This Week in Vertical Issue 2026-w29
This Week in Vertical — 13–19 July 2026
13 reports on the vertical-drama business dated 13–19 July 2026, each labelled with the basis it rests on and linked to its sources.
The lead
- DataEye counts 221,900 AI dramas in H1, 0.47% past 100m views
The vendor's ADX figures for the first half of 2026 put 1,055 titles past 100m views and about 12,000 past 10m, with more than 90% described as flops.
- Amavizion prices a 45-minute vertical season at £1.49, paid once
The UK pay-per-view service launched Shambles on 15 July: 36 episodes, 45 minutes in total, sold outright rather than unlocked episode by episode with coins.
- RoseBerry's Epis app turns distributor catalogues into vertical series
The app went live on 14 July with more than 100 titles and reformat deals with A+E Global Media, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Cineflix Rights and Fremantle.
More this week
Platforms
- WWE and ReelShort commission an original live-action microdrama
Announced on 14 July on WWE's newsroom. Drew McIntyre, Jacob Fatu and Joe Hendry star; production starts in August for an early autumn premiere.
- Hong Kong freight forwarder Globavend enters micro-drama with Loomi acquisition
The Nasdaq-listed cross-border logistics group took majority control of Loomi Group in May 2026, adding a Southeast Asian micro-drama app and an AI production platform to a freight business.
- Inkitt's Ironblood goes live with six originals
The all-AI action and science-fiction vertical service is streaming on the web with six originals, and its iOS and Android apps are published.
- DramaBox names its localisation method: reskinning
Its head of communications told PRODU the Latin American approach is to adapt scripts proven elsewhere, cast local actors and originate later. The claimed slate is 20 or more titles; 11 are named.
- Five new entrants, including a distressed pivot out of real-money gaming
Lighthouse Verticals, İki Dakika, StoReel, ThumFlix and Vertical TV join the field. Inc42 reported that Zupee bought Vertical TV for under ₹40 crore, about $4.5m, weeks after around 200 layoffs.
Regulation news
- German youth-protection regulator flags AI risks on youth platforms
The KJM release of 19 May is titled: AI on youth-oriented platforms - providers create new gateways for risks.
- EU confirms its AI transparency code as adequate; signing window closes 22 July
The Commission adopted its Opinion on 8 July and the AI Board its adequacy assessment on 9 July. Initial signatories have until 22 July at 18:00 CEST.
- China's NRTA draft would require an AI label on every microdrama episode
Article 34 of the 24 June draft requires a visible AI label on every episode, a stricter duty than Article 50(4) of the EU AI Act. Comments close 23 July.
- Bundesrat backs the MedienInvestVG and asks for no short-form carve-out
The chamber's opinion of 10 July welcomes the bill, calls the quotas balanced in European comparison and endorses the rights-retention clause. Short-form and vertical formats are not mentioned.
- EU's addictive-design case moves from TikTok to Instagram and Facebook
Preliminary findings of 10 July cite infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalised recommenders - the retention mechanics common to short-form video.
Regulation tracker
EU Digital Services Act
- 15 July 2026The Commission accepts X's action plan. It was published as a Digibyte on 15 July and as a formal press release on 16 July; neither states the date of the decision itself.