iWorld
Bite-sized drama is eating the internet: Ampere Analysis
MUMBAI: The attention span may be shrinking, but the audience for micro-drama is exploding. More than one in ten internet users worldwide now regularly watch drama episodes lasting ten minutes or less on social media—a format that’s turning Hollywood’s traditional playbook on its head and forcing commissioners to rethink everything from episode length to distribution strategy.
Ampere Analysis surveyed over 100,000 consumers in two separate waves across 30 global markets, polling 56,000 internet users aged 18–64. The findings reveal that these “mini-dramas” and “micro-dramas”—the shortest clocking in at under two minutes—are thriving on YouTube and TikTok. The platforms have become both primary distribution channels and discovery engines for premium subscription apps like DramaBox and ReelShorts, which are betting big on vertical video optimised for phone viewing.
The numbers tell a compelling story about changing consumption habits. Average internet users now spend nearly 50 minutes a day watching videos on social media. For younger audiences, that figure jumps dramatically: 18- to 34-year-olds are clocking over an hour daily, creating a captive audience for bite-sized content that fits neatly between scrolls.
The demographic split is predictable but stark. Viewers aged 18–34 are 21 per cent more likely than average to have watched a mini-drama in the past month. Nearly half of internet users in that age bracket—46 per cent—are already hooked, consuming short-form scripted content as readily as they consume traditional social media posts.
But the format isn’t exclusively a young person’s game. Among 35- to 44-year-olds, 23 per cent have watched a micro-drama in the past month—the highest proportion of any age group surveyed. Some 19 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds reported the same, with the 45-to-54 cohort close behind at 18 per cent. Even the 55-to-64 demographic is getting involved, with 13 per cent tuning in. The data suggests mini-dramas are breaking out of their youth-oriented niche and moving into the mainstream.

Geography tells an equally revealing story. Engagement is strongest in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, where mobile-first viewing habits dominate and vertical video has become the default mode of content consumption. The Asia-Pacific region leads consumption overall—hardly surprising given that nearly all existing micro-drama platforms hail from China, where the format has already matured into a lucrative industry. The market is soon to be flooded with Western competitors trying to replicate that success. European audiences, by contrast, remain largely unmoved by the format, suggesting cultural preferences or viewing habits that haven’t yet shifted to accommodate ultra-short storytelling.
YouTube commands 44 per cent of mini-drama viewership, with TikTok capturing 38 per cent. Together, the two platforms account for a commanding 82 per cent of all short-form drama consumption on social media—Instagram picks up the scraps. YouTube’s sheer scale gives it the edge: in September, it accounted for 12.6 per cent of all television usage, according to Nielsen, compared with Netflix’s 8.3 per cent. No other service claimed even five per cent. While vertical video may feel like TikTok’s natural domain, YouTube’s reach makes it nearly impossible to overcome.
Romance, anime and fantasy are the genres pulling the biggest crowds—commissioners would be wise to treat these as priority areas for future productions. The preference for escapist, emotionally-driven content suggests audiences are using mini-dramas for quick hits of entertainment rather than deep narrative engagement.
Minal Modha, research director and head of sports media, sponsorship and consumer research at Ampere Analysis, says shorter scripted drama platforms are “capitalising on the increasing use of vertical videos customised for phone viewing, particularly among younger audiences”. The format’s success, she notes, stems from its perfect alignment with existing social media behaviour patterns.
The industry is pursuing two distinct strategies, both designed to maximise the format’s commercial potential. The first: dump entire series on YouTube and monetise through advertising revenue, treating the platform like traditional broadcast television but with shorter episodes and higher frequency. The second: seed clips and teasers on TikTok or Instagram to build buzz and audience interest, then drive viewers into subscription apps such as DramaBox or ReelShorts for the full experience. It’s a funnel approach that transforms social platforms into massive marketing engines.
The format may be miniature, but the business model is anything but. Short attention spans, it turns out, can generate long revenue streams—and potentially more reliable ones than traditional hour-long dramas. Production costs are lower, turnaround times are faster, and audiences can consume entire story arcs in a single lunch break. As Hollywood scrambles to jump into mini-drama production, the question is no longer whether bite-sized content works—it’s who can scale it fastest, and whether Western producers can crack the code that’s already minting money in Asia.
iWorld
Netflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film
MUMBAI: Netflix is celebrating ten years in India with a slick anniversary film voiced by Shah Rukh Khan, a nostalgic sprint through a decade that rewired how the country watches stories. The campaign doubles as both tribute and reminder: streaming did not just enter Indian homes, it quietly rearranged them.
Roll back to 2016 and television still dictated schedules. Viewers waited weeks, sometimes months, for favourite films to appear on prime time. Family-friendly filters narrowed options further, and piracy often filled the gaps. Then Netflix arrived, softly but decisively, carrying a catalogue of international titles rarely seen in Indian theatres and placing them a click away. Old blockbusters and new releases suddenly coexisted on the same digital shelf.
The platform’s real inflection point came in 2018 with Sacred Games, a breakout series that refused to dilute India’s grit for global comfort. Audiences embraced its unvarnished tone, signalling readiness for stories that did not need box-office validation or censorship compromises. What followed was a steady procession of relatable narratives. Competitive-exam anxiety fuelled Kota Factory. College relationships unfolded in Mismatched. Everyday pressures, not grand spectacle, proved bankable.
Language barriers thinned as foreign series arrived with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing, expanding viewership beyond urban English-speaking pockets. Marketing mirrored the shift. For global releases such as Squid Game, Netflix leaned on regional creators and influencers to localise buzz and make international content feel native.
The library widened beyond fiction. Documentaries stepped out of festival circuits into living rooms. Stand-up comedians found scale. Established filmmakers, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Heeramandi, embraced the platform’s long-form canvas. Subscriber numbers swelled to 12.37 million in India, according to Demandsage, and behaviour followed suit. Late-night binges became routine. Friday release rituals loosened. Watch parties turned solitary screens into social events.
Economics demanded adjustment. Early subscription pricing carried a premium aura that deterred many households. Over time, Netflix recalibrated plans to align with Indian spending sensibilities, conceding that accessibility is as critical as content. To extend momentum around marquee titles, the platform also experimented with split-season releases, stretching anticipation and watch time.
The anniversary film, narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, captures the linguistic shift that mirrors the cultural one: from “Netflix pe kya dekha?” to “Netflix pe kya dekhein?” The question moved from recounting the past to planning the next binge. In ten years, Netflix morphed from foreign entrant to familiar fixture, exporting Indian stories abroad while importing global ones home. The remote no longer waits; it chooses, clicks and moves on. In the streaming age, patience is out, playlists are in, and the next episode is always one tap away.
e-commerce
Tulasi Mohan Padavala elevated to Associate Director at Blinkit
Gurugram: Blinkit has elevated Tulasi Mohan Padavala to associate director, capping a three-year climb inside the quick-commerce firm and signalling confidence in an executive steeped in ecommerce, category management and on-ground sales execution.
Padavala shared the update publicly, saying he was “happy to share” the promotion, a succinct announcement that nevertheless marks a notable step up within one of India’s fastest-moving delivery platforms. The new role follows nearly three years at Blinkit, where he most recently served as senior category manager from February 2023 to January 2026, focusing on strategic sourcing and assortment planning.
The promotion places Padavala in Blinkit’s mid-to-senior leadership tier at a time when the company continues to expand its rapid-delivery footprint and sharpen category economics. His brief tenure as associate director began in January 2026, with responsibilities expected to span category growth, supplier strategy and cross-functional execution.
Before Blinkit, Padavala spent a short but intensive stint as global ecommerce manager at Wholsum Foods, the parent of Slurrp Farm and Millé, between November 2022 and February 2023. There he worked on digital marketplace expansion and online retail operations, adding a direct-to-consumer and international ecommerce layer to his résumé.
A longer stretch at Amazon shaped much of his cross-border commerce experience. As business development manager for Amazon’s India Global Selling programme from February 2021 to October 2022, Padavala helped Indian D2C brands enter the North American market. His remit ranged from seller recruitment and category revenue management to coordination with industry bodies, regulators and logistics partners. Key outcomes included launching more than 50 D2C consumable brands in the United States, driving a cumulative gross merchandise sales figure of $1m in FY21-22, tripling sales for participating brands during Prime Day through marketing and visibility levers, growing the monthly recurring revenue of more than 10 newly launched sellers from zero to an average $20,000 each, and negotiating ecommerce partnerships that reduced initial launch costs by 20 per cent.
Padavala’s earlier career was forged in the field rather than the dashboard. At Coffee Day Group, he spent close to five years across multiple sales leadership roles. As sales manager in the Greater Delhi Area from July 2019 to January 2021, he led vending-machine and consumables sales for small and medium enterprises with a team of more than 15 assistant and territory sales managers, managed over 2,000 clients, drove upselling and cross-selling, maintained channel partnerships and ensured timely collections. Prior to that, he served as area sales manager in Delhi between May 2018 and June 2019, handling south and east Delhi markets, and earlier in Hyderabad from April 2016 to May 2018, where he led Andhra Pradesh sales for the vending division, supervised service and logistics functions and managed a base of more than 600 machines with a four-member team.
His professional arc began with internships that combined analytics and process improvement. At Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015, Padavala analysed the impact of brand extension on the drug Pradaxa, identified key performance indicators through market research and assessed sales forecasts, recommendations that drew positive responses in pilot studies. Earlier, at Genpact in 2014, he automated manual sales-order backlog reporting using VBA and Excel, increasing efficiency by 800 per cent, and worked on benchmarking metrics within supply-chain planning processes.
From automating spreadsheets to scaling cross-border ecommerce and now steering quick-commerce categories, Padavala’s trajectory tracks the evolution of India’s retail economy itself. Blinkit’s bet is clear: blend data, discipline and delivery speed. The promotion formalises what his career already suggests. In the race for instant commerce, experience that moves from warehouse floors to global dashboards is no longer optional. It is the engine.
e-commerce
Bharatpe plays a super over as Rohit Sharma fronts T20 push
MUMBAI: When the stakes rise and seconds matter, even payments need a match-winning finish. That’s the cue for Bharatpe, which has rolled out Super Over, a nationwide campaign led by Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, timed neatly ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The campaign draws a straight line between the pulse of cricket and the pace of everyday digital payments. A new brand film taps into India’s emotional bond with the game, while positioning UPI as the quiet hero that keeps daily transactions ticking along at match speed.
As part of Super Over, users making payments via Bharatpe UPI can bag daily rewards ranging from match tickets and signed merchandise to a chance to watch a T20 World Cup fixture alongside Rohit Sharma himself. Both consumers and merchants are also assured Zillion Coins on every eligible transaction, adding a little extra sparkle to routine payments.
Behind the scenes, Bharatpe is also batting for safety. The platform is backed by Bharatpe Shield, a fraud-protection layer designed to offer enhanced security, comprehensive coverage and dedicated support aimed at helping users transact with greater confidence as digital payments scale up.
Announcing the campaign, Bharatpe head of marketing Shilpi Kapoor said Super Over mirrors the aspirations of everyday Indians, combining speed, security and instant rewards to make UPI transactions feel both reliable and rewarding.
The campaign will play out across digital platforms, social media and on-ground activations nationwide, staying live through the T20 World Cup season proof that in cricket, as in payments, timing is everything.
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