Hello Sunday Wrap readers,

It's no secret that microdramas — short-form vertical series with episodes lasting 1-2 minutes — are thriving right now. But what might surprise you is that AI-generated microdramas (or microseries, as they're now being called) are not just flooding the market, but driving subscriptions, retention and viewership for some of the biggest players in the world.

Our Tess Patton dives deep into the growing trend of AI-generated microdramas, why they're so successful and what this means for an industry that is increasingly becoming a significant player in Hollywood.

Adam Chitwood
Executive Editor
adam.chitwood@thewrap.com

AI-Generated Microdramas Are Real — and Thriving Under Our Noses

Microdrama companies around the world have embraced AI in a big way, especially when an hour of content cost $20,000

By Tess Patton

When it comes to artificial intelligence, Hollywood studios have tread lightly, insisting that human actors, writers and directors will stay in the mix regardless of how the new technology gets used. That is decidedly not the case with microdramas.

International players are already flooding the zone with thousands of cheaply produced — but highly addictive — microseries that are fully AI-generated, some of which are available in the U.S.

What’s more shocking: The content is driving subscriptions, retention and viewership for some of the biggest players worldwide.

This trend underscores the fact that in many parts of the world, AI is no longer an experiment, with a myriad of international companies betting big on the technology to cut costs and production time in a medium already known for producing quick, cheap content. They also highlight how different cultures are embracing AI, with countries like India showing far more acceptance of fully AI-generated content than the U.S.

“We saw that the metrics of engagement retention for AI-generated content based on human screens … is really similar to what we do with live-action,” Bogdan Nesvit, CEO of Ukrainian vertical platform maker Holywater, revealed last week at a microdrama conference in Los Angeles.

Indian AI-powered entertainment company Dashverse, which licenses some of its content to TikTok and ReelShort, plans to ramp up production to 1,000 AI-generated microseries a month by the end of the year, up 10x from its current output of 100 series in June. The company said an hour of content costs as little as...

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