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In this Duanju interview, Cassandra Young discusses the global expansion of microdramas, the evolution of content licensing, cross-cultural storytelling, and why short-form entertainment is becoming one of the fastest-growing sectors in the media industry. INTERVIEW BY WENWEN HAN
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00:00Could you please introduce yourself and your role in short drama industry?
00:04I'm Cassandra Young. I'm on behalf of Rising Joy.
00:07Rising Joy is a very dedicated microdrama licensing company and content hub.
00:13So we are building our global B2B networks among more than 20 countries.
00:21And I think now it's up to 50 microdrama apps.
00:26And we are enabling all the industry people who want to enter into the microdrama industry.
00:34How will you define short drama?
00:36That's a very good question. Actually, I think short drama or we just say microdrama.
00:42Microdrama is a bite-sized, smartphone, immediate entertainment, mobile-first format.
00:50And it is driven by the digital marketing and engaging the viewers with the impulsive consuming behavior.
01:01So that's my definition about microdrama. It's a very unique format compared with the traditional long-form content such like
01:10the film or like the TV series.
01:12And what's the difference between short drama and films and TV series, as you mentioned?
01:17Because microdrama is formed with the mobile, with the global trend of TikTok.
01:27So actually, the format is vertical, mainly dominated by vertical format and tailored for the mobile screen.
01:36Besides that, I think that microdrama storytelling is more about emotional conflict.
01:43It's not about the methodological, the logic.
01:47Or the other, like the vibe, or the lot of the traditional film, TV dramas who are specialized.
01:56So I think the microdrama's function actually is to hook the audience immediately, maybe in just a few seconds, and
02:06lead the viewers to go to the payment system.
02:09So that's the way microdramas define themselves and get their features compared with the long-form content.
02:17How did you first get involved in short drama industry?
02:20I think that back to the year 2024, when we noticed that there are microdrama apps, download numbers, exceed Netflix
02:32in the U.S.
02:33So we think that it's a very good timing to explore the possibility of common licensing based on the microdrama
02:42format to the global market.
02:44So we started our business in Southeast Asia, and in one year we went to India, Turkey, India, including UAE,
02:57including Qatar, and we are also rolled out to U.S., Latin America.
03:03So I think that with the booming of the microdrama, we have very fast growing records in one year.
03:11So I think we are an independent small company, but we entered the industry very fast.
03:19As an expert in licensing shows, including Chinese short dramas, what challenges or misunderstandings do you often see from overseas
03:28players or platforms?
03:29I think it's not a misunderstanding. I think that people are willing to learn, but they still have their different
03:39understanding of microdrama.
03:42The most of the questions I was being asked is about, can we just cut from the long form into
03:49the microdrama format?
03:51Or can we just adapt from the horizontal content format into the vertical content format?
03:58Well, I think a lot of the traditional industry people think microdrama is an easy one, or a thin-up
04:05of the long form content.
04:07That's not wrong or not correct.
04:11But I think that with our observation on the market, the most popular or the data-proven microdramas are all
04:21standalone new developed independent microdrama.
04:25So we didn't see any successful case study that any kind of adapt from the long form into microdrama is
04:38popular, or it gets 10 million, 50 million, 100 million viewers on the social media.
04:45So I think that may be the most gap from the traditional media industry people to the microdrama industry people.
04:53Because you've been in the industry for like more than a year and a half, right?
04:58It started in 2024.
05:00So what trends have you noticed in the growing demand for Chinese short dramas among overseas buyers or platforms?
05:07Yeah, that's a very good question.
05:10I think for Chinese microdrama, specifically, the best or the biggest market is doing APAC, especially in Southeast Asia.
05:24So from Southeast Asia market behavior, at the early stage, our partners are all the super apps, all the new
05:33platforms.
05:34But now, I think that there are more and more streaming platforms or big names in the industry, also start
05:44to acquire or get licensed or even produce their own microdrama titles.
05:49So for the content side, at the very beginning, you know, that billionaire romance is most safe in the traveling.
05:59Everyone loves billionaire romance stories, like the modern format storytelling of the Cinderella story.
06:06But now, I think more and more diversified genres comes out in the Chinese microdrama, and the production quality is
06:16getting improved, especially improved a lot in 2021.
06:21So we bring more and more like senior microdrama titles, who both in good production value, and in very successful
06:32performance, such like one billion views in China, with level that at the diamond level.
06:39We see these titles work well, not just in Southeast Asia, but also well in Turkey, in USA, and even
06:48in Latin America.
06:49So I think that for the Chinese microdrama, especially, in the future, we see the cinematic quality, or the good
07:00quality of Chinese microdrama can travel more places or more regions than others.
07:08And for the other microdrama languages, such as in English, in Korean, we also see the great demand from the
07:17market.
07:17Because microdrama market is booming everywhere now.
07:22It's definitely a global phenomenon.
07:25So we believe that in the next two years, the global demand of microdrama will be growing very high, even
07:37in three-fold or four-fold growth in the future.
07:41Yeah, you mentioned about English short dramas and Korean short dramas.
07:45Are they made, like, by Chinese companies or by overseas companies?
07:50Currently, our Korean microdrama partners or providers are all the Korean studios.
07:56So that's a very interesting thing.
07:59We know that there are some Chinese-operated studios who are producing Korean microdrama in Korean.
08:08But we are working with the Korean local studios who are producing Korean microdrama because I think it's more like
08:17real, authentic Korean microdrama compared with other teams.
08:23And for the English titles, I think that 70% to 80% of the English titles are still produced
08:34by the Chinese team.
08:36We also see some samples or demos from the UK team, the Turkish team, even in the team in Dubai.
08:45There are studios who are doing English titles as well.
08:49So we are also in a very close conversation with them.
08:54As long as their titles work well on the platform, I think in the future, more and more local or
09:01more and more international microdrama producers will make more English titles.
09:07I will receive, like, a short drama only 25 episodes.
09:11I would say we are some misunderstanding.
09:13No, I don't think we are a mess on understanding everything because microdrama can be very diversified.
09:20It's a very young industry and everyone actually is trying to learn what kind of microdrama can gain better performance.
09:31So for everyone, no matter if it's for the studio or no matter if it's for the platform, I think
09:36we are still in the experiment stage compared with the long-term development.
09:41So we may say that in China, we have microdrama only have 30 episodes.
09:47We all have the microdrama with 100 episodes.
09:50As long as the storytelling is attractive and the hook-seeking is fantastic.
09:58So I think it works either in short duration or in long duration.
10:03So it quite depends on how a studio is featured on the territory.
10:09How do you see the role of short drama licensing involving from simple content exports to potential co-production or
10:17localized remakes?
10:19Yeah, I think we are involved in this trend.
10:23We start from a very direct content licensing and we are the buyers of the studios and we are the
10:31licensors of the platform.
10:32But now we just level up our company licensing business.
10:38We also got transport with the local market players, launching our own fair price, including a certain percentage of the
10:50co-production.
10:51So we will support them with the screens, with the micro formats.
10:55And we will also take their local production titles outside the home market.
11:03So that's very helpful to enrich our own catalog and solid our industry compactiveness here.
11:13So even the content business, I think it also evolves very fast.
11:18Every year we will have different strategies.
11:22So maybe currently this year, we are all our business, all our revenue is still at 88% based on
11:30the direct content licensing.
11:32But in the year 2026, I think the majority will go to our franchise or go to the local strategic
11:43partnership.
11:44That's very different.
11:45Are there any common legal policy or cultural challenges you've encountered when licensing Chinese accountant aboard?
11:53I think that there is still a lot of room for the Chinese micro drama improve.
11:59Because I used to be a traditional media person, so I was working on the long-form content licensing as
12:08well.
12:08So compared with the mature industry, I think Chinese micro drama, they still need to understand the demand of the
12:18international market and the standards.
12:22For example, lots of the Chinese micro dramas, they don't get the music right for global use, right?
12:30So you may find that even some titles get promoted on YouTube.
12:35There is no background music.
12:36There is no effect because they didn't or they don't pay music right for the global use under the micro
12:45budget.
12:46And of course, the first market, because the first market is China, so they don't need to think about it.
12:52But if the business grows bigger in the international, I think this is one big issue we need to figure
13:00out together with SGU as long as we bring more business to them.
13:05And I think also for content compliance because our expertise is to bring content to the local council.
13:14We make a lot of different content compliance when we enter UAE, when we enter UK, or especially for the
13:22MENA and the Europe market.
13:25Content compliance, such as everyone will ask me, is there any age breeding for the micro drama?
13:34Or is there too many nudity or something in the micro drama?
13:40There's a lot of the traditional questions come to us.
13:43So I think maybe in the future, we will upgrade the content licensing of the Chinese micro drama to meet
13:52the global standard.
13:53Especially if we explore our partnership with the big choice, like the top five streaming cards from globally, we must
14:04meet the standard, right?
14:06So that's the thing we need to do.
14:07And also, I think that lots of the market feedback currently is now just asking for the existing content licensing.
14:21They are also asking for the format.
14:24Okay, that's definitely a new word for the Chinese micro drama industry.
14:31Because no one is doing or is very focused on doing micro drama script format at this moment.
14:40Script format for script adaptation.
14:42So we are also trying to explore our capabilities with different partners on making screen formats.
14:53I think that's a new thing we can try together, right?
14:57When introducing Chinese stories to international audiences, which cultural elements usually require the most adaption or contextual explanation?
15:07We will separate micro drama into the different genres.
15:12And generally, we will separate like it's a modern or it's a Chinese historical costume micro drama.
15:21So I think for the modern story, it will be fun because if it's an obvious romance,
15:27it is like from rags to the riches, underdog attack, I think that's the universal storytelling.
15:36But for some like the Chinese culture thing, such like you using a chain that you get the superpower,
15:47there will be some cultural conflicts with the different religions area, right?
15:53And also is that there is like Chinese costume, right?
15:59They do work well in Southeast Asia.
16:03But if they go to the Europe or go to the US, Latin America, especially about some village story or
16:12several stories.
16:14So there is still some cultural difference.
16:16But anyway, I think that if we are focused on the modern general, modern romance, modern family, right?
16:27Modern career, that's a universal story.
16:30Using Jade and get superpowers.
16:33What's the misunderstanding?
16:34Why don't they get it?
16:36Okay, because for some culture, I think they don't use Jade to get superpowers.
16:43Oh, the religions will be different.
16:46Especially you will see a lot of the plot in Chinese male titles that, okay, you get Jade from your
16:55grandparents
16:55or you just dig out Jade from the ancient tomb.
17:00Then you get a superpower, you become some like God, please, the president, right?
17:06But in the other like MENA region or even like Muslim country, they will feel like this will be very
17:15weird, right?
17:16So we need to understand their culture as well to adapt or modify a little bit.
17:24Do you feel you have certain advantages or unique perspectives?
17:27I think that the advantage of women in this industry is that they are more flexible to change and they
17:40are very good at communication.
17:43But I don't have many conceptions about gender differences in the industry because we all treat male-female as equal,
17:54right?
17:55So I understand that women, we want more care about the people and about the feeling, about emotional things.
18:06So sometimes we are more easy to practice on market, okay?
18:12But generally, as long as it's quite depends on the content, as long as the content is good, right?
18:18It's not really on if you are a man or a woman, but they can do as much as men
18:23can, right?
18:24From your observation, how are female leads typically portrayed in short dramas?
18:28Are there any areas for improvement?
18:31I think that actually there's a lot of very talented female directors on the Chinese microdrama story.
18:43We see a lot of female directors who present top titles of the microdrama.
18:51So, also a lot of script writers, they are female.
18:56And I think that there are female, they do some creative things in the microdrama industry.
19:04I just think the female, if we say anything, we want to improve.
19:09I just think that female can be more like forced to go to the emergency department, right?
19:16To more appreciate and to insist what they want.
19:22I think this is the thing.
19:24This is a suggestion I gave to every female or every woman, entrepreneur or the industry people here in the
19:35microdrama world.
19:36I interviewed American creators, vertical creators, writers, directors.
19:41They all want independent women portrayed in short dramas.
19:46Not very weak and pure and rely purely on men.
19:50And what do you think their take?
19:52I saw a lot of independent female creators, directors.
19:57Even they open their own studios.
20:00I think that even they are changing towards the men, right?
20:06So, I think I'm very admire this independent female who has the courage and the capability and who knows how
20:16to leverage resources to build their own business.
20:20I would encourage more females to start your own business in the microdrama industry.
20:27That's a pool of possibilities here.
20:30The female character, the female lead.
20:32Actually, some female lead or female roles in the microdrama, they are more like the rose or more like Cinderella,
20:44right?
20:45That's a contemporary Asian thing, right?
20:47So, I think that there is more and more a diversified genre comes out.
20:54For example, in Southeast Asia, there is a lot of popular Chinese title.
21:00They are strong female lead.
21:02They are like big woman, get power, all the wives, divorce, then revenge, then back to top and have her
21:13own business.
21:14It's probably in Asia.
21:15So, currently, from the market feedback from the data, I would say like in US or in the other region,
21:24the storytelling in strong female lead is not so significant.
21:29That's the reason why a lot of the English titles, the female lead is still a little bit weak.
21:35But, as long as next year, there's more US original studios, they come to produce microdramas and more international studios.
21:48They want to have different storytelling.
21:50I think that they will produce some story differently.
21:54If you were a writer, if you create one female lead, what kind of women would you portray?
22:01I would think that I would want to see a very smart woman who is not so with everyone, but
22:12I think I would consider a female story like from bottom to top.
22:18What's the future of short dramas?
22:21We are actually, we are at the very year one of the international microdrama industry.
22:26So, although in China, we have already developed like five years, compared to China, we are more at level five,
22:36but the international market is just a level one.
22:39And even in some areas, it's just a level 0.5, right?
22:43So, it's very early beginning of the microdrama industry outside China.
22:50So, there's a lot of imagination, yeah, or expectation we can put into the microdrama.
22:58I think, first of all, in next year, lots of microdrama apps are still coming out.
23:04And it's not dominated by the Chinese players anymore.
23:09Maybe more international players, they will launch their microdrama apps.
23:13I know there's a lot of independent filmmakers or the media persons who have already launched their stand-alone microdrama
23:22apps in the U.S.,
23:24and lots in Turkey, and even in the future lots in the media as well.
23:29So, more and more platforms will come out, and so the microdrama content will be booming because when you launch
23:39a new platform,
23:40you definitely need a volume of the microdrama, right? It's a volume thing.
23:46So, it's a good news to the microdrama producers and the production studios.
23:50And we are expecting more genres. Now we have English, Chinese, Korean, and maybe in the future we will have
24:01AI animated microdrama, AI human-like microdrama.
24:06We are also in close conversation with the Turkish microdrama producers.
24:11I'm looking into the Turkish microdrama, looking into the Spanish microdrama.
24:16And we may have, from the general, we may have the, not just the romance, right?
24:22We may have the sci-fi, we may have the fantasy with the AI.
24:29So, I think with a lot of the technology evolved, more understanding about the market,
24:36and definitely the content will be more diversified, platform will be more diversified, but the market will also be crowded.
24:49Yeah, you mentioned about Chinese version 2, right?
24:53And the rest of the world is version 0.5 or version 1.
24:57Would you explain more about this?
24:59Chinese gained some first-over advantage because we gained a five-year experience in the microdrama development.
25:10Actually, from China, microdrama started from 2020.
25:13And now, some microdramas' performance exceeds TV, and the general microdrama industry revenue exceeds the box office in China.
25:24So, that's the journey we went through in five years.
25:29And we have different types of content here in the China market, Chinese market.
25:36In lots of, if we see the international markets, first of all, there are not so many apps, local apps
25:43coming like Chinese apps.
25:45This is the difference between levels.
25:49The second one is the production quality and experience and how to control the budget and produce more titles in
25:58big volume.
25:59These kind of skills are still in the early stage.
26:03So, that's the reason I mentioned it's still the level 0.5 or level 1.
26:09So, I think that if we see Chinese experience and we learn from them, we will see the same or
26:18similar path in the next five years.
26:22The international market of the microdrama will grow from zero to multi-billion business here.
26:29Well, we look out best that to use this last year.
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