The amount I binge-watched through these micro dramas is embarrassing.

As a Writer at BuzzFeed, I write and curate quizzes, listicles, and articles about everything from pop culture to food and fashion.

Micro dramas are short-format dramas, with episodes lasting one or two minutes in a series with more than 50 episodes. These episodes employ a number of familiar, popular tropes found in media and literature, such as "friends-to-lovers" or "the CEO boss." It is well-known for its over-the-top and occasionally cringe-worthy phrases, which make it ideal for binge-watching.

The micro drama industry is forecasted to reach $9.5 billion globally by 2030. Three major China-backed micro drama apps were downloaded 30 million times from both Apple's App Store and Google Play in 2024.

The tropes that micro dramas are based on are often the kind that people secretly love but hate to admit it—like a guilty pleasure. It's your cheesy high-school romance or dark romance, like dating a mafia boss. People are attracted to micro dramas as they give them a chance to slip out of reality and indulge in such narratives— a world apart from their own.

Micro dramas attract new audiences using the "freemium" model. Apps like DramaBox and ReelShort offer a chunk of episodes for free, and then additional episodes can be unlocked for a few cents or dollars. This allows audiences to get a good taste of what the micro drama is about before investing a bit of money to unlock the entire show.