What Is a Micro Drama?
A micro drama, also called a vertical drama or short drama, is a serial story told in episodes of about one to two minutes, shot for a phone held upright (9:16), usually 20 to 100 episodes a series, and built to end every episode on a hook. AI micro dramas make the same format with AI video, voices and music.
Updated
The format in five facts
- Episode
- 1 to 2 minutesper Wikipedia
- Series
- 20 to 100 episodesper Wikipedia
- Frame
- 9:16 verticalfor a phone
- Ends on
- A hookevery episode
- Where
- Apps, YouTube, TikTokand Reels
That is the whole format. A micro drama is a serial: one story told in many very short episodes, each built to end on a question so the viewer taps the next one. It is shot upright because it is watched on a phone, and it moves fast: a hook in the first seconds, a turn every twenty to thirty seconds and a last shot that stops on the peak.
Four frames of a real micro drama episode, The Wrong Wedding, made with AI in Ziztu. It runs 32 seconds and ends on the woman in red.
Where micro dramas come from
The format started in China around 2018 on short-video platforms, where it is called duanju, short drama. By the 2020s apps built only for them, such as ReelShort, DramaBox, GoodShort and My Drama, had carried it to the United States and other countries. Wikipedia lists three ways they earn: viewers pay per episode or per series, ads pay for episodes that cost nothing to watch, or a mix of unpaid episodes, paywalls and rewarded ads.
Wikipedia also puts the global revenue of micro dramas at about $11 billion in 2025. That is an estimate, not a measured total, so read it as a sense of scale. It is the reason the format keeps getting new apps and new studios, and now new tools.
What happens inside one episode
The episodes that work follow the same short shape. In September 2026 we watched and timed ten widely watched AI micro dramas. This is what the timing showed:
What ten widely watched AI micro dramas do
| What we timed | What we found |
|---|---|
| Shot length | About 2 seconds in the middle, with nearly half of all shots under 2 seconds |
| Spoken lines | About 5 words each, with no dead air between them |
| Story turns | A turn about every 45 to 60 seconds, with a small hook every 15 to 20 seconds |
The best of them also open on a peak, an insult, a slap, a threat or a flash of the payoff, and stop on the peak of one question rather than after it. None of that needs a big budget. It needs a clear wrong or secret, a cast the viewer can tell apart in a second and an ending that stops early. That is why micro dramas suit AI: the format is short shots on a small cast, which is what video models do best. The guide how to write a micro drama cliffhanger covers the last shot.
The names for the same thing
People use several names for this format, and they mean the same thing: micro drama (or microdrama), vertical drama, short drama, mini drama and the Chinese duanju. A web series, a soap opera and a short film are different formats. Micro drama vs short drama vs web series puts them side by side.
The genres
Wikipedia lists romance with billionaire or CEO characters, revenge narratives and identity-reveal plots among the most popular genres of the format, and names organized crime among its common themes. The Ziztu guides cover those and add werewolf and fated mates, second chances and contract marriages. Each one sells a single promise, and the promise decides the hook, the cast and the last shot. Start with the genres overview, or go straight to revenge micro dramas, CEO romance micro dramas, hidden heir micro dramas, werewolf micro dramas, mafia micro dramas, second chance micro dramas, contract marriage micro dramas, billionaire romance micro dramas.
AI micro dramas
An AI micro drama is the same format made with AI. The picture, the voices and the score come from models instead of a crew, so one person with an idea can make a series. TheWrap reported in June 2026 that companies in India, Ukraine, China, Israel and the United States now make AI micro dramas, and that they are distributed on TikTok, ReelShort and other apps.
What AI does well is a small cast in a few rooms with medium shots and short lines. What it does badly is long speeches, crowds, two people touching and anything that needs the same face in every shot without a plan. That plan is the character sheet. Ziztu is built around it: a Director plans every shot, character sheets keep the cast the same, and the episode is cut on one timeline. See AI micro dramas for how it works and AI vs filmed micro drama for the cost.
Start this in Ziztu
Make a micro drama episode from one sentence.
A live-action vertical micro drama, episode 1: on her wedding day a bride reads a message on the groom's phone and walks down the aisle anyway, smiling. End on a cliffhanger when she takes the microphone.
40 free credits, no card: write the script, cast your characters, draw the storyboard and hear the voices. Video starts at $12. You see the price before every generation.
Keep going
- AI micro dramas the hub: examples, genres, ideas and how to make one.
- Micro drama vs short drama vs web series for the names and when each one fits.
- AI vs filmed micro drama for cost, time and quality side by side.
- How to make an AI micro drama to make your first episode.
- Micro drama apps for how the apps work and where an AI series can go.
- Are micro dramas made with AI for how to tell, and what is labeled.
- How long is a micro drama episode for the beats and the prices at each length.
- Micro drama genres to pick what to make first.
- Micro drama script template to write the first episode.
Sources (read 15 October 2026)
- Wikipedia, Microdrama (the article is titled Duanju) (read 15 October 2026; used for episode length, episodes a series, filmed budgets, 2025 revenue estimate, genres)
- TheWrap, AI-Generated Microdramas Are Real (Tess Patton, 11 June 2026) (read 15 October 2026; used for who makes AI micro dramas, where they appear, cost per hour reported by the producers)
The table of shot lengths and lines comes from our own timing of ten AI micro dramas in September 2026. The revenue figure is an estimate reported by Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions
What is a micro drama?
A micro drama is a serial story told in episodes of about one to two minutes, shot for a phone held upright, usually 20 to 100 episodes a series and built to end every episode on a hook. It is also called a vertical drama, short drama or mini drama. AI micro dramas make the same format with AI video.
What is a vertical drama?
A vertical drama is another name for a micro drama: a short serial shot in the 9:16 vertical frame of a phone. Wikipedia lists vertical drama, microdrama, short drama, vertical minidrama, vertical series and mobile drama as English names for the same format, and short drama is the direct translation of the Chinese name duanju.
How long is a micro drama episode?
About one to two minutes, with 20 to 100 episodes in a series, according to Wikipedia. Episodes made with AI often run 30 seconds to three minutes. A shorter episode costs less to generate and gives you more chances to end on a hook.
Where did micro dramas start?
In China, around 2018, on short-video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, where the format is called duanju. Apps such as ReelShort and DramaBox brought it to the United States, and the format is now also posted on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
Are micro dramas made with AI?
Some are. TheWrap reported in June 2026 that AI-made micro dramas now appear on TikTok, ReelShort and other apps. Companies in India, Ukraine, China, Israel and the United States make them, and one person can now make a series with a tool such as Ziztu.
How do I make a micro drama with AI?
Write one idea, let the Director in Ziztu plan the cast and shots, make a character sheet for each person, generate the shots as vertical clips and cut them with voices and music. The 40 free credits cover script, cast and storyboard; video starts at $12.
