« Some people think micro drama is actually the saviour of film and TV. It is not. »
As the entertainment industry explores the potential of micro dramas, Timothy Oh, Global Chief Marketing Officer of FlareFlow & General Manager at COL Group International, believes the conversation has become too focused on hype.
For Oh, micro dramas are not a replacement for traditional television or a solution to the industry’s challenges. Instead, they represent a new entertainment category shaped by mobile viewing habits, changing audience behaviour and the growing convergence of storytelling and commerce. « I think it would be a genre, » he said.
The Missing Middle Between TV and Social Content
One reason this emerging genre has attracted brand interest is that it sits between two existing models that each have their own limitations. Traditional branded entertainment can deliver emotional impact, but the process is often slow. “It takes such a long time for a brand to work on a long-form series or a movie, » Oh explained.
For brands operating in fast-moving categories such as beauty, fashion and FMCG, marketing campaigns and product launches often move much faster than traditional entertainment production cycles allow. At the same time, conventional social media content has the opposite challenge. « Social media content lasts for three days, maybe one week, » he said.
Micro dramas occupy the space in between: they offer the storytelling depth of entertainment while moving at a speed that better reflects today’s marketing environment.
Why Micro Dramas Need a Mobile-First Mindset
While some industry observers have positioned micro dramas as a disruptive force that could transform entertainment, Oh believes expectations need to remain realistic.
« There is an overhype, » he admitted. « Some people think it’s actually the saviour of film and TV. It is not. »
The opportunity, he believes, is to expand the ways stories can be created and consumed. In his view, television, film, short-form video and micro dramas can coexist, each serving different audiences, viewing behaviours and creative needs. But that also requires producers to rethink how they approach storytelling across different platforms.
The biggest mistake producers can make is assuming that success in one format automatically translates to another. « Don’t try to put something that’s already done into vertical, » Oh said. « Think of it from a mobile-first perspective. »
Mobile Changes the Relationship Between Audiences and Stories
He believes micro dramas reflect a broader shift in how audiences engage with entertainment. “The format has grown since Instagram and TikTok. People are watching things vertical first now,” he said. For Oh, that shift starts with the way people begin their day: “The first thing people reach for when they wake up isn’t the TV. It’s their phone – checking Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. Today, audiences wake up to short-form, vertical content.”
The shift is not the vertical screen itself, but the viewing behaviour that comes with it. Mobile audiences are used to making immediate decisions. They decide quickly whether a story is worth their attention, which changes how creators need to think about pacing and engagement. « Traditionally, when you write a script, you start with the backstory and the journey and everything else, » Oh said. « With micro drama, you start with the emotion. »
Instead of gradually building emotional investment, micro dramas need to create an immediate connection. « You need to get invested with emotion very quickly, » he said.
That focus on emotion also changes how stories are constructed. “When you write a story in a micro format, you always have to be relevant to the viewer,” Oh explained.
For vertical dramas, that means understanding what audiences want before the story is even created. Rather than building demand around a show through traditional marketing tactics such as press tours, the demand is built into the story itself. As Oh puts it: “You don’t build demand around the show; the show is built around demand.”
The Next Evolution: Entertainment Meets Commerce
Looking ahead, Oh believes the relationship between storytelling and commerce will become increasingly integrated. “In five years’ time, it’s going to be super integrated into commerce.” Rather than entertainment and shopping existing as separate experiences, he sees the boundaries between content, commerce and discovery continuing to disappear, with stories increasingly becoming part of the journey from discovering a product to purchasing it.
But for Oh, the bigger shift is about who controls that journey. “I can’t predict the future, but viewers will hold even more power,” he said. As audiences gain more influence over how and where they consume stories, creators, platforms and brands will increasingly become storytellers in their own right, building their own IP.
“In a world overwhelmed by volume, he believes value will come from quality rather than quantity”. The stories that endure will be consistent, relevant and told in the format that serves them best – vertical or horizontal, short-form or long-form.
AI, meanwhile, could accelerate this evolution by making stories more interactive and personalised. “People will be able to interact with the shows like a game. They will be able to choose outcomes,” Oh said. For him, this is not about replacing creators with technology, but about opening up new possibilities for how audiences participate in stories.
In the End, IP Still Wins
Despite the excitement around new platforms, commerce and AI, Oh believes the foundation of successful entertainment remains unchanged. « It all goes back into building IP, » he said. As production tools become cheaper and more accessible, creating content will become easier. The challenge will not be producing more stories – it will be creating stories audiences genuinely care about.
Micro dramas may not replace television, but they are carving out a genre of their own – one that reflects how audiences increasingly discover, experience and engage with entertainment on mobile.
