India, May 16 -- Writer, producer Shibani Keshkamat-Tait's energy is infectious. She is even more lively lately as her micro drama series on Indonesia's popular streaming service Vidio has become a hit barely two weeks after its release on the platform. Each episode of the micro drama titled 'Pura Pura Nikah' (My Fake Wedding) lasts one and a half minutes and the 100-episode series was dropped all in one go. Though familiar with India's entertainment industry, Shibani moved to writing for Indonesia's television and streaming platforms 25 years ago. After her micro drama series success, she's getting queries from the India market where the chatter around such bite-sized content is rising. Both short-format video platforms and large streaming services seem to be looking for writers, directors and producers to make micro drama series. Micro dramas or vertical dramas (they're watched on vertical mobile screens) first emerged in China three years ago on the back of increased consumption of short vertical videos by mobile users. The trend reached the US where ReelShort became the go-to platform for micro drama series. Shibani thinks the vertical drama wave in India may take some time to come but she could be mistaken. MX Player's micro drama vertical MX Fatafat is expected to start soon. "Micro drama is drama-content presented in vertical format which doesn't really exist in India. Though you have disconnected pieces of content that people scroll vertically, micro dramas have a singular story spread over two-minute episodes. It's fairly unique and we're very excited about it," says Amogh Dusad, director and head of content, Amazon MX Player. Today, not just content but the format the content is presented in requires innovation and vertical short-form drama promises a great opportunity to engage with customers, Dusad says, without sharing MX Fatafat details. He's bullish on India as a multi-demographic market where digital video has revolutionized the way people consume content and the touchpoints where they access it. "There might be occasions when viewers want to consume short-stories or pocket-size content and we aim to provide exactly that," he says. An executive at JioStar says though the new bite-sized format is under discussion, he has no concrete plans to share. "Some platforms are toying with the idea, others are testing pilots but there's been no sustainable micro drama rollouts," he says. However, a couple of short-form video players are populating their platforms with Chinese and Korean vertical drama series dubbed for India. People believe what worked in China may work here as youth across the world are similarly low on patience with a tendency to move on quickly. "But you cannot rush into a format like this," says the JioStar executive. Besides, it isn't clear if India has the talent to create vertical drama series. They require a different grammar, structure and narrative, Shibani says. MX Player's Dusad agrees that it has to be extremely fast-paced story-telling. "This may require a bit of unlearning and re-learning but we will adapt quickly to create compelling content," he says, asserting his faith in Indian talent. Independent media and entertainment industry consultant Shrirang Nargund feels India's social media creators may step up to meet the challenge more than the large production houses. "Lakhs of creators are doing a great job on platforms like YouTube, Instagram etc. They're not making micro dramas, but they could since they know what young audiences want," he says. Micro dramas involve fantastical storytelling, Shibani says. "Each episode starts and ends with a cliffhanger, making them addictive. Currently, everyone's making romantic dramas but the genres will expand," she adds. Nargund points to their monetisation challenge. But platforms are likely to use a hybrid model addressing different consumers. For instance, audiences may be able to see the first 10 episodes free and then pay to unlock more episodes. Or, viewers may agree to watch ads to access fresh episodes. Dusad is confident that multiple business models could emerge in the future. The first step is to create consumer engagement, he says. There are high hopes from the micro drama format in India since the conventional formats are flopping. Theatres are not delivering returns and streaming platforms are struggling. But will they supplant everything else? Not really, since you still need a Pataal Lok which cannot be done in a minute, Shibani says. But they are likely to force other formats to do better....