The wave of short drama globalization is coming, and TikTok may become the biggest winner.

With the global popularity of TikTok, various short-content models are accelerating their spread from China to overseas. Since 2023, the viewing duration of short dramas by global users has significantly increased. By March 2024, the viewing duration of short drama-related App users has increased 16 times in the past year.

On TikTok, the view counts of the two topics "#shortmovie" and "#shortfilm" have reached 17.2 billion and 29 billion respectively, indicating that the short drama, a content form with a shorter duration and a more compact plot, has a huge audience base globally. TikTok for Business also predicts in its "2024 Short Drama Overseas Marketing White Paper" that the short drama market size will exceed tens of billions of US dollars, and the average monthly short drama user scale overseas is expected to reach 200 - 300 million, providing a strong endorsement for the development of short dramas in the international market.

 TikTok's Boost, the Popularity of Overseas Short Dramas

Once Upon a Divorce, the Double Life of Lady Diana is an American mini-series that premiered in 2024. This series explores the double life of Diana. On the TikTok platform, many users upload videos of Once Upon a Divorce: The Double Life of Lady Diana.

 "The plot is compact and attractive, often affecting emotions" - This drama unfolds around Diana's "double life". Due to some paid episodes being voluntarily uploaded and discussed by users on platforms such as TikTok, the related topics have achieved viral spread. The audience generally believes that the plot is compact, the emotional conflicts are intense, and it contains suspense elements, allowing the work to quickly attract global attention.

It is worth noting that this work comes from Sereal+ - a short drama platform that launched at the end of December 2023. Its parent company, Chinese Online, has a deep accumulation in the fields of online literature and film and television adaptation. Sereal+ also entered the top 30 of the US iOS entertainment bestseller list in the early stage of its launch. Some industry insiders point out that this strategy of using well-known overseas platforms (such as TikTok) for multi-channel content promotion may provide a more mature path for Chinese short dramas to "go overseas".

TikTok's short drama library

In fact, the popularity of short dramas on TikTok is not accidental because in the Chinese market, TikTok's "sister app" Douyin has already become a mature short drama distribution channel. In China, Hongguo Short Drama under ByteDance has already ranked first in the active user volume of short drama apps.

According to the data in 2024, the penetration rate of short drama content on the Douyin platform has reached 66.1%, indicating that short dramas have a wide audience and influence on Douyin. In addition, the share of Douyin mini-programs in short drama delivery has also increased significantly, from 7% in December 2023 to 70% in September 2024, showing the Douyin platform's support and promotion for short drama content.

Judging from the successful experience of Douyin, short dramas have not only achieved remarkable results in the Chinese market but also cultivated a large number of loyal audiences. As the short-video platform with the largest global user scale, TikTok has a stronger cross-cultural communication ability and data-driven advantage. In addition to doing the short drama traffic business, ByteDance also wants to do the short drama content business. TikTok claims that it will help short dramas replicate the successful model of the Chinese market globally and further expand its international influence. Whether from the platform's content distribution ability or the audience's viewing habits, the potential of the overseas short drama market is worth looking forward to.

Thanks to the expansion of channels, the short drama model is occupying a new high ground. According to the data of Insightrackr in December 2024, ReelShort maintained the top 4 position in the overseas short drama app downloads, while Chinese Online's Sereal+ steadily ranked in the top 6 with a 28.86% month-on-month growth.

Under the Explosion of Short Dramas, Maybe Replicating a New Wealth-Creating Myth Overseas

Thanks to the innovative content form of short dramas, short production cycles, easy sharing and dissemination, and adaptation to the needs of modern people's fast-paced life and fragmented time consumption. These characteristics enable short dramas to quickly attract a large number of users and bring substantial economic benefits to creators and platforms through various monetization methods such as advertising, subscription, and copyright sales. This means that short dramas can quickly replicate the domestic model overseas into a new wealth-creating myth.

In addition, the TikTok platform provides a broad audience base and diverse content distribution channels for short dramas. Through TikTok, short dramas can reach audiences worldwide. At the same time, the platform's data analysis capabilities and marketing tools also provide strong support for the promotion and growth of short dramas. In addition, the success of short dramas on TikTok has also driven the development of the related industrial chain, including content production, distribution, and consumption, providing more opportunities and challenges for practitioners.

There are 1.6 million works under the #shortfilm topic on TikTok

In 2024, overseas short dramas have become one of the most concerned and capital-favored fields in the content industry. The overseas short drama market has witnessed about a tenfold growth, and the estimated spatial center of the short drama overseas market is about 36 billion US dollars.

As an emerging content form, short dramas provide viewers with a viewing experience different from traditional short videos with their compact plots and professional production. At the same time, they also provide new performance spaces for creators and actors. Different from short videos that usually focus more on entertainment, short dramas are plot-oriented, usually with a coherent story line and character development, more like a mini-version of a TV series or movie, and more coherent and serial.

From the perspective of content supply, the output of micro-short drama content creation is increasing rapidly, and the creative enthusiasm on the supply side is high. In terms of genre themes, contemporary urban dramas are more favored at the creative end, and love and urban themes are more popular at the audience end, and ancient costume themes are also remarkable. In terms of video platforms, key micro-short dramas are leading in the new long-video, but the overall new micro-short dramas in short-video have the advantage; the content focus of video platforms is different, and the narrative content of short-video platforms is more down-to-earth and the development of diverse content is integrated.

In terms of commercial performance, advertising marketing and paid recharge are the most important profit sources for micro-short dramas. The two-way prosperity of supply and demand promotes the continuous and steady growth of the micro-short drama industry market size.

Of course, the overseas expansion of short dramas also faces challenges, such as cultural differences and different market environments. For example, some plots and expressions in Chinese short dramas may be difficult for overseas audiences to understand.

Looking at each overseas short drama platform, its content has its own characteristics. Take Sereal+ as an example. Its platform content strategy mainly launches corresponding theme content for diversified audience groups, especially romance, vampire and other themes, which are particularly popular among young and middle-aged women. The content of Sereal+ meets the preferences of this user group and wins the favor of loyal users through precise positioning and content innovation.

At the same time, Sereal+ attaches great importance to user feedback, listens to and improves content and operations, and develops more theme content.

Compared with the cheesy plot of "The Overbearing President Falls in Love with Me", the cute baby theme with smart and lovely children is attracting the attention of female audiences. Sereal+ is also providing users with different types of videos through different themes such as cute babies, sweet pets, and tragic love. For example, Sereal+'s cute baby overseas short drama Billionaire, The Hunt Is On is accelerating its global market layout.

Short dramas on TikTok

The cute baby images in the drama are often innocent and mischievous. Their every move can bring joy and warmth to the audience, making people unable to resist being immersed in it. The drama integrates multiple emotional lines such as love, family, and friendship. The love story between the male and female leads may be ups and downs and romantic, while the family affection between the cute baby and the parents is deep and sincere. These rich emotional elements can resonate with the audience, making them more involved in the plot and enjoying the emotional ups and downs brought by the story.

The continuous emergence of new themes and new dramas provides a stable revenue support for Sereal+. According to Sensor Tower, Sereal+'s quarterly revenue growth rate has exceeded 150% since 2024, with a strong growth momentum. Thanks to the rapid expansion of the global short drama market and the growing consumer demand for diverse content, Sereal+ may achieve a new short drama wealth-creating myth overseas.