Eight unveils Vertical TV, a micro-drama OTT for mobile users

The Eight Network, an audio OTT player, has expanded its focus to include video content business. The company has officially unveiled Vertical TV, a video OTT platform specialising in micro-dtamas and offering serialised content to address the diminishing attention spans of viewers. Shot in vertical format, Vertical TV’s video content will provide a mobile-first viewing experience, with each episode typically being of one to three minutes.

“We launched the audio platform Eight in 2023. Today, Eight has 40 lakh downloads and four to five lakh monthly active users (MAUs). Vertical TV is our premium offering that expands our scope from being audio OTT to a video OTT player, specialising in the micro-drama segment,” said Mohit Paliwal, founder and CEO, The Eight Network.

The content on Vertical TV is currently available in Hindi, primarily targeting the northern Indian states. However, these shows will soon be dubbed in all the major Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali.

Market scope

As a category, micro-dramas have started gaining prominence worldwide. Its adoption in markets such as China and the USA has been phenomenal. DataEye, a digital research firm based in Shenzhen, estimates the revenues from micro dramas to have reached $6.9 billion in China in 2024. As per the data published by the China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA), the country’s micro-drama market is likely to touch $14 billion by 2027. According to Eight, the top three micro-drama platforms in the United States have been clocking over $1 billion in revenues each within just two years of the category launch.

Commenting on micro-dramas and the content viewing habits of users, Paliwal said, “Micro-dramas are the future of OTTs, and we see this category fighting neck-to-neck with feature films in the next few years. India is hungry for mobile-first, professional-quality, premium content, and it is evident from our early traction as well. With Vertical TV, we aim to bring deep-rooted Indian stories not just for India, but for the world, in the form of micro-dramas. Akin to what Bollywood has done over the years for the big screen, we shall revolutionise the content space in this new aspect ratio.”

With over 200 original fiction titles in Eight’s content library, Vertical TV is now looking at ramping up production to release a new micro-drama every alternate day, a speed target the company wants to achieve within a month. All these stories, according to Eight, are deeply rooted in the Indian culture, making them relatable for the target viewers.

Business model

Vertical TV offers a micro-transaction model wherein users can buy coin packs to unlock fresh episodes to watch. The platform has a gamified user engagement model, wherein users can consume content for free and receive rewarded benefits, such as daily check-ins, watching visual ads to unlock more content, etc.

According to Eight, an average user of Vertical TV currently watches 40 episodes a day and nearly 30% of paid users buy coin packs three times on their first day to unlock new content. “Recently, we added ads to strengthen our premium offering and allow users to consume content before buying. We are seeing a CPM of $4 to $5, which is higher than the India average of $1.5 to $2 elsewhere. That indicates we are attracting a premium audience,” said Paliwal.

The monetisation of Vertical TV began in April 2025, following its launch in February 2025. The micro-drama app already has 1.50 lakh users, with 20% of them being paying users, informed Paliwal. On the audio app front, Eight started monetising it in June 2024 and it expects to have reached an annual recurring revenue (ARR) mark of approximately a million dollars this year.

In contrast, within a few weeks of its launch, Vertical TV has already started raking in revenues through its micro-transaction model. Eight expects the micro-drama app to surpass the revenue performance of its audio OTT within a couple of days—by the end of May 2025.

Marketing and investments

Eight has the financial backing of venture capital firms including Kae Capital, DeVC, and Venture Highway (now acquired by General Catalyst). The company currently has 30 shows under production with each costing INR seven lakh to INR 13 lakh. Each show is of a total duration of 90 minutes broken down to 60 episodes.

Eight makes extensive use of generative AI tools across functions such as scripting, visual development, and post-production to minimise the turnaround time and cost per show. The company’s content teams—internal and extended—take about three to seven days to shoot one show, and up to six weeks from ideation to release (per show). In addition to the production costs involved, Eight also spends a few lakh rupees per day on online campaigns to promote these shows.

While the company collaborates with artists and production houses for content creation. While concept development and post-production are done in-house, physical production is outsourced to partner studios. Its in-house marketing teams also take care of campaign execution and management. The performance of each campaign as well as shows are monitored by the growth team which tracks them on metrics such as who and how many clicked, watched, installed, and converted. These insights are factored in while making new content.

The campaigns involve creating several byte-sized content pieces for each show to achieve virality. These content clips are promoted through Eight’s social media channels, such as Instagram and YouTube. According to Paliwal, the company gets nearly five lakh views for its campaigns on Instagram. Eight endeavours to achieve and maintain profitable growth by treating every show as an independent business asset with its intellectual property (IP) and profit and loss responsibility.

Paliwal is optimistic about the growth prospects of its new micro-drama venture. “We have seen revenue quadrupling in days with new IP launches. Most days, we see customer acquisition cost (CAC) being recovered in hours, a rare phenomenon in the consumer internet business. As many as 30% of all paid users buy packs three times on their first day to unlock new content. An average user watches 40 episodes a day. Behaviours that usually take quarters to build, we’re seeing them in days at Vertical TV.”

While the micro-drama format is a new phenomenon worldwide, already there are OTT players with their mobile-first offerings. For instance, Kuku FM launched its Kuku TV targeted at mobile-first viewers in February 2025. The entry of Eight in this segment has made it an interesting market to watch out for in the coming months.