Microdrama viewership has grown 28-fold over the previous two years, and it’s not only for ladies of a sure age anymore. Greater than two-thirds of customers, female and male, watch romance-based sequence. And similar to TV, microdrama viewership usually peaks on Sunday nights between 8-10 p.m.
These are among the many findings of a analysis report, “The State of Microdrama,” issued Thursday by vertical media powerhouse Holywater and analysis and consulting agency Owl & Co. Holywater opened the databanks from its My Drama and My Muse microdrama apps to permit Owl & Co. to investigate the brand new medium’s torrid progress.
One inescapable conclusion gleaned from the information is that microdrama followers, notably the heavy customers who devour greater than three hours per week, are OK with AI-generated materials regardless of the rising tradition debate in regards to the pernicious affect of countless scrolls of “AI slop” content material. My Drama affords a broad slate of live-action microdramas; My Muse affords AI-created vertical media.
“The viewers is youthful, extra male and extra deeply engaged than generally assumed. It’s also much more open to AI-generated content material than the broader cultural dialog round AI would recommend. The format has emerged: its viewers returns each day, watches throughout a number of contexts, recommends exhibits to others, and stacks alongside conventional streaming somewhat than changing it,” the report states. “Measured on the identical infrastructure, that viewers engages with AI-generated content material at charges that match live-action, and on our flagship titles retention runs barely forward.”
The report additionally observes that vertical media content material is increasing so quick and broad that the time period “microdrama” is outmoded.
Among the many different notable stats within the 55-page examine:
In 2026, vertical media apps will climb to a $4 billion enterprise, excluding China, the place estimates are the market handed $15 billion in 2025.
Holywater’s noticed its proportion of male customers develop from 1.1% in late 2024 to 30.3% for the newest quarter.
Male customers “watch much less per consumer, lean sci-fi/fantasy at 1.4× the common, reply to tailored IP half as a lot and arrive via YouTube and app-store search 1.5× extra typically,” per the report.
However virtually everybody watches romance tales, which account for 76% of feminine viewing and 54% of male viewing. After romance, the highest genres for males are comedy, motion, sci-fi and thrillers.
It’s nonetheless a brand new and forming behavior: 65% of microdrama customers have been waiting for lower than a yr whereas 31% began watching lower than three months in the past.
Regardless of the spike in quantity, microdramas don’t compete that a lot for viewers with conventional TV sequence. Vertical media exhibits are one thing shoppers weave in to “in-between moments on commutes, in queues, whereas doing chores. Microdrama isn’t competing with TV in these moments — it’s competing with scrolling,” the report states.
A majority (70%) of customers additionally like to look at as a “pre-sleep ritual.” After that it’s a “couch-relaxation exercise” (59%), a filler for meal and work breaks third (35%). And in reality, one in 5 customers (22%) watch whereas utilizing the bathroom.
The very best single hour of exercise on My Drama is Sunday 8-10 p.m. The least-watched hours are weekday mornings from 3-9 a.m.
And at last, the content material market is booming. Greater than half (60%) of Holywater subscribers use three or extra apps in per week. “Loyalty is measured in share of microdrama hours, not in exclusivity,” per the report.
