Vietnam's newspaper Tuoi Tre has opened a series on the country's appetite for AI-made micro-dramas with a look at how the apps that carry them earn money: a few free episodes, then a paywall at every cliffhanger. The first part pulls together market data from China, the United States and Vietnam and talks to young viewers in Ho Chi Minh City about what they have spent.
The supply behind the craze is mostly Chinese. Citing China's broadcasting regulator, the paper says more than 800 million people there have watched short dramas online, about 430,000 titles were released in the first eight months of 2026, 13 times the 2025 total, and more than 90% used AI. China's short-drama market passed 100 billion yuan in 2025. Stories of revenge, rebirth, rich families and domineering CEOs are cut into dozens or hundreds of one-to-two-minute episodes for TikTok, Reels and Douyin and dedicated apps such as DramaBox, ShortMax and ReelShort, which even sorts its AI dramas into their own category. The paper's point is that cheaper, faster production lets platforms flood the market and keep testing formulas that hold attention.
The business depends on selling curiosity in small pieces. Episodes drop viewers straight into conflict and end just before a secret is revealed or a betrayal is confronted; to see what happens next, they buy coins or subscribe. Sensor Tower's 2026 short-drama app report counted more than 850 million downloads in the first quarter, up 140% year on year, with in-app purchases of about $750 million, up 20%. Deloitte put global app revenue for the format at $3.8 billion in 2025 and expects $7.8 billion in 2026. Its US survey found about 30% of Gen Z and millennial consumers knew the format; nearly half of those were watching more than a year earlier, and nearly half wanted their paid streaming services to add it.
In Vietnam, Sensor Tower's charts show apps such as PineDrama, DramaBox, DramaWave, CashFlicks, NetShort and DramaSpot among the most downloaded entertainment apps on both app stores, ahead of local streaming services. ReelShort and DramaBox led in-app revenue in the first quarter at close to $140 million each. Analytics firm Adjust estimates Vietnamese users spent about $11.5 million on the genre in 2025.
The viewers interviewed describe how it adds up. One 24-year-old, who now watches on her lunch break, started with clips that stopped mid-climax on Facebook, downloaded the app, and found that a few thousand dong for coins never felt like much. Another, 25, said he knew the plots were silly and predictable but kept going, spent over 100,000 dong on one drama and cancelled after being charged a second time. He noted that most of the apps are Chinese, with subtitles, localisation or AI dubbing. The paper found some viewers spending tens of thousands of dong a week and others hundreds of thousands, often unable to recall titles or characters afterwards.
It compares the model to mobile games, breaking one large payment into many small decisions. Drawing on The Verge, it notes US apps charge up to $19.99 a week for unlimited viewing, roughly ten times Netflix's cheapest tier over a month, or $200 a year, and that unlocking one season with coins can run $30 to $50 for a story about as long as a feature film.
It adds a survey of AI "slop" channels on YouTube, which puts Vietnam 15th by subscribers at 4.37 million, with Spain first at 20.22 million despite only eight channels in the top 100, and the US third. The series argues the rise of cheap, serialised short content could put pressure on social video platforms, traditional studios and streamers, while opening room for small independent producers.
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