The vertical media sector – short-form, phone-oriented content such as microdramas seen on apps like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube – is on track to generate $150 billion (£118 billion) in revenue in 2026, according to a new report from market research firm Owl & Co. The industry is booming but remains highly fragmented, with startup apps competing fiercely for audiences and spending heavily on marketing to acquire subscribers. This growth is prompting established media companies to take notice, with Disney recently announcing a partnership with TikTok allowing authorised use of its intellectual property in fan-made vertical content.

The $150 billion figure, covering markets outside China where the format is already well established, represents a 42% increase on 2025 and comes overwhelmingly from advertising, which accounts for $131 billion of the total via platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Meta, ByteDance and YouTube are projected to generate 94% of vertical revenue outside China this year. Owl & Co. founder Hernan Lopez likened the current scramble among apps such as ReelShort, DramaBox, PineDrama and MyDrama to TikTok's own early growth phase in 2020, when heavy cross-platform advertising supplemented organic discovery, though he noted no major player has yet produced original vertical content at scale.