A GOOD-LOOKING rich man showers lavish gifts on his lady as he pursues her determinedly. Sounds familiar? It would, considering it is the formula plot peddled by romantic television dramas everywhere. Now, similar dramas are being packaged by Chinese apps as vertical mini-videos lasting just a couple of minutes, which have found a huge fan base worldwide.

With a duration of one to two minutes per episode and around 60-80 episodes making up a series, the love stories are exhausting ways to create hooks every other minute to keep the audiences engaged. Take the example of the trending series “Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress.” In just 10 minutes, viewers can run through a complicated plot involving forced marriages and fights for inheritance.

Despite the plot being branded “choppy” and “Wattpad stories written by a 12-year-old,” the show gained popularity among audiences in the United States and became a hit on ReelShort, a video streaming platform of California-based Crazy Maple Studio, which is owned by Chinese digital content provider COL Group.

On Nov. 11, the app surpassed TikTok to become the most popular entertainment app on Apple’s U.S. app store. The latest data from app analysis platform Appfigures shows that ReelShort was downloaded an estimated 2 million times in November in the U.S., which brought the company roughly US$5 million in revenue in a month, through subscriptions, in-app purchases and advertisements.

ReelShort is not the only Chinese app to venture overseas. Apps such as GoodShort, FlexTV, ShortTV and 99TV have all entered the North American and Southeast Asian markets, sparking a mini drama production rush.

“Soap operas featuring love fantasies are not new. Yet, the Chinese apps’ unique style has injected new vigor into the market. The stories are similar, but the structure has changed to better suit the audience’s desire for efficient storytelling,” said Cypress Bai, a bilingual mini drama screenwriter based in California. (China Daily)