Who watches microdramas?

How many people watch microdramas?

China holds the largest audience by far. QuestMobile counted 851m de-duplicated short-drama users across all channels in May 2026 (estimate; QuestMobile). China's broadcast regulator, the NRTA, put the national audience at more than 800m users at a State Council briefing on 17 September 2026 (official; NRTA briefing).

Outside China the audience is smaller but growing fast. DataEye estimates overseas monthly active users at about 100m at the end of 2025 and 258m at mid-2026, a penetration of 13.9%, and projects 389m by the end of 2026 (estimate). In Dentsu's Entertainment Spotlight 2026, a survey of 8,400 consumers in 12 markets released on 8 October 2026, one in five said they watch microdramas and a further 12% said they were interested (Dentsu survey). Dentsu does not name the 12 markets.

Single-country surveys give a range. Satellifacts reported on 9 October 2026 that 8% of French respondents to the Dentsu study watch microdramas (France). In Spain, GECA put consumption of vertical fiction at 38.3% of adults and 62% of 18- to 24-year-olds in May 2026, measured among OTT users (estimate).

Where do microdrama viewers live?

Omdia's 2025 estimates of monthly active users put the United States at 66m, Brazil at 24m and Mexico at 20m. In Europe, the United Kingdom leads at 8.2m and Germany follows at 4.4m (Europe table). In India, a separate estimate from Lumikai put the market at about 100m monthly active users in 2025, about 17m of them paying (estimate), and Kuku TV reports about 37m monthly active users of its own (company).

Viewers and spending sit in different places. On DataEye's first-half 2026 data, India, Indonesia and Brazil account for more than 50% of overseas downloads, while the United States accounts for 4%; the United States, Japan and Canada take more than 44% of revenue (revenue and download maps). Mintegral, using Insightrackr data, puts about 83% of first-half 2026 downloads in emerging markets. Sensor Tower put Latin America at 11% of revenue but 27% of downloads in the first quarter of 2025 (estimate).

Microdrama monthly active users by country

Are microdrama viewers mostly women?

Not in every market. Omdia's consumer research, conducted in April 2026 and published on 13 October 2026, put men at 54% of microdrama users in the United Kingdom and women at 46%. It found an even split in the United States, 47% men in Spain and 29% men in Brazil; across all markets surveyed, men accounted for 47% of users (estimate; Omdia gender study). Omdia did not state the sample size or the full list of markets.

Operator data points the same way. Holywater, which runs My Drama, says the male share of My Drama's monthly active users rose from 1.1% to 30.3% over seven quarters (company). Its own US survey of 2,737 respondents was 11% male, against 30% of monthly active users, which the company flags as a limit of the survey (Holywater report).

Taste differs by gender. In a My Drama viewer survey of May 2026, romance drew 76% of women and 54% of men; science fiction and fantasy skewed 14.6 percentage points male (company). On Holywater's data, the frequently used description of the audience as women aged 35 to 54 watching at night no longer fits My Drama on gender or age, though the night-time element holds.

Microdrama users by gender, Omdia consumer research, April 2026

How old are microdrama viewers?

The published age data skews young. Holywater says the 22 to 27 age band rose from 7.1% to 25.9% of My Drama's monthly active users, a rise of 265% (company). In South Korea, Sensor Tower found 53.7% of the audience of the domestic app Vigloo aged 18 to 34, against about 35.5% for the four foreign apps it compared (Sensor Tower Korea). In Spain, GECA found 62% of 18- to 24-year-old OTT users consume vertical fiction (estimate).

Older groups are less aware of the format. Dentsu found that 67% of baby boomers had not heard of microdramas. The Snap-commissioned Ipsos study of short-drama viewing surveyed daily social media users aged 18 to 45 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, so it carries no data on older viewers (Snap and Ipsos).

How and when do viewers watch?

Much viewing happens in bed and in long sessions. Holywater says 70% of its users watch in bed and that 65% have been watching the format for less than a year (company). In Dentsu's survey, 62% of viewers said a typical session lasts longer than one hour, and 35% said they watch only for free on social media.

In China, viewing is moving into standalone apps. QuestMobile counted 402m users on standalone short-drama apps in May 2026, up 77.1% year on year, against 508m on WeChat mini-programs, up 25.4%; Douyin mini-programs fell 83.3% to 14m. The Douyin and Kuaishou main apps together reached 472m, up 27.1% (estimate).

Many viewers pay. The Snap and Ipsos study reported that 69% of short-drama watchers on Snapchat spend money on the category each month, rising to 80% in Saudi Arabia; the figures are survey responses commissioned by a company that sells advertising to short-drama apps. Kuku TV reports more than 10m paying users in India (company). Time spent per viewer is covered in why microdramas are popular, and country data in the country table and India microdrama market.