April 10, 2025, 2:58 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
When it comes to streaming, many people think of films and series on Netflix and other providers. But have you heard of vertical drama? This is currently on the rise.
Even if many may not want to admit it (including the author of these lines), cinemas and linear television are almost certainly obsolete models that were replaced by streaming quite a while ago. TV programs can also be enjoyed in this way, and there are also plenty of films and series to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and the like. Most people are probably thinking of more traditional formats, such as feature films or the typical series with episodes between 20 and 60 minutes long. However, the new vertical drama streaming trend is not taking place on any of the established platforms. TECHBOOK explains the phenomenon.
Vertical Drama is TV for the Tiktok Generation
Television and cinema, in particular, like to celebrate the widescreen format. This format is ideal for showing particularly beautiful and spectacular shots, such as landscape panoramas. An elongated, vertical image is not common — but not so with vertical drama.
This is a new type of television format that is already captivating millions around the world. As the British Guardian reports, vertical dramas consist of several episodes, all of which have a running time of only around one minute. The genre comes from China and is regarded as “television for the TikTok generation.” No wonder, as the stories are specially designed for consumption on smartphones.
This is where the “vertical” name comes from — the films are intended to be watched comfortably on the move and in the hand when holding the smartphone normally and, therefore, with a vertically aligned display. As with Vertical Drama Love, this usually means a picture in 9:16 format. As they also have to capture the short attention span of social media users, the focus is on particularly eye-catching stories, a fast pace, and easily recognizable characters and themes. Titles such as Revenge of the XXL Woman or My Husband, the Secret Agent should come as no surprise.
Vertical Dramas Are Becoming Increasingly Successful
The sector is experiencing such an upswing that it is forecast to be worth up to 14 billion US dollars by 2027. The demand is obviously there, and the conventional media supply is, therefore, far from sufficient. Chinese companies are now exporting the format abroad, flanked by new specialized apps such as ReelShort, DramaPops, and FlexTV.
The success has even gone so far that, according to the report, ReelShort has now even overtaken TikTok as the most popular product in the entertainment section of the Apple App Store. The application has been downloaded 30 million times since 2022.
How Vertical Dramas Attract a Special Audience
Many of the viewers would be drawn to similar themes already familiar from the book sphere: enemies who become lovers or werewolves. The clickbait titles, cliffhangers, and sensational scenes do the rest. Apps often make several episodes available free of charge. However, if you want to continue watching, you have to take out a subscription.
Surprisingly, quite a few people are drawn to vertical dramas when they are going through a difficult time. Whether they are grieving, ill, or caring for someone, movies are a small escape from the world for them.
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Will the Trend Continue?
More and more filmmakers and actors want to get involved in vertical dramas. Although they are very fast-moving, their production is approached extremely professionally — with good camera equipment, make-up artists, and more. Many have worked on major projects before. Filming usually only takes around seven to ten days. For many actors, the format would have already provided recurring work.
Whether vertical dramas can establish themselves in the long term remains to be seen. The streaming platform Quibi, which specialized in such short formats, disappeared again just two years after it was founded. Today, one could say that it was simply ahead of its time and could well flourish today.
Meanwhile, other large media companies would be keeping an eye on the trend. After all, they, too, compete with social media and also want to reach a young audience with a short attention span. In 2023, for example, Paramount posted the cult classic Girls Club in 23 parts on TikTok — for just one day.