India's big bet on micro drama: Startups, investors eye a new content race

Time of India

5 hours ago

As micro-dramas reel in larger audiences, VCs are ramping up investments in local OTT startups replicating China's success. Along with startups such as Flick TV, Eloelo, Kuku FM, Chai Shots, and ReelSaga, digital majors including Amazon, ShareChat and Zee Entertainment are also tapping into the growing appetite for micro-dramas.
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Short, binge-worthy dramas of just one-two minutes long, ending on a cliffhanger to keep viewers hooked is the new game in town for India's prolific entertainment industry.Venture capital firms are already lining up with several recent investments made in local content platforms that aim to replicate the success of Chinese players like iQIYI, ReelShort, DramaBox, and Kuaishou.What started as an experiment, inspired by the success of micro-dramas in China, is fast gaining momentum with internet companies also entering the fray. In addition to startups such as Flick TV, Eloelo, Kuku FM, Chai Shots, and ReelSaga digital majors including Amazon, ShareChat and Zee Entertainment Enterprises are tapping into India's growing appetite for micro-dramas.'In the last two to three months, around 1.5 crore users have consumed drama shorts on Moj and Quick TV, with over 10 crore micro-drama episodes watched daily,' Manohar Charan, cofounder, and chief financial officer of ShareChat said.'The end game is to have the largest user base, it remains to see who can reach the highest number of users and highest amount of engagement,' he added. In contrast to user-generated content on platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, micro-dramas are professionally produced with higher production quality, targeting mobile-first audiences looking for serialised, emotionally engaging storytelling.Bengaluru-based Flick TV raised $2.3 million in seed funding from Stellaris Venture Partners earlier this month. In May, mobile entertainment startup ReelSaga raised $2.1 million in a round led by Picus Capital, while Hyderabad-based Chai Shots is reportedly in advanced talks to raise fresh capital of $5 million.'Over the years, the usage and adoption of short video platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels has shot through the roof,' said Mayank Jain, principal at Stellaris Venture Partners.'However, these are often disconnected clips that lack emotional engagement, something traditional TV and OTT web series have long provided through coherent, engaging storylines,' Jain said.'Micro-dramas promise the best of both worlds of short videos that cater to shrinking attention spans, but with emotionally engaging content and structured narratives,' he added.Amazon MX Player already features MX Fatafat, a collection of mini web series with episodes of about two minutes each.Earlier this month, Zee Entertainment entered into a strategic equity partnership with Bullet, a content and tech startup cofounded by Azim Lalani and Saurabh Kushwah. Bullet has developed a micro-drama app aimed at younger audiences to be launched within the Zee5 ecosystem.Elsewhere, live social entertainment platform Eloelo is prepping for the launch of a new micro-drama app called Story TV next week, sources said.While storytelling platform Kuku FM launched its video streaming service Kuku TV, earlier in the year. While Sharechat is looking to ride this wave with its newly launched Quick TV, dedicated to paywalled short dramas and films as well as through its short video app Moj.Industry executives say the key challenge now is to make this format a paying proposition. A tough ask for media startups in a market like India, where average revenue per user still remains low.Firms like Flick TV have adopted the pay-per-episode model using micropayments, with plans to eventually offer monthly and quarterly subscription options.'It is a mix of subscriptions and micropayments. Initially, users pay per episode through micropayments, as Indian consumers are quite comfortable with that model now. Over time, as users develop trust in the platform and explore more content, we offer them the option to switch to monthly or quarterly subscriptions,' said Kushal Singhal, cofounder of Flick TV.ShareChat is looking to leverage both subscriptions and ad-supported revenue streams for its micro-drama offerings. According to Charan the micro-drama segment could contribute a 'mid to high teens' percentage of ShareChat's within the next 12–18 months.For the fiscal year ended March 2024, Mohalla Tech, the parent company ShareChat and Moj reported an operating revenue of Rs 718 crore.Companies like ShareChat, Flick TV, Eloelo and others are also increasingly using generative AI across various stages of content creation, including scripting, editing, storyboarding, voiceovers, dubbing, and transcription.According to Charan, the cost of producing content has dropped by nearly 75% over the past couple of years, thanks to generative AI.Even as user and investor interest grow, questions remain around long-term engagement, content fatigue, and the viability of monetisation in a market like India. For now, micro-dramas are a promising experiment. But whether they can scale into a sustainable business model is still playing out.Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi, which had initially planned to enter the vertical drama space, has decided to hold off until the market matures and the current hype settles before launching a standalone app.'We think it's better to let the hype settle until the market has consolidated a bit, and then get into the act,' said Ranjeet Pratap Singh, cofounder, and CEO of Pratilipi.