Observation of Overseas Short Dramas in 2025: Output Value of $4 Billion, 95% Market Share in Overseas Markets, and a Thousand Apps Competing | A Bro
Author | Ellie
Source | DataEye Short Drama Going Global
01
Market Overview
1. Estimated Scale of the Overseas Short Mini-Drama Industry
In 2025, the overseas short mini-drama market expanded comprehensively. The in-app purchase revenue on the APP side led significantly, and at the same time, the free model attracted user conversions in emerging markets, resulting in an explosive growth in downloads.
According to the estimation of the DataEye Research Institute, if considering various revenues such as IAA revenue, subscription model revenue, and native revenues on web and social media platforms, the estimated scale of the overseas market in 2025 reached 4 billion US dollars.
In 2026, considering market expansion, the entry of local players, and the rise of other models, it is estimated that the overall scale of overseas short mini-dramas for the whole year of 2026 is expected to exceed 5 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase but a steady growth rate, mainly due to the impact of the IAA model on the pure IAP model.
2. Estimated User Scale of Overseas Short Mini-Dramas
The DataEye Research Institute estimates that the current monthly active user scale of overseas short mini-dramas is about 100 million. Compared with the 1.8 billion user base of global short videos, there is still a huge growth space for the user scale of overseas short mini-dramas, and the market potential needs to be tapped urgently.
2025 can be regarded as the first year of hit short mini-dramas overseas, with a large number of hit short dramas such as Mafia's Tender Torture and Love Again, My Princess emerging.
Meanwhile, leading overseas local manufacturers have entered the market one after another, further boosting the commercial scale and user scale of short mini-dramas in the overseas market.
02
Revenue and Downloads
1. Estimated In-App Purchase Revenue of the Overseas Short Mini-Drama Market
According to the estimation of the DataEye Research Institute, in 2025, the estimated in-app purchase revenue on both platforms of the overseas short mini-drama market was 2.279 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 129%.
In December, the estimated revenue reached a new high, mainly affected by important overseas festivals. Each manufacturer increased the launch of new dramas and the intensity of promotion.
In the second half of the year, the overseas market entered a period of "intensive cultivation". Even though the newly added downloads decreased, the revenue still reached a new high, indicating that the commercialization efficiency has been improved. The revenue has also shifted from "only relying on user scale" to being jointly driven by "user scale + commercialization efficiency".
2. Estimated Downloads of the Overseas Short Mini-Drama Market
According to the estimation of the DataEye Research Institute, the estimated downloads on both platforms of the overseas short mini-drama market in 2025 reached 1.855 billion times, a year-on-year surge of more than 300%, showing an extremely rapid growth momentum.
This explosive growth was particularly prominent in the second half of the year. On the one hand, a large number of new short drama APPs were launched intensively, with the monthly newly added number exceeding 100, greatly enriching the market supply. On the other hand, more and more APPs adopted the dual monetization model of "free + paid" in the hope of meeting the needs of different users. The free model opened up the markets in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and India, further promoting a significant increase in downloads.
3. Estimated Revenue of Chinese Short Mini-Dramas Going Global
According to the estimation of the DataEye Research Institute, the estimated in-app purchase revenue on both platforms of Chinese short mini-drama APPs going global in 2025 was about 2.163 billion US dollars, accounting for about 94.93% of the global market.
In contrast, the estimated revenue on both platforms of short mini-drama APPs deployed by overseas manufacturers was 116 million US dollars, accounting for 5.07% of the market.
Although the current market share is not high, the development momentum of overseas local short mini-drama manufacturers is also worthy of attention. A total of 11 products successfully made it into the top 50 of the revenue list. Among them, My Drama from Ukraine, GalateaTV from Germany, and FlexTV from the United States performed particularly prominently, and all three APPs entered the top 20.
4. Estimated Downloads of Chinese Short Mini-Dramas Going Global
According to the estimation of the DataEye Research Institute, the estimated downloads on both platforms of Chinese short mini-drama APPs going global in 2025 reached 1.493 billion times, accounting for as high as 80.46% of the global market.
In contrast, the estimated downloads on both platforms of overseas local short mini-drama APPs were 363 million times, accounting for 19.54% of the market.
In 2025, local manufacturers in many countries such as India, Ukraine, Germany, the United States, Thailand, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea accelerated their deployment in the short mini-drama track.
Among them, local Indian manufacturers performed particularly prominently. Relying on the demographic dividend, they achieved a rapid increase in downloads. A total of 7 products made it into the top 50 of the download list, namely Kuku TV, Story TV, QuickTV, DashReels, Viralo, Pocket TV, and Vigloo.
5. Estimated Revenue and Downloads of Overseas Short Mini-Drama APPs
In terms of revenue: ReelShort ranked first with an estimated revenue of 432 million US dollars on both platforms of the APP. DramaBox had an estimated revenue of 370 million US dollars, ranking second. The revenues of these two APPs far exceeded those of other APPs.
In terms of downloads: DramaBox ranked first with an estimated 228 million downloads on both platforms of the APP, and ReelShort ranked second with an estimated 190 million downloads.
The leading APPs achieved both high downloads and high revenue conversion through localized content adaptation, a mature payment model, and refined operations. On the other hand, the free markets in regions such as India and the Middle East rose rapidly. In the future, the leading advantage of the leading APPs will continue to be strengthened, and the market concentration will further increase.
6. Revenue Distribution of the Overseas Short Mini-Drama Market
Looking at different countries, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom ranked among the top three in the in-app purchase revenue of overseas short mini-drama APPs in 2025, collectively contributing more than 50% of the share.
In terms of regional distribution, developed markets such as Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Canada were the main sources of revenue, collectively contributing more than 60% of the total revenue, mainly because they are the main markets for the paid model.
In terms of ranking changes, the United States and Japan remained in the top two positions, the United Kingdom successfully ranked third, and Thailand jumped from ninth to fifth.
In addition, the Brazilian market performed prominently. It not only entered the top ten of the revenue list, ranking sixth, but also jumped to third in the download list.
7. Download Distribution of the Overseas Short Mini-Drama Market
Looking at different countries, India, Indonesia, and Brazil ranked among the top three in the downloads of overseas short mini-dramas in 2025, collectively contributing more than 40% of the total downloads.
In terms of regions, emerging markets such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India collectively contributed more than 60% of the market downloads. These regions are also the core areas for free short drama APPs to acquire users.
In terms of ranking changes, India surpassed Indonesia and topped the download list, rising three places compared with before. The United States dropped from second to fourth; Turkey entered the top ten, while Japan dropped out of the top ten.
The efforts of local manufacturers have become the key driving force for the rise of the Indian market. In 2025, many local Indian short drama APPs such as Kuku TV, StoryTV, and Viralo were launched intensively and quickly stood out with localized content. Among them, Kuku TV's annual downloads exceeded 166 million times, ranking third in the global short mini-drama APP download list.
03
Advertising Data
1. Advertising Analysis: Monthly Quantity of Advertised Materials
In 2025, the advertising enthusiasm in the overseas short mini-drama market remained high. The total number of advertised materials throughout the year reached 1.3957 million sets.
In terms of monthly performance, since July, the monthly advertising volume began to exceed 1 million sets. In December, the monthly quantity of advertised materials exceeded 2 million sets, breaking the monthly record again.
This growth was mainly due to the following reasons:
① Continuous expansion of new entrants: In the second half of the year, the average monthly number of newly added short mini-drama APPs exceeded 100, directly driving the growth of the advertising scale.
② Intensified market competition forcing increased advertising: With the intensification of overseas competition, leading and mid-tier manufacturers increased the advertising of new local dramas to compete for market share.
③ The mixed monetization model boosting the quantity of materials: Platforms began to adopt the "free + paid" model and advertised a large number of low-cost free materials, driving the overall advertising volume.
2. Advertising Analysis: Top 20 Popular Themes
The two themes of "Emotion" and "Urban" performed prominently. Their heat values both exceeded 9 billion, and the number of short dramas also exceeded 30,000, jointly ranking in the first echelon.
It is worth noting that for mid-tier themes such as "Gangsters", "Mega Rich", and "Tortured Love", the number of short dramas was only between 1,400 and 3,000, but the heat value could reach more than 500 million. The competition was relatively mild, and some production companies could consider focusing on this vertical user group.
3. Advertising Analysis: Proportion of New and Old APPs
In terms of the total number of APPs, the number of overseas short mini-drama APPs gradually increased in 2025, rising from more than 200 in January to 1,100 in December, and there were more overseas local manufacturers among them.
In terms of newly added overseas short mini-drama APPs, since the second half of 2025, the number of newly launched overseas short mini-drama APPs has been increasing by more than 100 per month, and the number of newly added APPs has been continuously increasing.
On the other hand, overseas film and television giants such as Disney are also accelerating their deployment in the short mini-drama track, indicating that overseas local players are starting to make efforts, and the overseas short mini-drama market no longer only relies on the supply of external manufacturers.
As leading APPs form user and content barriers, the competition threshold for new APPs will increase, and the market will gradually differentiate into a pattern of "concentration among leading players + vertical segmentation".
4. Advertising Analysis: Proportion of Different Types of APPs
Overall, "Free-only" APPs dominated, the "Free + In-app Purchase" model expanded rapidly, and the "In-app Purchase-only" model had the lowest proportion but increased steadily.
As of December 2025, the proportion of overseas free short mini-drama APPs exceeded 60%, in sharp contrast to that in January.
The growth of free APPs was mainly affected by the deployment of various manufacturers in emerging overseas markets such as the Middle East, India, and Latin America in the second half of the year, and the number increased. The main reason is that the free model can quickly attract users through zero-threshold content and complete market penetration, which is the current mainstream way to acquire users.
In the long run, the mixed development model of free + paid will be more suitable for the usage habits of overseas market users and will be the mainstream model in the overseas market in the future.
5. Advertising Analysis: Distribution of Local Dramas and Dubbed Dramas
The annual supply of dubbed dramas was much higher than that of local dramas and showed a continuous growth trend. Although the supply of local dramas increased steadily, its scale was smaller than that of dubbed dramas, but the expansion rhythm was stable.
In contrast, in the second half of 2025, the market share of local dramas increased from 21.37% to 35.11%.
As the needs of overseas users become more refined, local dramas that fit local cultures and language habits are more likely to resonate. Production companies need to gradually increase their investment in local content to promote the steady growth of the supply.
*The views in this article are all reprinted from the original source and are for reference only.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Comprehensive Service Port for Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global", author: Ellie.
