This report is from this week’s CNBC’s “Inside India” e-newsletter which brings you well timed, insightful information and market commentary on the rising powerhouse. Subscribe right here.
The large story
Latest pleasant overtures apart, India doesn’t all the time see eye to eye with China. However with regards to the battle for eyeballs, the nation’s leisure trade has taken a leaf out of the Chinese language playbook.
Micro-dramas, or 90 seconds to two-minute movies, loaded with hooks and wild plots, surpassed field workplace collections in China final yr, constructing a close to $7 billion trade, and that development has made its approach into India.
This would possibly not be the primary time a Chinese language content material format has gained traction in its neighboring nation.
ByteDance’s TikTok had seen hovering recognition in India, with thousands and thousands within the nation hooked to its short-video format, earlier than the app was banned in 2020. Inside weeks of the ban, Meta’s Instagram launched Reels in India and is now a number one platform for user-generated, short-format content material within the nation.
As widespread Chinese language apps are nonetheless banned in India, streaming platforms, native manufacturing homes and short-video apps backed by personal fairness and enterprise capital companies view micro dramas as the subsequent wave of content material that drives consumer engagement.
They’re pulling up their socks and investing in constructing bite-sized serialized content material libraries, to not be left behind within the race to grasp this new video format.
Tv crew working in a studio
Dpmike | E+ | Getty Photos
Take Bengaluru-based ShareChat, whose founders launched short-video platform Moj for regional content material after TikTok was banned. Between ShareChat and Moj they’ve 200 million-plus customers, Manohar Charan, co-founder and chief monetary officer at ShareChat, informed CNBC. Instagram had over 480 million Indian customers as of October 2025, in accordance with Statista.
5 months in the past, ShareChat doubled down on the micro-drama area and launched QuickTV. Not like Moj, which presents user-generated content material and ad-supported micro-dramas, QuickTV publishes movies from skilled manufacturing homes and comes with a subscription mannequin.
“Now we have 40 million customers watching micro-drama content material monthly,” Charan informed CNBC.
Indian micro-dramas are estimated to be the fastest-growing phase within the nation’s $2.4 billion gaming and interactive media sector, in accordance with a report by market analysis firm Redseer and enterprise capital agency Bitkraft. The sector is anticipated to develop to $7.8 billion by 2030, with the nascent micro-drama area estimated to grow to be a billion-dollar trade over the subsequent 5 years.
“This format [micro-dramas] is designed for as we speak’s fast-scrolling, snackable moments, whereas unlocking alternatives for a brand new wave of creators throughout India’s vibrant artistic ecosystem,” Amogh Dusad, director and head of content material at Amazon MX Participant, stated in a submit on LinkedIn earlier this yr.
To capitalize on the micro-drama alternative, over the previous six months, Amazon MX has launched Fatafat, Indian legacy media Zee Leisure has invested in Bullet app, streaming platform Hoichoi has rolled out Sooper. There are additionally PE- and VC-funded apps reminiscent of Kuku TV and Story TV, all competing for eyeballs and pockets share.
Fueled by smartphones
India’s big smartphone consumer base has helped catalyze the micro-drama progress within the nation.
There are round 750 million to 800 million smartphone customers in India, second solely to China, Navkendar Singh, affiliate vp at Worldwide Knowledge Company, informed CNBC’s “Inside India” on Tuesday.
“Tv has grow to be a secondary display in India whereas telephones are the first display for many,” stated former tv author Sambbhav Khetarpal, additionally content material head at micro-drama platform Sooper.
He says the change has been within the making for a couple of years as folks more and more eat content material on smartphones quite than TVs.
The earliest micro-dramas in India — discounting user-generated content material — began with the dubbing of Chinese language exhibits in native languages round a yr in the past, which then progressed to Indian adaptation of these storylines.
“The copy content material from Chinese language drama is simply preliminary teething issues of the trade,” stated Anuj Tandon, companion at Bitkraft — an investor in KukuTV.
Although even generic plots are leading to subscriptions and app downloads, principally from small cities in India, specialists stated with the circulate of recent investments and rising competitors, platforms and manufacturing homes are in search of differentiated content material.
It will grow to be “arduous to maintain a platform with copycat content material,” Khetarpal informed CNBC, solely “good tech and good content material will survive.”
There should be a hook each minute or the viewers “will simply scroll away,” stated tv actor-turned-micro-drama producer Karanvir Bohra.
The cash query
At present, most Indian micro-drama platforms are incomes from subscriptions, and that’s constructive change from the sooner “money burn fashions of content material platforms,” stated Siddharth Jhawar, basic supervisor India at adtech agency Moloco.
Nevertheless, as soon as the consumer base of those apps touches 10 million to fifteen million, they must think about a mixture of advert revenues as subscriptions will plateau, he added. Some within the trade, reminiscent of QuickTV’s Charan, say that promoting is a greater path to make exhibits accessible to a wider viewers.
About 70%-80% of the subscription income goes towards advertising the content material on Instagram and Fb for consumer acquisition, the remainder will get break up between the manufacturing and the distribution platform.
By proudly owning a library of titles, a platform can preserve the consumer engaged for longer on a micro-drama platforms, very like how Instagram does with user-generator content material, specialists stated, permitting it to spice up earnings by advertisements.
A brief-video platform with high-content quantity works effectively for commercials, stated Jhawar of Moloco, including that the technique has helped TikTok and Reels do effectively by way of commercials.
“It’s simpler to place advertisements after each 3-4 movies, than it’s to place advertisements in the midst of lengthy type content material,” he stated.
To attract viewers away from Instagram’s user-generated content material, micro-dramas will want extra content material volumes. A attainable menace that isn’t misplaced on Meta, which in September launched its personal micro-drama sequence titled “Social gathering for Two.” The sequence goals to “encourage Gen Z to take artistic dangers,” Meta stated in a assertion.
Given these exhibits are being produced for lower than $3,000 per sequence and a big expertise base — Bollywood, TV, streaming platforms — India may see an explosion of content material, specialists stated.
“There will likely be a content material manufacturing growth on this area for the 3-4 years,” stated Anurag Shukla, who has written a few micro-dramas in current months.
Predictions apart, I’m ready for my Chinese language buddies to suggest a present in Mandarin that seems to be a replica of an Indian micro-drama. Looks as if a superb benchmark to gauge Indian platforms’ efficiency on this sector?
High TV picks on CNBC
Navkendar Singh, affiliate vp of IDC India, expects Apple’s India gross sales to develop by one other 10% to fifteen% yearly over the subsequent 4 to 5 years.
Ravi Jakhar, group chief monetary officer at Allcargo Group, stated that world commerce has been “extraordinarily muted” following U.S. tariffs, regardless of this usually being a robust season.
Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist and strategist, at HSBC, stated the agency expects India’s GDP to develop round 7%-7.5% over the subsequent two quarters.
Have to know
Items commerce deficit in October shatters information. India’s items commerce deficit hit an all-time excessive of $41.7 billion in October as gold imports surged on festive season demand, whereas exports to U.S. bore the brunt of steep tariffs.
India deepens power commerce with U.S. The nation is ramping up its power imports from the U.S. in a bid to cut back its commerce surplus with Washington — a key demand of the Trump administration throughout commerce negotiations with New Delhi.
Capital market trade seeks overhaul in taxes. The trade has put ahead a case for a complete tax overhaul as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met market representatives in New Delhi for discussions earlier than the union funds.
Quote of the week
I’m optimistic that some type of a deal will likely be reached between India and the U.S. … India clearly would really like for its labor intensive exports, and even in any other case, to be within the broad band of its ASEAN friends.
Within the markets
The Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex have been each up about 0.5% on Thursday, with their respective good points thus far this yr at 11% and almost 10%.
The benchmark 10-year Indian authorities bond yield ticked barely larger and was final at 6.543%.
— Nur Hikmah Md Ali
Developing
Nov. 21: HSBC flash PMI for November; Sudeep Pharma IPO
Nov. 21-23: PM Narendra Modi to attend G20 summit in South Africa
Every weekday, CNBC’s “Inside India” information present provides you information and market commentary on the rising powerhouse companies, and the folks behind its rise. Livestream the present on YouTube and catch highlights right here.
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