Microdrama platform ReelShort is on track for a 34% increase in revenue to $1.05BN in 2026, according to a report from Asia-based analytics firm Media Partners Asia.
The report, ‘ReelShort/Crazy Maple Studio: Inside the $1BN Micro Drama Machine’, found that ReelShort revenue grew from $97M in 2023 to $400M in 2024 and $785M in 2025. After the bump this year up to just over $1BN, MPA estimates revenue will grow to $1.4BN in 2027 and $1.7BN in 2028.
After an estimated $12M net loss in 2025, MPA projects EBITDA of $63M and around $40M of net profit in 2026, rising to $306M of EBITDA at an 18% margin and $225M of net profit by 2028.
Looking at the market as a whole, MPA is also predicting that microdrama revenue outside China will grow by 21% CAGR from $3.6BN in 2026 to $9.5BN by 2031. Within that, microdrama revenue in the US will grow from $1.5BN to $3.7BN, while in the Asia Pacific region outside of China it will triple to $2.4BN.
One reason for ReelShort’s growing revenue and profits is the fact that marketing costs are falling, according to the MPA report. User acquisition and marketing costs are set to decline from 55% of revenue in 2025 to 44% by 2028, a shift worth around $10.5M of EBITDA for every percentage point.
MPA said this was due to five factors: hit franchises and their sequels draw a growing share of demand without paid support, and supply much of the advertising creative used to acquire the rest; telco and strategic local market partnerships are adding subscribers at little acquisition cost; more billing is moving to ReelShort’s own web store and direct channels; faster creative testing and a hit rate MPA expects to improve raise the return on each dollar spent; and finally, the paid-social auction is maturing after several years of new entrants bidding up prices.
The report also found that consumer payments and subscriptions account for the majority of ReelShort’s business, contribuing around 85-90% of revenue, with subscriptions already making up 60–70% of what viewers pay.
Advertising, a small stream before 2024, is predicted to grow to around 15% of revenue by 2028 – and because it pays no app-store commission, roughly 65-70 cents of each advertising dollar flows through to earnings.
At the same time, more consumer billing is moving to ReelShort’s own web store, reducing platform and payment fees. Together these two shifts account for close to half of the projected margin expansion.
Asia is contributing around 12% of ReelShort revenue in 2026, and is the fastest-growing region in MPA’s forecast, reaching around $200M and 14% of revenue in 2027, with the AIS partnership in Thailand, live since April, delivering significant subscriber and engagement momentum.
Latin America and Asia Pacific combined account for around 60% of an estimated 70 million global monthly users in 2026, but only 19% of revenue. North America contributes 59% of revenue with $620M. Narrowing that gap is the main source of upside in MPA’s forecast.
MPA concluded the report by saying that microdrama is a five-player market, with ReelShort leading on an estimated 29% share, ahead of DramaBox on 21%, DramaWave on 13%, NetShort on 10% and GoodShort on 6%. The remainder is spread across some 300 smaller apps.
“Microdrama has begun to be an earnings story rather than a growth story. Marketing costs are coming down as hit franchises bring audiences in without paid support, platform fees are falling as operators move billing onto their own web stores, and advertising is entering the mix at high margin. ReelShort is showing that the model can scale and make money at the same time. What decides the next phase is distribution and unit economics, not necessarily content volume,” said MPA CEO & Executive Director Vivek Couto.
