Your favourite TV serials could return in 90-second episodes! Agent Raghav, Fear Files, Santoshi Maa enter microdrama space

According to a report by Exchange4media, big entertainment companies are now seeing old TV shows as valuable pieces of intellectual property.Instead of letting these shows sit unused in storage, they are looking to use them for vertical video content, which is short and made for mobile phones.

Your favorite TV shows could come back in 90-second episodes!

Shows like Agent Raghav, Fear Files, and Santoshi Maa are moving into the microdrama space.

ZEE has given licenses to Story TV for short-form versions of shows like Agent Raghav, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo, Santoshi Maa, and Fear Files.

Applause Entertainment has also teamed up to adapt Hello Mini.

This development is important because it brings new life to old TV content.

Instead of just rerunning long serials with hundreds of episodes, broadcasters and studios can now make shorter versions for mobile users.These new episodes can be built around exciting twists, shocks, and cliffhangers.

However, the trend is not only about old shows.

Yash Raj Films has invested in Rusk Media to create new animation and vertical-microdrama content.EPIC Studios and Rusk are also working on a range of content that includes mythology, mystery, thrillers, dramas, and romances.Aditya Pittie, the Managing Director of EPIC Studios, said their first 50 series plans to grow to over 250 by the middle of next year.

One big reason for this change is the cost.

Some vertical-drama production models cost between Rs.20,000 to Rs.50,000 per episode, which lets studios try out more ideas than they could with high-budget OTT shows.

This trend could also be exciting for nostalgia.

Crime shows can be made into quick, exciting episodes.Supernatural stories can be turned into vertical horror videos.Popular soap characters can reach a new generation of young viewers.

Even better, the trend might work both ways.

An old TV show could become a microdrama, and a popular microdrama character or story might move on to TV, OTT, or even the big screen.

After years of studios fighting over remakes and sequels, India’s next big opportunity for intellectual property may be happening on the smallest screens of all — the six-inch smartphone.