Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels
You know those dramatic clips that show up while you’re scrolling, where someone reveals a huge secret and the video ends before you find out what happens next? Some of them are previews for vertical microdramas. They’re short, scripted stories made to be watched on a phone, usually one episode at a time.
I’m interested in these stories because they don’t fit neatly into one category. They have characters and continuing plots like television, but they’re presented in a format we usually associate with social media. Sometimes the clip that introduces you to the story is also promoting an app where you can watch more. That makes me wonder how viewers think about what they’re watching.
What makes a microdrama different?
A microdrama tells a story across multiple short episodes. Rather than spending a long time introducing its characters and setting, it often moves quickly toward a conflict or a moment that makes you want to keep watching. Chengyao Liu’s research on microdrama production looks at this short, serialized format and the platforms where it appears.
From a filmmaking perspective, I think the pacing raises an interesting question. If an episode only has a few minutes to hold someone’s attention, which parts of the story does a creator choose to show first? A dramatic opening might draw someone in, but the story still needs to give viewers a reason to care about what happens after that first clip. I’m curious how microdramas balance those two goals.
A story made for a phone screen
The vertical format is another part of what makes microdramas different from most film and television. They’re designed for the way people already hold their phones. You can come across a clip, watch it, and keep scrolling without changing the position of your screen.
In research on mobile vertical video, Lana Mulier and her coauthors studied how people responded to vertical and horizontal video ads. Their findings suggest that the vertical format can make mobile viewing feel easier and more engaging. Their study was about ads, not scripted dramas, so it doesn’t tell us exactly how microdrama audiences respond. It does help show why the screen’s shape is worth thinking about.
The format could affect creative decisions too. A filmmaker working with a tall, narrow frame has different space to work with than someone shooting for a television screen. I wonder how that changes choices about framing, movement, and what the audience notices in a scene. The phone isn’t just where someone happens to watch the finished story; it’s something the creator has to consider while making it.
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels
When a story finds you
People don’t always sit down and choose to watch a microdrama the way they choose a movie. They might first see a clip while using TikTok or another social platform. That clip has to work as a piece of the story, but it may also be there to get people to watch more somewhere else. To me, that overlap between entertainment and promotion is one of the most interesting parts of the format.
A study by G. Falgoust and her coauthors explores why young adults participate in TikTok challenges. It isn’t a study of microdramas, but its discussion of entertainment, convenience, and escape gives me useful questions to consider. Does someone keep watching a microdrama because the story interests them? Because the next episode is easy to find? Or because watching a short story fits into a few spare minutes of their day?
I’m not trying to predict that vertical microdramas will replace film or television. I’m more interested in what this format might tell us about how people find and experience stories now. A viewer could see the same clip as a social video, an ad, or the beginning of a show. I want to understand how audiences make sense of that mix—and what makes them decide to keep watching.
References
Falgoust, G., Winterlind, E., Moon, P., Parker, A., Zinzow, H., & Chalil Madathil, K. (2022). Applying the uses and gratifications theory to identify motivational factors behind young adult’s participation in viral social media challenges on TikTok. Human Factors in Healthcare, 2, 100014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hfh.2022.100014
Liu, C. (2026). Producing commissioned drama for Chinese short video platforms: Power, dependence and creative control. Television & New Media. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764261461453
Mulier, L., Slabbinck, H., & Vermeir, I. (2021). This way up: The effectiveness of mobile vertical video marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 55, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.12.002