The news: Microdrama apps now command more daily mobile viewing time per user than Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ in the US, according to a new Omdia analysis of Sensor Tower data.

Users of ReelShort, a popular mobile streaming app owned by Crazy Maple Studio that features 1 to 2 minute vertical drama episodes, spend 35.7 minutes per day on the app, compared with 26.9 minutes for Prime Video, 24.8 minutes for Netflix, and 23 minutes for Disney+. Global microdrama revenues reached $11 billion in 2025 and are projected to hit $14 billion in 2026, per Omdia.

Zooming out: The engagement gap tells only part of the story. Netflix still leads in monthly active mobile users in the US, with roughly 12 million compared with 1.2 million for ReelShort, per Similarweb.

But that user base is growing fast: ReelShort's US viewers rose 51% YoY from September 2024 to September 2025. Microdrama app downloads surged past 2.3 billion globally in 2025, more than doubling from the prior year, per Sensor Tower, while traditional streaming app downloads fell more than 4%.

Ad revenues are growing in turn: In-app revenues for ReelShort and DramaBox grew 31% and 29% respectively in Q1 2025, reaching $130 million and $120 million, per Sensor Tower. By 2026, the US is forecast to account for 50% of all microdrama revenues outside China, reaching $1.5 billion, per Omdia.

Latin America is emerging as the format's next growth engine. In Q3 2025, the region generated 176 million short-drama app installs, over a quarter of the global total and 6 times higher than a year earlier, per our forecast. Time spent with short-form video in the region is already high: Internet users in Brazil spent 9 hours and 55 minutes per week watching short videos in H1 2025, with Mexico at 8 hours and 57 minutes and Colombia at 8 hours and 52 minutes, per GWI. Regional players like Globo, TelevisaUnivision, and Kwai are scaling vertical series pipelines, per EMARKETER.

Promotion over production quality? A hefty advertising push is contributing to microdramas’ rise. With microdrama platforms spending up to 90% of budgets on marketing rather than content production, per Variety, the current growth may not be sustainable for all players. Microdrama apps directed 68% of their US ad spending to social networks from January to September 2025, per Sensor Tower, using platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram as discovery channels.

Implications for advertisers: Microdrama apps represent a mobile-first format that is capturing the kind of sustained, daily attention advertisers have traditionally associated with streaming platforms. The per-user engagement advantage over Netflix and Disney+ matters because it reflects habitual viewing, not casual browsing, giving brands repeated exposure windows within a single session.

• Product placement is emerging as a primary tactic, with brands integrating into plotlines rather than running interstitial ads.
• Advertisers testing this format should focus on the apps with the strongest retention metrics, like ReelShort and DramaBox, while tracking how Latin America's rapid adoption creates new audience segments.

Go further: Read our Rise of Microdramas in the US and Latin America Trends to Watch in 2026 reports.