Commentary

Microdramas: Can They Turn The Tables - And Living Room Screens?

Is there is a coming frugal wave of big TV production content -- amid consolidation? Can those snappy microdramas help?

Many veteran producers now believe short-duration TV series and episodes could be just the thing for legacy TV-based media companies that are increasingly concerned about risky, big-budget TV shows that can fail due to massive streaming and other platform competition.

Some high-profile TV producers are hearing that call -- under a new joint production company from Google and Range Media Partners called 100 ZEROs.

Range Media is a management and production company started up a few years ago by former senior executives at big Hollywood agencies. Producers include “The Bachelor” creator Mike Fleiss and Simon Fuller of "American Idol."

Microdramas episodes have content that is very short in duration, running about 60 to 90 seconds with a “vertical” look similar to a TikTok feed -- designed for viewing on a mobile phone.

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An entire season of episodes can consist of 60 to 100 episodes. A user can get through an entire season in just under the time span of a two-hour movie.

Microdramas are predominantly made for mobile phones -- which explains the video's vertical perspective. Now, big-time streamers are looking into this.

For example, Netflix has been looking to redesign its service -- especially with regard to its mobile efforts -- to accommodate the new short content.

What was Netflix's initial purpose for the move? While entertainment is important, promotion as well as marketing and existing subscriber “attention” may be equally valuable.

Netflix isn’t alone. Disney+ has just launched its “Verts” this weekend -- also with the goal to promote its vast library of TV and film content. It originally announced this effort back in January at the CES convention in Las Vegas

For budding young producers, this could be viewed as being the minor leagues -- a proving ground for "major league" action. And there are existing YouTube and TikTok creators looking to make a bigger splash with major premium streamers down the road.

Near term, the problem is how to convert mobile phone-based vertical content for the big-screen living-room viewing.

But I hear those TV sets' screens don’t turn as easily into a vertical position as the screens of mobile phones.

1 comment about "Microdramas: Can They Turn The Tables - And Living Room Screens?".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, March 16, 2026 at 4:15 p.m.

    Wayne, these people are whistling Dixie.

    Just consider how one of these "microdramas" would begin it's run on a TV network. You have to use the initial episodes to set up the series' basic premise, create its recurring star's identities with prospective series fans, etc. How would you do this--with an opening "pilot" episode of, say, five minutes?

    What we have learned with 75 years of TV--and I mention ths often  in my upcoming book, "TV, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"---- is that few thirty minute dramas have lasted more than a few years on TV compared to one -hour formats because 30 minutes just isn't time to establish the characters and motives of the bad guys in the minds of the viewers. And the bad guys are what make the showws interesting. Now, you would do this in 60-90 seconds per episode?

    And then, consider how many successful 60-90 second shows it would take to replace one hour TV series and draw , collectively, a supposedly larger ongoing --or average miuute--audience. It is to laugh..ha, ha.

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About the Author

Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.