Back in 2017, Netflix co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings famously said the company’s biggest competitor was not other streamers, but “sleep.”
Eight years later, India’s streaming giants appear to have found an answer: microdramas.
Also Read: Double Tap Films takes 21 Hindi microdramas global with TikTok partnership
What began as a fringe category of hyper-short, vertically shot melodramas designed for endless scrolling is fast evolving into one of the hottest bets in India’s media and entertainment ecosystem. Platforms are no longer treating bite-sized content as mere filler for shrinking attention spans; increasingly, it is being seen as a low-cost, high-velocity pipeline for discovering scalable intellectual property (IP), testing audience behaviour and building the next generation of digital franchises.
The rush is already visible.
"The initial wave of traction has been heavily anchored in the romance umbrella , specifically slice of life, office romances, and classic rags to riches tropes. This patterns perfectly with what we expected. Because microdramas are a relatively new format in India, early platform supply was heavily driven by adapted Chinese IPs, which inherently lean into these high emotion, highly engaging genres," said Sharlton Menezes, Head - IP & Partnerships, Pratilipi & Double Tap Films.
Reliance-owned JioStar launched “Tadka” on JioHotstar in April, rolling out more than 100 microdrama titles on day one. Integrated within the main app during the IPL season, the feature lets users seamlessly switch between long-form and short-form viewing. Titles such as ‘Secret Crorepati Jamai’ and ‘Section F Ka Only Boy’ lean into high-voltage storytelling — forbidden romance, betrayal, supernatural twists and family intrigue — with episodes typically lasting between one and three minutes.
