"Hollywood tried and failed to crack the microdrama code first. In 2020, Jeffrey Katzenberg launched Quibi with $1.75 billion in funding, A-list talent including Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro, and episodes under 10 minutes designed for mobile viewing. Six months later, it shut down, having burned through over $1 billion. The service reached fewer than 1 million subscribers against a target of 7 million, with its content library sold to Roku for under $100 million."
"The numbers tell a story of explosive growth in this Chinese-originated model. Revenues surged from $500 million in 2021 to $7 billion in 2024. Last year, Chinese microdrama revenues surpassed the country's domestic box office for the first time. Meanwhile, the global market for microdrama outside China generated $1.4 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach $9.5 billion by 2030, according to research firm Media Partners Asia's latest strategic report."
Microdramas emerged rapidly into a global market projected to reach $26 billion by 2030, transforming mobile serialized storytelling consumption. Quibi failed in 2020 despite massive funding and A-list talent, illustrating a Western misread of short-form mobile demand. China developed duanju — low-cost, data-driven microdramas adapted from web novels — producing explosive revenue growth from $500 million in 2021 to $7 billion in 2024. Chinese microdrama revenues eclipsed the domestic box office in 2024. Global microdrama markets outside China reached $1.4 billion in 2024 and are forecast to reach $9.5 billion by 2030. Success depends on distribution scale, speed, platform integration, and repeatable IP.
Read at Variety
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