ReelShort forecast to hit $1.05bn revenue with first profit in 2026
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Media Partners Asia has published a detailed report projecting that ReelShort, the leading microdrama platform, will hit $1.05 billion in revenue in 2026, up 34%, and record its first meaningful profit at scale, with $63 million in EBITDA and roughly $40 million in net profit reversing a $12 million loss the prior year. The Singapore-based research firm's study, "ReelShort / Crazy Maple Studio: Inside the US$1B Micro-Drama Machine," extends its forecast to 2028 and situates the company within a wider outside-China microdrama market it values at $3.6 billion this year, underscoring how quickly the format has moved from niche to a substantial commercial category.
MPA expects ReelShort's growth to continue, with revenue reaching $1.4 billion in 2027 and $1.7 billion in 2028, alongside EBITDA of $306 million (an 18% margin) and net profit of $225 million by 2028. Margin gains are attributed largely to falling marketing costs, expected to drop from just over half of revenue in 2025 to under 45% by 2028, driven by hit franchises, telco partnerships such as one with Thailand's AIS, more direct billing via ReelShort's own web store, better creative testing and a maturing ad market. Subscriptions and consumer payments will remain the core of the business at 85–90% of revenue, while advertising—carrying no app-store commission—is set to grow to around 15% of revenue by 2028; Asia is the fastest-growing region, rising from 12% of revenue in 2026 to about 14% in 2027.
- MPA report details ReelShort's path to $1.05bn revenue and first profit in 2026
- Forecasts $1.7bn revenue and $225m net profit by 2028
- Falling marketing costs and rising ad revenue drive margin growth
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ReelShort is a mobile app for what the industry calls "microdramas" – short, fast-paced serialised soap-opera style videos, often melodramatic, designed to be watched in quick bursts on a phone and paid for through small in-app purchases or subscriptions. It has become the best-known name in this format outside China, where the microdrama style originated, and is run by a company called Crazy Maple Studio. The genre has grown rapidly in just a few years from a niche curiosity into a business generating billions of dollars globally.
The figures in this story come from Media Partners Asia (MPA), a Singapore-based media research and consulting firm that studies entertainment and telecoms markets across Asia and beyond. Its reports are used by industry executives and investors to gauge how fast new media formats are growing and whether they can turn a profit, rather than being official statements from ReelShort or Crazy Maple Studio themselves.
The wider relevance is that microdramas represent a new and fast-growing category of mobile entertainment, competing for attention and spending alongside established players like streaming services and mobile games. Whether a platform like ReelShort can move from rapid growth to sustainable profit is being watched closely as a signal of whether this format has staying power or is a passing trend, and it has implications for advertisers, telecoms companies and other content creators trying to work out where to invest.
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Originally published by Variety as “ReelShort on Track for $1.05 Billion Revenue, First Profit at Scale in 2026, Media Partners Asia Report Finds”.