. Nick Skonberg, has since become a viral figure, amassing a dedicated fandom and even coverage in Cosmopolitan for his sudden rise from microdrama lead to internet heartthrob. The series proves how microdramas aren’t just testing new formats—they’re building new stars in real time.
CandyJarTV Logo // ‘Loving My Brother’s Best Friend’ Poster
To understand what this kind of success means for the industry, I turned to the people shaping it behind the scenes…
Industry Insider
Network player turned Vertical author Julie Tucker, realizes the two worlds share the same DNA—because each vertical episode, she says, are actually just promos in disguise: tiny engines of emotion built to hook and loop. “In promos, we ‘Sell the sizzle, not the steak.’ If you think about it, effective Verticals are ALL SIZZLE…” Where films immerse, promos entice, and verticals sit right in the middle, thriving on tension and pace and selling the feeling, not the plot—and that’s exactly why they work.