China’s COL Group is betting big on micro-dramas, and they’ve just launched a global content distribution division to back it up. With a catalog of over 1,000 titles in English and Chinese, COL is positioning itself as the world’s largest reseller of serialized, short-form content, targeting broadcasters, streamers, telcos, and digital platforms worldwide.
Full article here:
https://deadline.com/2025/08/china-col-group-unveils-micro-drama-distrib...
This format is built for the mobile-first generation: episodes are 2 minutes or less, and their flagship hit From Rags to Rank One racked up 238 million views in a single day with an average watch time of 77 minutes per user. That’s a staggering stat, and a clear signal that this fast-paced, high-emotion format is resonating deeply with global audiences.
COL’s distribution push is backed by a fully vertical pipeline: they create IP, oversee production, operate their own short-form platforms (like FlareFlow and Sereal+), and are now developing AI-powered anime and serialized content to accelerate production timelines.
For producers and distributors alike, this raises some key questions:
- Could short-form serialized content become a viable path for international distribution?
- Is the Western market ready to adopt and scale these ultra-compact storytelling models?
- How might AI tools impact future content pipelines?
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When I see China and intellectual property creative content I get nervous. When I was at Disney they were always stealing our stuff.
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Paul Norman Rich I have dealt with Chinese partners in various transactions. They are highly skilled in manufacturing and production, but intellectual property (IP) rights violations remain a significant concern. This issue isn’t unique to China—once you operate outside most Western markets, your risk of IP infringement increases substantially, and enforcement can be extremely challenging. Often, you may need to sue an infringer in their own jurisdiction, which can be complicated, time-consuming, and costly.
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After reading this article, any enterprise with content appealing to teens with little tiny screens, might win big.
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With so much content available for audiences today, it’s no surprise to hear COL Group mention in the article: “That gives us the insight and agility to help partners move quickly in a space where audience attention is won or lost in seconds.” The power in this new kind of media is this: it combines the depth and intrigue of a show that has aired for multiple seasons with the low commitment of scrolling on short-form content platforms such as TikTok. No longer do audiences have to sacrifice quantity of content for quality.
As to the questions, I do think that the industry will begin to see more short-form serialized content in the West as audiences continue to crave more emotional attachment to stories in an increasingly shorter amount of time. With the popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, the market seems prime for the adoption of serialized short-form content. If these prove to be audiences’ true preferences, then I believe AI-generated content could absolutely be a tool that promotes the growth of this short-form serialized content, especially if content creators begin to train LLMs on this new content.
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Ashley Renee Smith Short form serialized content is a massive win. See TikTok and YouTube. The eyeballs it will get will prove it. People love short content and currently, platforms like TikTok help creators create huge followings. Some will post in both TT and YouTube. Comedians are killing it in this genre. https://www.tiktok.com/@steveioe/video/7542615534584515871
There are also so many crime story, Appalachian Mountain stories, and other series that has people coming back for more. I think this is a natural progression for the film market.
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Having a teenager, I get about 3 micro-dramas a day.