Soapy short-form web novels are taking over TikTok, fueling a $4.4 billion industry

With their streamlined production processes and pay-to-watch financial models, vertical-video apps featuring soapy, short-form serials have stormed the App Store charts. According to data-analytics firm Sensor Tower, market leader ReelShort, which launched in 2022, has averaged 11 million monthly active users in 2024, 50 times the number of users it had a year ago. Among five of the top apps in the market, ReelShort and its competitor, DramaBox, account for 70% of global revenue, followed by ShortMax, MoboReels, and GoodShort, which all churn out original shows made up of dozens of minute-long episodes. 

This short-form storytelling model originated in China, and many of the category’s leading companies are based there. Web novels, serially self-published stories which often follow known tropes and genre patterns, are a major digital format in East and Southeast Asia. The immense popularity of these web serials, written at great speed and volume by both amateurs and professionals on platforms like Qidian, has long outpaced the consumption of equivalent content in the US — partially thanks to America’s robust and secure professional publishing industry, resistant to disruption. 

In 2022, web novels were a $4.4 billion business in China, and the most popular ones have been adapted into even more popular full-length dramas. Some of these have aired on traditional television or streaming services and have become globally popular, like hit drama “The Untamed,” which made it to Netflix in 2020.

But English-language web novels have been growing in popularity, with many publishing companies now sourcing their new bestsellers from fanfiction websites like AO3, Wattpad, and Amazon’s self-published e-book clearinghouse, Kindle Unlimited. Taking advantage of this, many of ReelShort’s most popular series are, like Chinese vertical series, adapted from web serials. “Duke With Benefits,” a romance between a country girl at college and a chiseled British noble, is an adaptation of a Kindle novel of the same name by Manda Collins, and “Fated to my Forbidden Alpha,” about a misfit girl and her romance with a dominant alpha werewolf, comes from a popular series by Jessica Hall. But as Rolling Stone reported earlier this year, authors whose works have been adapted by these companies are rarely compensated, despite how much the shows are raking in.

App users have to either watch endless ads or pay directly for upgrades in order to get more of the “coins” used to unlock new episodes of the shows. On ReelShort, 2,500 coins sell for $25. A given show might run at 70 one-minute episodes, eight of which are free. The remaining 62 cost 40 coins each, which means you’re paying $25 for what is essentially a 70-minute movie — not a great deal. 

ReelShort was founded in 2022 by Chinese tech entrepreneur Joey Jia with backing from Beijing-based COL Group, a major publisher of web novels and digital drama adaptations in China. Jia’s LA-based Crazy Maple Studios, ReelShort’s parent company, is also the company behind Chapters, the interactive-story mobile app that has gained a devoted fan following since its launch in 2015. 

Generating over $10 million a month (according to Jia) via advertising and in-app purchases needed to unlock new episodes, ReelShort’s offerings, including shows like “The Double Life of a Billionaire Heiress,” “Fated to my Forbidden Alpha,” and “In Love With Dr. Baby Daddy!,” are shot in Hollywood with American actors. With thousands of acting jobs put on hold during the pandemic and the strike, its shows became a lifeline for actors and production crews — though with some major downsides. Those who work on them are not credited publicly for their performances and are paid well below the SAG-AFTRA rate of $1,158 per day. 

Despite this, some ReelShort actors have been thrust into a curious kind of micro-fame. TikTok user @lifewlindsayy tracked down Jarred Harper, an actor who appears in “The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband,” and made a video informing viewers of his identity. “I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS INFORMATIONNNN!!” the top comment exclaims. “He’s the only reason I’ll watch a full ad,” another says. 

ReelShort has been focusing on maintaining growth and increasing revenue in the US market, with a deluge of new shows and an onslaught of social-media advertising. Their efforts have paid off: according to Sensor Tower, over 70% of revenue from in-app purchases for ReelShort comes from the US. And so far this year, revenue has grown 15% month over month. 

However, the short-form-video market is plagued by rampant piracy. A TikTok search for any given ReelShort drama series, like “The Double Life of a Billionaire Heiress,” throws up dozens of accounts devoted to reposting episodes for free. YouTube is full of freebooted full episodes of popular shows and videos on “free coin hacks” showing users how to work around the restrictions on in-app purchases. 

Luna, 47, enjoys watching shows on DramaBox and ReelShort, admitting that it’s her guilty pleasure. After she made a video about an addicting DramaBox show, “Love Beyond Words,” her comments were suddenly filled with people pointing out the shows could be watched for free on DailyMotion and even on TikTok, and Luna has since stopped paying as much. “To pay $8 or $9 for a movie that’s not a blockbuster,” Luna said, is a bit of a tall order.

While its growth year over year has been explosive, ReelShort is seeing signs of it slowing, according to Sensor Tower, even as its revenue increases. This could be attributable to the widespread popularity of piracy. Crazy Maple Studios did not respond to requests for comment about how they deal with piracy of their content online.

On pirated clips on TikTok, the official ReelShort account often pops up to respond to these comments, encouraging users to download the app in order to keep watching. But even those using the apps legally are reluctant to pay out of pocket to stay tuned in. The clips may be addicting, but their value, for many, is not quite enough to shell out for them. 

Allegra Rosenberg is a journalist in New York.