Katy Kim is CEO/Executive Producer at Chungkeum, a Korean production company with investors Korean venture capital (Solaire Partners) and China/US (COL media) that produced the micro-drama melodrama thriller series I Was Trapped in a Love Game. The series was acquired by Chinese platform FlareFlow. Kim is now in development on In the Name of Beauty, the first Korean original micro-drama produced exclusively for TikTok, set to premiere at the end of May. Starring TikTok creators alongside K-drama actors and K-idols, the series follows a young woman who overcomes severe skin trouble through K-beauty products.
Blending K-beauty culture, office drama, ambition, and emotional resilience, In the Name of Beauty will be a fast-paced micro-drama designed for global Gen-Z and millennial audiences.
About Micro-Dramas in Korea
When we talk about micro-dramas in Korea, what makes the market especially strong is that the storytelling infrastructure already exists. Korea has one of the world’s most advanced IP ecosystems through webtoons, where stories are naturally structured in short emotional beats that take one to two minutes to consume. This makes them easy to adapt into micro-series video formats without losing narrative tension. On top of that, Korean audiences are already accustomed to paying small amounts – “coins” or micro-payments – to unlock episodes, which means the monetisation behaviour is deeply embedded in everyday content consumption rather than something that needs to be newly taught.
What’s also significant is that Korean micro-drama platforms are now expanding globally. Platforms like Vigloo have entered the U.S. market amid the short-form drama boom, backed by major investment from gaming companies such as Krafton. At the same time, Lezhin Snacks, backed by IP powerhouse Kidari Studio, has launched this February with content in five languages, positioning itself as a leading micro-drama platform and a potential rival to Vigloo. These moves show that Korean companies are not just experimenting locally but are actively building international micro-drama businesses.
Another important shift is in production style. While dubbing is frequently used to scale content quickly across markets, Korean production companies are increasingly working with American and Australian actors or traveling abroad to shoot fully English-language micro-dramas. This reflects a move away from simply exporting Korean content towards creating truly global micro-series from the ground up.
Korea vs Other Countries
Compared to China, where micro-dramas are already deeply embedded into daily entertainment habits, Korea is still in an earlier growth phase. In the U.S., short-form storytelling is booming on social platforms, but audiences are not yet as comfortable with episodic micro-payments the way Korean consumers are. Korea sits in a unique middle position: the format is not yet mainstream in everyday life, but the behavioural systems – serialised storytelling, fast consumption, and micro-transactions – are already normalised.
This gives Korea a long-term structural advantage. While China currently leads in scale and speed, much of Korea’s content economy is built on strong IP development, character-driven narratives, and franchise potential. Micro-dramas in Korea are emerging not just as viral content but as part of a broader IP pipeline that can feed films, premium series, webtoons, and global adaptations.
Korea also has the growing involvement of top-tier filmmakers. Directors like Lee Byung-hun, who directed the blockbuster film Extreme Job, and Lee Joon-ik, known for The King and the Clown, are now participating in micro-drama projects. This signals that the format is being taken seriously as a new storytelling medium rather than a lower-tier digital trend.
In Korea, the micro-drama market is now rapidly scaling driven in large part by idol participation. Recently, two members of NCT starred together in a micro-drama and generated over USD 500,000 in immediate revenue, nearly three times the average production budget of a Korean micro-drama. Beyond viewership, micro-dramas are increasingly expanding into full IP universes – with merchandise, brand collaborations, and character-based products becoming major secondary revenue streams.
The Future of Micro-Dramas
I see micro-dramas in Korea evolving into a core engine of global IP development. As webtoons continue to generate expansive story worlds, micro-dramas will become the fastest way to test narratives, build fanbases, and identify characters that can scale into films, premium series, and long-running franchises – effectively becoming the new pilot system for the content industry.
With audiences increasingly drawn to fast-paced storytelling driven by emotional hooks, bold concepts, and diverse genres – often featuring popular idols and creators – the Korean micro-drama market is poised for rapid growth.
Korean content has already proven its global appeal on platforms such as Netflix and Disney+. By combining world-class storytelling with K-pop talent, Korean micro-dramas have strong potential to attract existing global short-form audiences toward Korean IP.
While the market is still in its early stages of mainstream adoption, shifting investment patterns and challenges in the traditional film box office suggest that micro-dramas may soon play a central role in how stories are developed, financed, and scaled over the next few years.
Katy Kim in conversation with Roger Garcia, February 2026
Roger Garcia