WEBTOON is turning 6 fan-favorite webcomics into microdramas

Microdramas are having a moment .

The bite-sized, vertically shot shows pack soapy romances, billionaire fantasies, revenge plots, and outrageous cliffhangers, all built for the smartphone screen.

Already a massive business in China, the format has taken off in the U.S. on platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox by essentially condensing the emotional highs of a soap opera into the rhythms of TikTok .

Now, WEBTOON is getting in on the action.

On Aug.

17, the digital comics platform will launch Short Dramas, a slate of six live-action vertical series adapted from popular romance webcomics, including Maybe Meant to Be , Love Bites , and I'll Marry Your Brother .

SEE ALSO: The Mashable 101: The creators defining the internet in 2026 And if any entertainment company seems particularly well-suited to the format, it's WEBTOON.

Long before TikTok trained us to scroll through an endless feed of vertical videos, WEBTOON was getting millions of readers accustomed to scrolling through serialized stories on their phones.

"When you look at the DNA of microdramas in terms of being episodic, in terms of the hooks and the story tropes, and also the sort of cliffhanger structures, that DNA is really similar to WEBTOON webcomics," Fred Lee, an executive at WEBTOON Entertainment who oversees the company's expansion into vertical dramas, told Mashable.

In other words, WEBTOON already taught millions of people to scroll through stories.

Now it's betting they'll scroll through TV, too.

Why WEBTOON is getting into microdramas Microdramas have exploded into a booming corner of mobile entertainment, attracting audiences with heightened emotions, familiar tropes, relentless cliffhangers, and episodes short enough to consume between TikToks.

The format generated an estimated $11 billion globally in 2025 according to research firm Omdia, while the U.S. has emerged as one of its most lucrative markets.

WEBTOON has been watching.