Viu CEO Reports One in Five Long-Form Viewers Already Hooked on Microdrama

Janice Lee told the KOCCA APDS 2026 conference that microdrama adoption across Viu's established user base has hit nearly 20% within months of the format's launch, with branded co-productions now in the pipeline.

Viu CEO Janice Lee disclosed the nearly 20% crossover figure at the KOCCA Asia Pacific Digital Summit 2026.
The microdrama format launched on Viu only months ago and is already drawing from the platform's existing long-form audience.
Viu's strategy includes short-form branded content deals and co-productions with brand partners.
Lee framed the crossover rate as validation of the format rather than cannibalization of long-form viewing.
Viu operates across 17 markets in Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa, with a catalogue anchored in Korean and regional Asian content.

Viu CEO Janice Lee told the KOCCA Asia Pacific Digital Summit 2026 that close to 20% of the platform's long-form user base has migrated, at least partially, into microdrama content — a format the streamer only introduced months ago.

Lee made the disclosure in a panel session reported by Variety on July 10, 2026, framing the figure as an early indicator of format viability rather than an audience defection problem.

The streamer, which operates across 17 markets spanning Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa, is pairing the microdrama push with a branded content initiative. Short-form co-productions with brand partners are part of the commercial model Lee outlined, though specific deal terms were not disclosed at the conference.

Microdrama — episodes typically running under ten minutes, plotted for vertical mobile screens, paced for scroll-era attention spans — has drawn platform investment from players including Netflix and Amazon over the past 18 months.

Lee described the crossover as “exciting,” according to Variety's account of the session. The one detail left unaddressed: what percentage of those newly minted microdrama viewers are still finishing the long-form series Viu's licensing budget is built around.