On September 29, 2026, China's Global Times published an article analyzing India's micro-drama market, which is experiencing explosive growth to the extent that "from Bollywood actors to major media companies are rushing into this emerging sector," referencing reports from the UK's Financial Times, the US's CNBC, and others.

The article introduced data indicating the rapid growth in popularity of micro-dramas in India, stating, "According to India's 'Lumikai' and 'PaperboatLabs', the number of micro-drama viewers in India has reached approximately 50 million and is expected to increase to 150-200 million in the next one to two years, with revenue projected to reach 4.5 billion dollars by 2030. Furthermore, while the current annual revenue from micro-dramas is approximately 500 million dollars (approximately 78.7 billion yen), it is also predicted that it could increase to approximately 1.2 billion-1.9 billion dollars (approximately 188.9 billion-300 billion yen) in the future."

Following that, after introducing that "according to a joint survey by U.S. Meta and Mumbai-based consulting firm 'OrmaxMedia', Indian viewers watch micro-dramas for an average of about 30 minutes per day," it pointed out that "the development of micro-dramas in India has been inspired by the great success this model achieved in countries like China over the past few years. Low-cost, AI-powered fragmented content, specifically developed for smartphone users, has not only created a multi-billion dollar industry in China but its market size has also surpassed China's total film box office revenue."

According to the article, the growth of India's micro-drama market, which began in 2024 with the dubbing of Chinese dramas into local languages, coincides with a difficult period for India's entertainment and film industries. For discerning Bollywood audiences, only major blockbusters could guarantee sustained audiences, and monetization was challenging. Micro-dramas, characterized by low production costs of approximately 1 million to 2 million rupees (approximately 1.64 million to 3.28 million yen) per episode and short production cycles, effectively absorbed the dilemma where Bollywood blockbusters dominated the market and employment opportunities for small and medium-sized producers shrunk. With the market entry of major Indian media groups, new employment opportunities and new distribution channels are being created for many actors, technicians, and producers. In addition to local startups like KukuTV, the platform "Tadka," launched by "JioStar," a media company owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, offers micro-dramas, and India's oldest private television network "ZeeEntertainment" and production company "BalajiTelefilms" have announced partnerships with micro-drama startups. Furthermore, Global Times reporters, upon interviewing, received responses indicating that there are actors who have appeared in 21 micro-dramas in 8 months, and that studios are fully booked, shooting 16-17 scenes per day, among other things.

Qian Feng, Director of Tsinghua University's National Strategy Institute, told the Global Times in an interview that due to 800 million smartphone users, low-cost data plans, and the established habit of fragmented short-video viewing among young people, India possesses to some extent the foundation to replicate the initial explosive popularity of micro-dramas in the Chinese market.

The article concluded by interviewing experts and industry insiders, posing the question, "Is this growth sustainable?", and received responses such as: "(Indian micro-dramas) are often repackaged exaggerated acting and formulaic expressions common in TV dramas, adapted for the smartphone era, which may lead to viewer fatigue. Furthermore, this may put pressure on the profit margins of small and medium-sized production companies." "India's unique multi-language market constraints significantly increase content replication costs, preventing it from achieving the same effect as the Chinese market." "Instead of simply increasing production volume by remaking Chinese and Korean micro-dramas, there is a need to readjust to focus on producing completely original, high-quality content." After receiving these answers, the article stated, "Not everyone believes the boom will last long." (Translated/Edited by Harakuniyuki)