India's microdrama market may reach $4.5 billion by 2030: Report

India's microdrama segment is set for rapid growth, with user adoption rising sharply, though OTT platforms continue to lead in monetisation and paying subscriber base

India’s $300 million microdrama market is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2030, making it the fastest growing entertainment format, according to a report.

 

The category is emerging as a rival to over-the-top (OTT) platforms with a monthly active user (MAU) base of 100 million compared to OTT’s 450 million, according to Lumikai’s State of India Interactive Media Report 2025.

 

Microdramas are short, serialised, vertical video stories that are built for mobile- first viewing with high-intensity hooks and cliff-hangers. These may range between 30 seconds and 3 minutes.

 

Platforms offering microdramas have clocked 450 million downloads as compared to OTT’s 680 million. While microdrama platforms hold considerable scale in terms of active users and downloads, OTTs lead on monetisation.

   

There are 17 million paying users on microdramas with an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $15. In comparison, 133 million paying users on OTT with an Average Revenue Per User (Arpu) of $35. To be sure, microdramas are a recent phenomena in India’s interactive media landscape.

 

The success of the category will depend on the quality of content, distribution, and discoverability, among other things, said Salone Sehgal, founder and managing partner, Lumikai.

 

“It has to be quality of content, that is IP, content velocity that is how fast you’re able to produce content, distribution, discoverability through performance marketing. At the same time, it is also about understanding what works with the current cultural trends,” she explained.

 

The report added that one in three real-money gaming users moved to offshore platforms after the category was banned by the government last year. 

 

These users end up spending upwards of ₹10,000 per month on offshore platforms. 

 

“... there is currently a migration of some level of time spent as well as some level of money being spent on those platforms. We also see a redirection of time spent towards micro dramas to music streaming to social media, to free to play games as well,” Sehgal added.