Microdramas Become Fastest-Growing Content Category; Experts Open Up About Evolving Advertiser Profile (EXCLUSIVE)

According to Ormax StreamView, microdramas have emerged as the fastest-growing content category in India. The rise in smartphone usage across the country has also helped the category, which grew through recommendations on social media.  There is a 50% growth in viewership from 2025. This finding from Ormax StreamView also corresponds with the Kanker Report conducted by ShareCat, which shows growth in microdrama viewers in the NCCS-A (New Consumer Classification System) segment. With brands teaming up with vertical platforms to engage through micro-episodes, Variety India spoke to industry experts to decode this shift in viewership and advertiser interest. 

Neha Markanda, Chief Business Officer, ShareChat, MOJ & Quick TV notes, “80% of audiences prefer microdrama, broadly on par with reels, while 86% spend more than 15 minutes watching it every day. Across our ecosystem, Moj, ShareChat and QuickTV together deliver more than 1 billion+ daily episode plays, equivalent to over 720 million minutes of content consumed every single day. What has surprised us most is the breadth of the audience adopting the format. Microdrama is resonating across audience segments, with 68% of viewers belonging to households earning over ₹10 lakh annually.”

GSN Aditya, COO, Eloelo Group opines, “The key difference is density. People want the story to start quickly, keep moving and give them a reason to watch the next episode. At Story TV, with 120 million+ users and 100+ minutes of daily viewing, we’re seeing that microdrama is creating a new avenue of primetime on the phone. It tells us that the Indian audience is becoming much more flexible about how and where it consumes stories. The audience for microdramas overlaps significantly with short-form video and OTT, so this is less about a new demographic and more about a new viewing behaviour.”

Industry experts feel that this 50% year-on-year growth in microdrama audiences, as reported by Ormax OTT Audience Report 2026 is a testament to changing viewing behavior. Azim Lalani, co-founder and chief business officer, BULLET Microdrama, states, “The short episode is the entry point; it is not the product. That distinction will matter as the category moves towards 2027. The first phase was about proving demand and learning the grammar of the format. The next phase should be about depth, not only scale: stronger characters and worlds, more deliberate regionalisation, better audience intelligence and IP that can travel across seasons, languages, formats and brand partnerships. The one-minute structure demands narrative discipline, but it does not require a limited imagination.”

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Advertiser Interest

Of late, we have seen brands build stories around microdramas. Lalani feels that advertising will grow as the category becomes more flexible. He says, “The episodic nature of microdrama also gives brands multiple touchpoints and a faster route to respond to topical consumer moments. The opportunity is not simply to put more advertising into microdrama, but to build a more useful relationship between brands, stories and audiences.” Given the high-income profile of consumers, it is no longer seen as a medium only for the youth. Lalani adds, “It is becoming a content environment where brands can reach audiences through stories they have chosen to watch, across a wider range of contexts and cohorts.”

Markanda further highlights this by citing collabs like THE MISFITS with Level Infinite and Techno Gamerz that amassed 20 million impressions. She says, “There are campaigns across categories such as FMCG, fintech, alcobev, and building materials, reflecting how brands from diverse sectors are exploring storytelling-led integrations. With several bespoke campaigns in the pipeline for the festive period, it is clear that marketers are no longer sitting on the fence and are increasingly seeing microdramas as a meaningful brand engagement opportunity.” 

Shift in Audience Base

GSN Aditya believes that microdrama is no longer a niche format or a genre limited to a particular demographic. He states, “As the category becomes mainstream, the advertiser profile will naturally broaden. For Story TV, subscription remains the primary monetisation model. But as the category scales across urban and Tier 1 audiences, the opportunity for advertisers will also become significantly larger.”

The shift of microdrama towards mainstream entertainment indicates that scope for advertisers is also broadening. Markanda stresses, “The format is moving beyond being perceived as a niche or purely mass-market form of entertainment. As microdramas attract a more diverse audience across NCCS segments, brands can look at the format for both reach and attention-led storytelling.”

This increased participation from brands is what is truly changing the face of the industry. “The strongest work begins with the brand entering the creative process early, with a genuine reason to exist within the narrative,” signs off Lalani.