Sharma-ji gets an invitation to the wedding of Rinki, the best friend of his daughter Jahnvi, and the daughter of their neighbour, the Mehta family. While Jahnvi and her mother are excited to hear the news, Sharma-ji refuses to attend the wedding over a five-year-old tiff with the Mehta family. Jahnvi tries to convince her father but finds no success. Not one to give up easily, she thinks of a new way to convince her father to attend the wedding.
No, that’s not the storyline of the newest daily soap on your favourite general entertainment channel but an opening episode of ‘Myntra Mohalla’ (the names of the characters have been changed though), a microdrama released by online fashion store Myntra.
Myntra is not alone.
Swiggy created a three-episode animated series where popular Indian street snacks like samosa and jalebi come to life. Two young members from the samosa and jalebi families want to get married but their families do not accept their relationship. The story goes on to unravel how the couple convince their parents to agree to their relationship.
Brands looking to build a loyal community and deeper engagement with their customers are warming up to the idea of launching their own microdramas.
“Marketers are fighting for traction and affinity — a loyal community that loves a good story, follows it, engages with it and keeps coming back. Direct sales impact may come over time, but it isn’t the primary expectation upfront,” says Harikrishnan Pillai, CEO & co-founder, TheSmallBigIdea.
The format was first picked up by D2C and e-commerce platforms.
“D2C brands have been the primary adopters of the microdrama format. They are driven by agile production cycles and alignment with mobile commerce audiences,” says Priyank Dattani, associate creative director, White Rivers Media.
Take Kindlife, a beauty and personal care start-up, which sells products inspired by South Korean culture. It launched Kindlife Studios, which released its first microdrama series, “Seoul Searching”, in December 2025 and claims to have a viewership of 15 million. The brand also launched its second drama series, “Signs & Situationships”, earlier this year.
The format is gaining popularity among legacy FMCG brands as well. Marketing agency Only Much Louder (OML) claims it has started building narrative-led micro content for FMCG giants like Procter & Gamble, among others.
“If a viewer comes back for your next episode, the brand is no longer an interruption. It has become part of their entertainment,” adds Ambarish Sengupta, VP, Hypothesis, OML.
In other words, the real ROI is not reach — it is habit formation. The core appeal is straightforward: microdramas are short, but they carry a full story. That richness is its biggest advantage, and that is what makes it genuinely different from other formats, say experts.
There is no doubt that microdramas can create a lot of engagement for brands. But are they just another fad?
The microdrama wave
Microdramas are big in India already. According to a Google and Qualtrics survey in 2025, India saw more than 250 million cumulative downloads of microdrama apps. Research by Ormax Media states that viewership of microdrama reached about 100 million in 2025.
“Instead of compressing a message into a 20-second ad, brands stretch attention through story,” adds OML’s Sengupta.
Brands betting on microdramas have also seen some great results. Myntra’s Myntra Mohalla received an average viewership of about 40 million for its six-episode series on Instagram, while Swiggy got 2.5 million for its three-episode samosa–jalebi series.
Manasa Garemella, co-founder, Kindlife, says that the main motive for creating microdramas was not to increase sales but to reach as many people as possible. Brands are investing about Rs 30,000–70,000 per episode.
Kindlife plans to integrate microdramas as a long-term content-led strategy and has allocated Rs 25 crore for the next one year.