Heartbreak, hormones and irresistible cliffhangers: Microdramas, which combine short, snackable episodes optimized for vertical viewing with telenovela-style storytelling, have taken the internet by storm in recent years. Now, YouTube wants in on the trend. The Google-owned video service is starting to let creators organize their vertical clips into microdrama-like series, executives announced at the annual Made On YouTube event Wednesday morning.

The feature is supposed to supercharge a trend creators and their audiences have already been embracing on their own, with microdramas surpassing 6.5 billion views on YouTube during the first half of this year. “We’re really excited to see the growth of episodic content and shows on YouTube, including categories like microdramas,” says Aparna Pappu, VP at YouTube. “It’s been really encouraging to see how well this is doing.”

Microdramas became a hit in China during the pandemic and have since taken the world by storm. Dedicated microdrama apps like ReelShort and DramaBox reportedly got more downloads than Disney+ and HBO Max last year. It’s estimated the microdrama industry will generate $14 billion in revenue in 2026.

The genre owes much of its success to its unashamed embrace of guilty pleasures, combined with a ruthless optimization for mobile binge viewing. Some microdramas are based on popular web novels, while others simply combine popular romance tropes into high-heat, low-plot stories. A number of microdramas feature muscular, bare-chested billionaires who sweep women of modest means off their feet. There’s also plenty of forbidden love, fake marriages with real heartbreak, and the occasional Fifty Shades of Grey -like embrace of adventurous desires.

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