Since the sudden success of ReelShort last year, the "short drama app" has become a new trend, triggering numerous developers to explore for gold. The market scale is rapidly expanding and the media competition is white-hot. Today, content strategy and marketing campaigns are especially important for developers to win the short drama app category.
Short drama apps are seeing new growth in 2024. Based on the global digital advertising data of short drama apps from January to February 2024 tracked by AppGrowing, this article analyzes the recent global advertising and market trends of short drama apps in terms of advertising trends, leading apps' competition and ad creatives.
Based on the data, we have identified the following key trends and conclusions:
- Some launched short drama Apps raised their ad spending around week 4 of January, resulting in a more competitive intensity in the category.
- The target markets of short drama Apps are concentrated in English-speaking countries and Southeast Asia. This may be the result of a comprehensive consideration of user base and commercial benefits.
- Short drama app's primary target profile is women aged 25-44.
- The main creative form is the vertical video of more than 60 seconds. The content is generally based on in-app drama resources.
- Minor language content is appearing in headlines and newly released apps. It shows that short drama has experienced rapid growth and is about to start a battle for minor language markets.
- With users demanding higher-quality episodes, translated dramas are gradually being replaced by local ones.
- Localized themes, emotional content and visual stimulation are at the core of ad creative design.
The following is the interpretation of the report. Click the button for the full report.
According to AppGrowing, the global ad volume for short drama Apps rose significantly in Week 4 of January (Jan 21st - Jan 27th) and remained so for several weeks. However, there was no notable increase in advertised short drama App volume during the period. It means that the increase in ad volume may not be coming from new competitors. Some of the launched apps have boosted their ad spend.
In terms of regions, the main markets for short drama Apps are currently focused on English-speaking countries. Users in these regions are usually more accustomed to paying for content, which is a guarantee of App revenue.
Most of the markets ranking in the latter top 10 are Southeast Asian regions, such as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and other markets with large population bases. The huge amount of users in these regions laid the foundation for hybrid monetization while guaranteeing DAU.
Utilizing AppGrowing's ad audience analytics (Europe only), we found that the audience of ads for short drama Apps is mainly female. 39.7% of the ads target only women, and 47.2% of the ads feature a majority female audience. This suggests that female users may be more likely to pay for such content, thus becoming the main target for competition. In addition, in terms of age, 87.5% of ads are targeted at users aged 25-44. The audience for short dramas is younger than expected.
The massive dramas within short drama apps are the source of attractive ads for developers. In terms of creative format, short drama apps prefer video, again to cater to the habits of mobile device users, 98.1% of which are vertical videos.
Analyzing the duration, 94.4% of the videos are over 1 minute. Longer videos tend to contain a more complete storyline, making ads effective in mobilizing users' emotions and stimulating them to download and use.
Here are the Top 10 global short drama apps by ad volume from January to February. Overall, the global short drama market is still led by familiar developers, with Jiuzhou Wenhua's ShortTV being the No. 1 on Google Play, and CHANGDU's MoboReels being the No. 1 on iOS App Store. Crazy Maple Studio's ReelShort, Dianzhong Technology's DramaBox, and NEW READING's GoodShort were also at the top of the charts.
More new apps appeared in the latter half of the charts. HeatShort took #9 on both lists, showing a strong advertising presence. JoyHunter's TopShort is notable for being the #11 Top Grossing iOS entertainment app in Japan in February, ahead of Netflix. It's one of the rarer short drama apps that focuses on Japan as its primary market.
To provide practitioners with a visual overview of the new competitors in the global short drama market, we've published our Top Newly Advertised Potential Apps, based on data from AppGrowing. The TOP1 is MiniShorts, which started its heavy marketing campaign on January 23, with a much higher ad volume than the TOP2 HeatShort. In terms of regions, MiniShorts is now mainly advertised in Europe and North America, with the USA, UK and Canada as the Top 3 regions.
Case 1: ShortTV
This short drama App by Jiuzhou Wenhua was first advertised in August 2023. More than six months after its launch, it currently remains massively advertising.
According to AppGrowing's "Ad Stage Analysis", we categorize ShortTV's ads into Early Advertising, Stable Period, and Recently. In terms of regions, Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia are the main markets. Recently, the ad volume in Korea has increased significantly, so we guess it is starting to explore the Korean market. The main advertising media is Facebook Ads.
Regarding creative content, ShortTV mostly used clips of translated dramas in its early days. It is good at using clips with strong conflicts to quickly engage viewers' emotions. As localization deepened, it began to produce more locally-based episodes in its stable period, integrating plenty of popular elements globally.
Case 2: Kalos TV
Kalos TV was first advertised in September 2023. Its monthly ad trend fluctuates, with ads expanding again since 2024. Regionally, the app is mainly focused on Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. In the early and stable period, Southeast Asian markets such as Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia had very high shares of ad volume. Recently, Kalos TV has shifted its focus to Europe and North America, and the USA has become the TOP1 for ad volume.
In terms of creative content, Kalos TV caters more to the preferences of European and American female users, releasing a large number of ads with localized episodes. For example, the videos use the classic werewolf ABO theme and handsome actors to precisely attract female viewers. Some creatives utilize visual stimuli to evoke viewers' imagination. It is good at inspiring emotional twists via classic plots.
Case 3: LoveShots
According to reports, LoveShots is NetEase's pilot in the global short drama category, with ads starting in H2 2023. Looking at the monthly ad trends, it has significantly increased the ad scale from 2024.
According to advertising stages, LoveShots only advertised in the USA in its initial launch. Entering the stable period, it spread the advertising resources to other markets in Europe and North America. Media-wise, it has always favored Facebook Ads.
In terms of creative content, besides common female-oriented themes in Europe and the United States, LoveShots has also posted a lot of short drama creatives featuring independent women, catering to the preferences of more female users. In addition, formally, LoveShots pays more attention to BGM and clipping, rather than merely content excerpts from the episodes.
Follow AppGrowing for more in-depth and professional insights into global short drama app marketing strategies. Click the button to get the full report.
