1.2.3 The Operational Logic of Vertical Screen Microdramas------Market Players and Competitive Advantages

Current Players: Novel, Gaming, and Film Companies

From this, we can conclude that there’s a vast market because audiences crave this—short, sensory-stimulating, psychologically soothing micro-content that they’re willing to pay for.

As mentioned, novel platforms were the first to discover this. So, who’s operating mini-program microdramas now? Mainly three groups: novel companies, gaming companies, and film companies. These are the key players focusing on this space.

Gaming Companies’ Operational Logic Fit

Why are gaming companies getting into this? It’s about drama production, right? But look at the steps: production, material editing, placement, conversion, delivery. Except for the first step, the rest mirror gaming operations. When you develop a game, you clip gameplay into material, place ads across platforms—short videos, articles, pop-ups like “If you’re a bro, come fight me!”—and when users click, they might get lured by free coins, only to find they need to pay more to play. So, aside from step one, the process is identical. That’s why gaming folks understand operations.

Film Companies’ “Downward Attack” and Challenges

As for film companies, why are they targeting microdramas? It’s obvious—they’re called “short dramas.” Film veterans, used to long-form content, see this as a chance to “downward attack.” They think, “I’m a giant in a land of dwarfs—how hard can it be?” So, they enter, confident in their content skills.

But these newcomers often pay “tuition fees” early on because the content here is totally different from traditional film. We’ll discuss this more later. For those of you in traditional film, don’t panic—you have strengths, just not necessarily in content as you imagine. So, film folks are joining, but they’re outnumbered by novel platforms, who are the most successful.

Novel Platforms’ Multiple Advantages

From what I’ve seen, nearly all former novel top-up platforms that switched to mini-program microdramas are profitable and advancing rapidly. Why? Because they understand both operations and content. Novel placement logic is similar to gaming—that’s why many novel companies also dabble in games. They get the funnel. Plus, they know content, since novels are stories. They have two key edges: IP advantages, with vast libraries of proven stories audiences love, and data advantages. Major novel platforms have millions of top-up users—precious data of people with payment habits and leisure time. When placing ads on short video platforms, they can cross-reference their data with platform databases to target precise users, lowering placement costs. That’s a hidden bonus.

Of course, this is just to explain the operational principles—it’s not directly related to creation, but it’s good to know the why behind it all.