Brazilian soccer star Neymar has licensed his likeness to FlareFlow, the worldwide microdrama platform owned by Chinese language digital writer COL Group. Neymar will star in a 16-title franchise of AI-assisted vertical collection timed to coincide with the FIFA Mens World Cup, the corporate mentioned.
COL introduced the partnership Tuesday at APOS, the Asia-Pacific media business convention in Bali, billing it as the primary main occasion of a globally acknowledged sports activities star collaborating at scale with AI-driven vertical storytelling. The primary six titles premiere worldwide on FlareFlow between June 19 and 22, with the remaining 10 rolling out throughout the remainder of the soccer season. The lead title, The Manner Again to Glory, debuts June 19.
The collection lean into the lurid, hook-driven model that defines a lot of the microdrama panorama, casting Neymar as a hero throughout a variety of revenge-and-redemption fantasies. Titles embrace Pretend Neymar, Actual God, The Limping Janitor Is the True World Soccer King and Soccer Star Kidnapped Into the Galaxy Cup: Rating or Die!, the final of which locations the participant in an intergalactic event the place “victory is humanity’s solely likelihood for survival.”
COL describes the franchise as “premium” content material produced by “AI-powered” live-action workflows, although it has not detailed how a lot of Neymar’s on-screen presence is filmed versus generated.
COL is undoubtedly rooting for its franchise star to make a swift return to the World Cup’s area of play. Neymar, 34, was named to Brazil’s 26-man squad, however he’s at the moment injured and sat out Brazil’s opening recreation on June 13 towards Morocco. It’s unclear when he’ll return to the sphere.
The deal is a transparent effort by one of many main microdrama platforms to broaden the shape’s normal attain. The style’s heavy customers skew feminine, and COL’s personal knowledge has pointed to ladies aged 20 to 35 as its core bingers. The corporate is banking {that a} male sports activities icon with 220 million-plus social media followers will unlock extra male viewers. One collection sends Neymar on a supernatural quest to win over 5 highly effective ladies or forfeit his soccer expertise.
FlareFlow chief advertising and marketing officer Timothy Oh, who is about to look on an APOS microdrama panel on June 18, referred to as the launch “the true daybreak of our Vertical 2.0 technique,” a significant push to lure in male audiences.
COL Group is a Beijing-based digital writer listed on the Shenzhen inventory trade that moved into microdramas in 2021. Its most important funding within the sector is a 49 % stake in California-based Loopy Maple Studio, maker of ReelShort — the app credited with bringing vertical microdramas into the U.S. market. FlareFlow is COL’s personal worldwide platform, launched in April 2025. The corporate says it now carries some 5,200 collection in 14 languages and has 33 million registered customers, having climbed the leisure app charts within the U.S., Germany, Australia and Canada over the previous yr.
Just like the scores of microdrama apps launched worldwide previously few years, most with Chinese language backing, COL has been burning money in its pursuit of profitable North American customers and market share. COL’s internet loss for the primary half of 2025 widened by roughly half to 226 million RMB ($31 million), resulting from the price of abroad advertising and marketing and content material creation. ReelShort, regardless of income of round $400 million in 2024, additionally stays within the purple, in accordance with analysis from Media Companions Asia, the organizer of APOS.
The Manner Again to Glory premieres on FlareFlow on June 19 — the identical day Brazil faces Haiti. Ought to Neymar make his first look of the event, the corporate could have purchased a viral second.
