Three unrelated "150" figures circulate as microdrama market sizes
A $150bn vertical-video estimate, a $150bn analyst figure covering mostly ad formats, and a ¥150bn China projection use different currencies, scopes and bases. None is a microdrama market size.
What this basis means: Third-party research vendor estimate. The vendor is named wherever the source identifies it.
Three separate claims built on the number 150 are in circulation, and none of them measures the same thing.
Holywater and Owl & Co put vertical video at $150bn in The State of Microdrama 2026. A $150bn figure attributed to the analyst Hernan Lopez, carried by mikrodrama.de on 11 July, covers mostly advertising formats. Dianzhong's chairman put China's 2026 market at ¥150bn on 29 July. DataEye's ¥40bn for 2026 is not a comparison point: it covers only the AI short-drama segment.
Different currencies, different scopes, different bases. None is a microdrama market size, and pairing any two of them manufactures a corroboration that does not exist.
Unit translation is a separate source of error. Rendering 亿, which is 100m, as "billion" inflates Chinese figures tenfold: QuestMobile's 8.51亿 users has appeared as "8.51 billion" rather than 851m, and DataEye's 400亿 as "400 billion yuan" rather than ¥40bn.
Companies Holywater, Owl & Co, Dianzhong
Sources
- The State of Microdrama 2026 Holywater and Owl & Co
- Report citing Hernan Lopez, 11 July 2026 mikrodrama.de
- China market sizing DataEye
Correction
: The report compared Dianzhong's ¥150bn for China's 2026 market with DataEye's ¥40bn as 3.75 times the same market. DataEye's figure covers only the AI short-drama segment and is not comparable.