YouTube Microdramas Top 6.5 Billion Views in First Half of Year; Viewing Time in Korea Doubles

The microdrama market, led by global video platform YouTube, is becoming a worldwide sensation. Short-form content, with its brisk pacing and gripping storylines, topped 6.5 billion views globally in the first half of this year alone, reshaping the media landscape.

According to data recently released by YouTube, global watch time for microdramas rose more than 50% in the first half of 2024 from a year earlier. Views on TV screens in living rooms surged more than 90%, outpacing mobile viewing and showing that short-form content has become mainstream entertainment for the whole family.

Explosive growth across Asia-Pacific builds new monetization ecosystem

Growth across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region was even more striking. Over the year from July 2023 to June 2024, related views and watch time in major markets each grew by more than 70%. In South Korea, views of microdramas among Korean users jumped more than 130%, while watch time surged more than 100%, signaling rapid adoption. Neighboring Japan saw watch time climb more than 300%, while India and Vietnam also posted triple-digit growth.

The format is also creating long-term value beyond one-time viewing. Forty percent of all views and 30% of clicks occur more than 30 days after a video is posted. This suggests that sustained traffic from the algorithm is turning systematically indexed libraries into a source of steady advertising and subscription revenue.

In response to the trend, YouTube is rolling out Shorts series to strengthen its creator ecosystem. Creators can organize serialized content by season and episode, with custom thumbnails and sequential playback. Monetization tools will also be revamped in the coming weeks so viewers can join channel memberships without leaving content on mobile.

YouTube also plans to support multilingual audio tracks and AI-powered subtitle localization to help promising creators in South Korea successfully reach global audiences.