Product Code Database
Duanju (), sometimes translated in English as short drama, vertical drama, microdrama, vertical minidrama or mobile drama, is a type of short form web or television series that originated in China. These series typically feature 1–2 minute episodes, and a complete production may include 20 to 100 episodes, resulting in a total runtime similar to one or two feature-length films. Produced specifically for smartphone viewing, many duanju are shot in vertical format and optimized for fragmented, bite-sized consumption on platforms such as TikTok (TikTok China). Some titles are further adapted into interactive film-style mobile games. Duanju is characterized by fast-paced plots and heightened melodrama, sometimes adapted from Chinese web fiction.
Video-form duanju started in 2013 on Youku before moving to apps like TikTok, ReelShort, DramaBox, GoodShort, and Kuaishou. By 2023 the audience for duanju reached about 1.6 billion people.
Between 2020 and 2022, the format became professionalized: fast shoots (often under two weeks), vertical 9:16 format, smaller budgets, and monetization through freemium or pay-per-episode models. Unlike the majority of content submitted to apps like TikTok, duanju are professionally-produced rather than user-generated. Chinese production companies hire professional actors and crew to shoot and edit the content. The shows are typically freemium, offering a few episodes for free before monetizing through various means, including video-on-demand and subscriptions.
In 2024, China's duanju market generated over 50 billion yuan (approx. USD 7 billion) in revenue. The sector is also estimated to have created over 600,000 jobs. Duanju (short or vertical drama) have thus become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Chinese entertainment industry.
In the United States, producer Chris Wicke described duanju as "the next frontier of global mobile-first storytelling" in a Forbes article published in March 2025.
In 2025, Netflix adopted a vertical mobile feed. Journalist Isabelle Deromas Lebocq saw it as a sign of the growing influence of the duanju format.
In July 2025, DramaBox was selected by Disney to join the Disney Accelerator program, confirming the growing interest of major American studios in micro-dramas.
In January 2024, French outlets including France Inter, France Info, Midi Libre and Courrier International introduced ReelShort as the “TikTok of series,” marking its first broad media coverage in France.
On November 23, 2024, the first public screening of duanju series took place, organized by the association Studio Phocéen.
In June 2024, the French newspaper Le Monde reported on the arrival of short vertical series in France, mainly distributed via the ReelShort app, and noted their growing popularity among younger audiences.
Since 2025, the Asian platform Stardust TV has also expanded into France. Among its new titles is the French vertical series Next Door Adventure, produced by Guillaume Sanjorge. It is the first French series to be distributed on an Asian platform dedicated to vertical mobile fiction.
The French actors Jean-Pierre Castaldi and Marthe Villalonga are cast in Guillaume Sanjorge's duanju series, King Gandolfi .
On June 14, 2025, the association Studio Phocéen brought together an international panel of creators and producers to explore the growing potential of this format. British producer Adam Gee was among the participants.
In July 2025, Gaëtan Bruel, president of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, mentioned the format for the first time during an official visit to Asia.
In August 2025, journalist Jade Hin-Cellura from the magazine Geo published an article on Hollywood's enthusiasm for Chinese mini-series, highlighting Duanju as a rapidly growing format. The Canadian French-language daily La Presse also published an article by Mathieu Perreault describing the rise of the format in France. Producer Guillaume Sanjorge noted that while early European series mostly adapt Chinese works, the format could expand in the West.
The French media outlet Duanju.fr described one of the series available on the platform, Alpha King's Hated Princess, as “a dark and intense romance, delivered in an ultra-condensed format with a stylized staging, aimed at a mature and adult audience.”
In May 2025, the application won a Webby Awards and was named the best streaming service of the year.
In August 2025, the Canadian French-language daily La Presse reported that MyDrama had become the dominant platform in Europe for vertical micro-series. According to the article, the company was founded by Ukrainians, and its creators told the Kyiv Post that they used artificial intelligence to generate parts of scripts, aiming to reduce the cost of producing a series to around 20,000 US dollars.
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