ReelShort forecast to hit $1.05bn revenue with first profit in 2026
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
ReelShort is projected to generate $1.05 billion in revenue in 2026 and achieve its first significant profit, according to Media Partners Asia. The forecast highlights the rapid growth of microdrama platforms outside China and suggests ReelShort is moving from aggressive expansion towards a more sustainable, profitable model.
Revenue rose from $97 million in 2023 to $785 million in 2025, and MPA forecasts $63 million in EBITDA and roughly $40 million in net profit this year after a $12 million loss in 2025. Lower marketing costs, more direct web billing, successful franchises and growing advertising revenue are expected to improve margins; the wider outside-China microdrama market is forecast to reach $9.5 billion by 2031.
- ReelShort is forecast to earn $1.05 billion in 2026 revenue.
- It is expected to make its first meaningful net profit.
- Microdrama growth is being driven by lower acquisition costs.
New here? Start with this
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.
More coverage
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Variety as “ReelShort on Track for $1.05 Billion Revenue, First Profit at Scale in 2026, Media Partners Asia Report Finds”.