Bengaluru, Oct. 23 -- Social media app ShareChat is betting on micro dramas to reverse a dip in advertising revenue, targeting highly engaged audience with premium content. The Bengaluru-based firm is banking on a five-month-old micro drama app Quick TV, hoping a surge in short-form nationwide consumption will lure back advertisers, Manohar Singh Charan, co-founder and chief financial officer, said in an interview. "Micro drama content lets you sell premium OTT-style inventory to an engaged audience while fetching a higher price (for ad)," he said. "We are seeing more advertisers interested in placing ads within this content." However, Singh did not comment on the planned investments in micro dramas. A micro drama is a serialized series with short episodes of 1-5 minutes in vertical format, designed for mobile-first consumption. Sharechat's Quick TV clocked 15 million downloads since its launch, Charan said, but did not share details of its paid subscriber base. Regional content for tier-2 and tier-3 audiences will be the top priority within micro dramas. Nearly 35 million users are already watching up to 200 million episodes daily on ShareChat and its short-video platform Moj, he noted. Sharechat runs two models -freemium (mix of free and paid) content under Quick TV and 100% free content under Sharechat and Moj. The company expects advertisement revenue will drive Quick TV. ShareChat's focus on micro dramas comes as its parent, Mohalla Tech Pvt. Ltd, saw ad revenue fall 8% to Rs.290 crore in FY25, from Rs.315 crore the previous year. Advertising, the company's second-largest revenue source after livestreaming, accounts for 40% of total income. In FY25, ShareChat's operating income rose slightly to Rs.723 crore from Rs.718 crore a year earlier. Charan largely attributed the ad revenue decline to 28% goods and services Tax (GST) imposed on real-money gaming apps in October 2023 that created a financial burden curtailing advertisers' performance marketing spend. India banned real-money gaming, an industry that had grown into one of the biggest advertisers in recent years, with firms such as Dream11, Games24x7, and Mobile Premier League (MPL) spending heavily on sponsorships and ads. The ban could wipe out nearly Rs.10,000 crore in advertising revenue, according to industry executives. ShareChat's Singh, however, noted that the firm had significantly reduced its exposure to real-money gaming following a 2023 tax hike. The micro drama strategy is key to ShareChat's target of hitting 30% revenue growth in FY26. The company crossed a Rs.1,000 crore annualized revenue rate by end of the first half of 2025-2026. The monetization of micro dramas aligns with the booming digital ad market, which breached Rs.1 lakh crore during March 2025, with digital channels accounting for nearly half of all spending, Crisil Intelligence estimates. The short-form video market clocked a $50 million monthly run rate, says Redseer....