Why Vertical TV Could Be Bigger Than Micro Drama
“We saw the trend of micro drama, and we thought that the opportunity that it creates is a much bigger one than simply being focused on micro drama.”
Micro drama may be having its moment, but for Lior Friedman, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at RoseBerry Media, it is only the beginning.
RoseBerry was founded by a group of executives and entrepreneurs from production, technology and media who saw an opportunity to build beyond the increasingly crowded micro drama market. Rather than focusing on one format, the company is betting on a broader category: Vertical TV.
Micro Drama Is Just One Genre
Today, vertical video largely sits between two worlds: short-form platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts on one side, and the rapidly growing micro drama ecosystem on the other. RoseBerry sees considerable room in between.
“We think micro drama is like a subset of vertical TV,” Friedman explains. “It’s one genre. It works like soap operas to TV in general.”
Micro dramas, he argues, have played an important role in establishing both an audience and a viewing habit. But the next phase could bring more genres and use cases into vertical entertainment. RoseBerry is already exploring game shows, true crime, reality dating and other scripted formats designed to be more content- and brand-safe.
Giving Old TV a New Life
Perhaps one of the most interesting opportunities lies not in creating something new, but in rethinking what already exists. RoseBerry has developed a workflow to transform existing TV and film libraries into serialised vertical content. But that doesn’t mean simply cropping a horizontal programme to fit a phone screen.
“Not all TV content and not all films are fit for vertical,” Friedman says.
The pace needs to be fast, the central question clear and the viewer needs a reason to keep watching. Surprisingly, that means some older, overlooked catalogue content may be particularly well suited to the format. “Sometimes things that are actually in the back of the shelf can work best”, Friedman says, pointing to daytime TV movies originally structured around frequent advertising breaks. “They already designed the story at the time with a lot of twists and turns because they wanted to keep the user engaged through many ad breaks.”
Beyond the Coin Economy
But perhaps the bigger shift isn't creative - it's commercial. Much of today’s micro drama market is built around transactional models that require viewers to pay to unlock episodes. Friedman believes that is only one part of a much bigger opportunity. “We see coins evolving into an engagement mechanic rather than the core economics, something that rewards viewing and unlocks content, sitting alongside a durable mix of advertising and subscription.”
For RoseBerry, brands could be a major part of that opportunity. While they have largely stayed on the sidelines of micro drama, Friedman sees Vertical TV’s focus on premium, brand-safe IP as a key differentiator, with opportunities ranging from “product-integrated storylines [and] sponsored episode unlocks” to “native ad formats that go well beyond a standard pre-roll.” The goal is to give brands “a way to be part of the story rather than an interruption to it.”
Alongside advertising and subscriptions, Friedman believes this is where the next wave of value in Vertical TV could be created.
The Next Chapter of Vertical
RoseBerry’s ambitions therefore extend beyond producing vertical shows or building another micro drama app. The company is developing what Friedman describes as an end-to-end vertical content platform, spanning the creation and verticalisation of premium IP, distribution through its own platform Epis and partner channels, and monetisation across B2B licensing, consumer revenue and IP ownership.
But for Vertical TV itself to become an established part of the entertainment ecosystem, Friedman believes it needs to prove that it can stand on its own.“It needs to keep proving itself as mobile-first entertainment in its own right, not a funnel back to traditional TV.”
Central to that is a feedback loop between content and data. Viewing behaviour from RoseBerry’s consumer platform can inform which titles and formats the company develops and scales next. “The virtuous cycle we’re building toward is data and content reinforcing each other,” Friedman explains. “The more that loop compounds, the faster the category matures.”
Micro drama may have created the viewing habit. But RoseBerry’s bet is that it doesn’t define the limits of the market. The next chapter of vertical entertainment could be about much more than coins and cliffhangers: more genres, more ways to monetise them, and ultimately a new form of mobile-first television.