Latin America’s media landscape is being reshaped by a new crop of entertainment producers, as short drama platforms, often with business ties to China, hold an increasingly large share of the region’s video streaming market.
According to a market research company Sensor Tower‘State of Mobile Report 2026 Published last week, the demand for short fiction is driving a “structural shift in consumer attention,” with this type of content thriving in Latin America.
Globally, the number of short drama platform downloads jumped 186% year-on-year to 733 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, surpassing that of video streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+, at 658 million, according to the report.
Short dramas, also known as “microphone“, or “mini” dramas, refer to vertically shot series featuring episodes usually no longer than three minutes.
“The appeal of short dramas lies in their ability to deliver emotional intensity and stimulation, which is also what has allowed the format to gain popularity so quickly,” says Wenjia Tang, a research associate in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney.
First popularized in China on short-form content sharing apps like Douyin, a sister app to TikTok, and Kuaishou, dramatic shorts have found international appeal, with popular platforms such as ReelShort and DramaBox now producing content dubbed in English, Spanish and French, among others.
Although short dramas are increasingly expected to meet higher standards of production quality and professionalism, their original narrative style has largely been retained – providing effortless, non-committal entertainment that requires neither deep thought nor prolonged attention, Tang told CNBC.
Such content is often “easier to digest” for consumers used to watching short-form content like TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, as opposed to longer content from streaming platforms like Netflix, according to Seema Shah, vice president of insights at Sensor Tower.
Sensor Tower reports that while there is a significant global increase in short drama content consumption, Latin America is “emerging as the fastest growing region in terms of engagement” with these videos.
Downloads in Latin America of the top 20 short drama apps increased by approximately 402% year-on-year in 2025, on top of a 4,300% year-on-year increase from 2024, according to Shah.
Not only do Latin American users massively consume entertainment content on their mobile phones, but there are also strong similarities between short series and television series. soap operas – a genre of soap opera popular in Latin American countries, according to Maria Rua Aguete, head of media and entertainment at research firm Omdia.
Spectacular growth
Short drama platforms DramaBox and ReelShort consistently rank among the region’s most downloaded video entertainment apps, with ReelShort’s 77 million downloads in 2025 slightly outpacing Dramabox’s 74 million downloads, according to figures provided by Shah.
Although officially based abroad, both platforms maintain commercial links with China.
ReelShort belongs to Crazy Maple Studioa content creation and distribution company founded in 2017 in San Francisco. Although it has offices in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, Crazy Maple Studio remains a subsidiary of COL Digital Publishing Group – a Chinese media conglomerate.
Custom thumb drama mic for digital video.
Short Coil | BonCourt | DramaBox | Getty Images
Likewise, while officially led by Storymatrix Pte, based in Singapore. Ltd, DramaBox content remains the intellectual property of Chinese company DianZhong Technology, according to a copyright infringement claim which she filed against Crazy Maple Studio in 2025.
ReelShort and DramaBox are part of a suite of entertainment companies competing for a stake in Latin America’s growing video streaming market.
Omdia estimates that total revenues generated by the Latin American market grew by 9.1% between 2024 and 2025, more than triple the revenue growth in the United States over the same period. This growth is expected to accelerate to reach 10.7% in 2026.
According to Shah, Latin America’s growing middle class is driving the growth in demand for short-form video streaming, as well as retail and ride-hailing services.
Short drama platforms are not the only beneficiaries of the growth of the Latin American market. The region is also an important source of revenue growth for streaming giants like Netflix, which recorded the fastest revenue growth on a currency-neutral basis in Latin America, according to its fourth quarter 2025 report. income report.
Even though download figures for short drama platforms have begun to overtake those of longer format providers, experts do not view these new short-form video streaming platforms as credible threats to market leaders like Netflix.
“Not now, and that’s not their goal either. They target different audiences and their profit methods are different,” Tang told CNBC.
Even though short film platforms have lower production costs and can produce content at a much higher rate than more traditional studios, their business models typically depend on advertising revenue and pay-per-view revenue, which does not necessarily translate into higher margins, according to Omdia’s Rua Aguete.
Omdia estimates that the total revenue of all short drama streaming platforms generated outside of China will be $3 billion in 2026. In comparison, Netflix reported $12 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Nonetheless, as demand for short-form drama content grows in Latin America and beyond, it is likely that these platforms will produce an increasingly diverse video streaming market.
“I don’t think short drama apps are a complete replacement for streaming. They are, however, additional competition for consumers’ attention and dollars,” says Sensor Tower’s Shah.
