Portland, ME ad agency Via is doubling down on the burgeoning microdrama content genre through a new partnership with veteran producer Tommy Harper (Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible, Wednesday) and his new platform VeYou, a specialist in the genre.  

Microdramas  are short (usually no more than two-minute episodes) mobile-first video series. Episodes usually end on a cliffhanger to keep viewers anticipating each installment. 

By most accounts the genre first developed in China just prior to the pandemic but has rapidly grown in popularity worldwide.  

The US market is growing fast via platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox and big marketers are hopping on board including Proctor & Gamble, which worked with Dentsu and Pixie USA earlier this year to create the 55-episode The Golden Pear Affair to promote its Native line of personal care products. The first couple of episodes were available for free and the full season cost $9.99. Maybelline, JCPenny and others have also backed microdramas. 

Harper unveiled VeYou earlier this year and it went live in April. Harper’s company Tiny Verticals produces programming for the platform.  

According to VIA, brands are helping to fund and shape original entertainment from the start. The partnership is “less about short-form trends and more about the convergence of advertising, streaming and creator-led entertainment ecosystems.” A major goal per the agency: create a uniquely American style of Microdrama. 

The agency says several projects with brands are in the works, but that it is too early to talk about specifics. The first series is expected to go live in the third quarter.  

According to the agency VeYou and VIA create original stories together, “built specifically around the brands we bring in. We're not retrofitting sponsors into existing scripts. We're building the story around the brand, from scratch, with Tommy, before anyone calls action.” 

All VIA clients have access to this partnership, and a “majority of them are leaning into this new opportunity. We’re also actively working with brands that are new to VIA. This has actually become a highly valuable new business tool for us.” 

Matt O’Rourke, who joined Via in January as Chief Creative Officer is overseeing the partnership. 

Prior to joining VIA, he had been working independently with Harper to help define the brand partnership model for VeYou. When he joined the agency they began formalizing the larger partnership between Via and VeYou.  

 “For the first time, brands aren’t being written into the story after the fact,” he said. “They are the story. Microdramas open a new door for brands. One investment that yields a universe of characters, scenes, and storylines - all of it usable as advertising,” he said. “All at a very efficient cost structure. Not better. Not worse. A new option for our marketing toolbox.” 

Pictured above is a scene from the P&G microdrama The Golden Pear Affair.