How Two-Minute Microdramas Became a Billion-Dollar Industry
· 20 min
Episode How Two-Minute Microdramas Became a Billion-Dollar Industry
Microdramas — mini soap operas designed to be watched on your phone — have become one of the fastest-growing forms of entertainment in the world.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Yang Yang and Bloomberg Businessweek’s Christopher Beam about how millions got hooked on the medium, the challenges studios face as they try to reach new audiences and how AI could transform it all.
Read more: China Has the World Hooked on Two-Minute Microdramas China Brought 90-Second Microdramas to the US. Now Hollywood Wants In
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Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Naomi Ng and Victor Swezey; Reported by Yang Yang and Christopher Beam; Edited by Paddy Hirsch and Crispina Robert.
Fact-checking by Victor Swezey; Engineering by Alex Sugiura and Sean Carter.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin. Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Links in the notes 4
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-31/chinese-microdramas-go-global-as-ai-slashes-production-costs?srnd=phx-weekend_2
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-08-12/microdramas-take-hold-on-us-smartphones-after-rise-in-china
- https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions/podcasts
- https://omnystudio.com/listener
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