MIPCOM 2025 continues with its very particular shape this week: many people said that Tuesday had more participants than Monday, which is completely unusual. Today (Wednesday) organizer RX France announces the wrap-up of the event, so let’s wait for the official numbers. In fact, it is not important to have more or less people, more relevant is to have fresh initiatives to push business up. And one of the top ones globally this year is the ‘vertical’ short content for mobile platforms.

María Rua Aguete, from UK’s OMDIA, stressed in Cannes that microdramas will generate USD 11 billion in global revenues by 2025, doubling the size of FAST channels, forecasted in USD 5.8 billions. They are called ‘vertical’ because they are designed for mobile viewing, providing compact and emotionally charged series under 10 minutes per episode, usually 1-2 minutes. Microdramas’ usual monetization model is highly effective: the first few episodes are free, with the remainder available through subscription or transactional payments, which account for more than 60% of total revenues.

Omdia said the average revenue per user for microdramas can reach USD 20 per week or as much as USD 80 per month. China is the epicenter, generating 83% of global revenues. Outside China, USA leads with half of all international microdrama revenues, followed by Japan, South Korea, UK and Thailand. ‘Vertical series are an example of how innovation in storytelling and distribution reshapes global viewing behavior. This is not just a trend, it’s the next wave of content evolution’, Rua Aguete said.

What have we seen about vertical series at Mipcom? There are many distributors turning linear content to vertical, formatting dramas, factual, etc. of 5-8-13 episodes for instance, to microseries of 50-60 chapters of 1-3-5 minutes each, adding new business. Broadcasters? Carmen Gloria Roman, from Canal 13 Chile, said: ‘We’ve produced 2 vertical series. The first was launched with 4 millions of views the first week, we are launching the second’. Mainly OTTs and telcos, but also free TVs, are buying the new short contents worldwide, though many broadcasters claim to be ‘partners’ more than ‘buyers’, to match this new booming trend.

Yesterday we were successful telling ‘practical ideas to surpass current challenges’. More cases? Jens Richter, CEO Fremantle (UK): ‘Now we have two tiers of programs. In fictions, one with big budgets, top actors, with few chapters, and other with controlled budgets, to have as many seasons as possible. In unscripted, the same: one with top personalities and developments, but limited editions, while the other, medium shows as true crime, etc, to keep going’.

Alex Marin, RCN Studios, Colombia: ‘The ‘studios’ format, to develop series to third parties, is just for the current days, controlling strictly costs and times. I told one customer ‘I have a budget problem’, he got angry saying ‘All the producers are the same, no extra money!’. I said: ‘My problem is I have to give you back budget’. The customer said: ‘Upps… sorry. I can’t receive it, use it in the post production or anywhere else!’.

What do the buyers look for at Mipcom? Fabrizio Battocchio, Mediaset Italy: ‘New shiny floor and other big formats for free TV, which are difficult to find today, due to industry focus on digital’. Craig Junner, BlueAnt Canada: ‘Factual and true crime’. Anastasia Korchagina, NMG Russia: ‘Films, reality shows and other formats’. Guillermo Sierra, HITN, USA: ‘Kids and factual’. Revi Lavi, Cosmoblue, Switzerland: ‘Contents for our new channel in Canada’. Mariano Mosca, Canal 4 Uruguay: ‘To promote our production hub for the world’. Maggie Xiong, COL China: ‘Adventure and survival formats’.

Nicolás Smirnoff, Alberto Buitron y Francisco Ferreyra

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