Two unrelated $1.4bn estimates circulate for different markets and years
Media Partners Asia's global ex-China figure for 2024 and Owl & Co's US figure for 2025 are both $1.4bn. Quoting them together implies a corroboration that does not exist.
What this basis means: Third-party research vendor estimate. The vendor is named wherever the source identifies it.
Two figures of $1.4bn are in circulation for the short-drama market, and they do not measure the same thing. Media Partners Asia's figure covers the global market excluding China in 2024. Owl & Co's covers the United States in 2025. Same number, different scope, different year, different vendor.
A second source of error affects Chinese-language figures. The unit 亿 means 100m, and summaries routinely render it as "billion", inflating the figure tenfold. QuestMobile's 851m short-drama users has again appeared as "8.51 billion", and Omdia's $14bn figure continues to circulate as "$140 billion" through the financial portal futunn. In Chinese sources 亿元 is ¥100m and 亿美元 is $100m.
Sources
- Global market excluding China, 2024 Media Partners Asia
- United States market, 2025 Owl & Co
- Short-drama user data QuestMobile
- Global microdrama revenue Omdia
Correction
: The $1.4bn ex-China market figure for 2024 was attributed to the Motion Picture Association. It is Media Partners Asia's estimate.