iWorld
A majority of Facebook’s 3 million advertisers are SMBs’
MUMBAI: Facebook announced that a vast majority of its three million active advertisers are small and midsize businesses (SMBs’). The number of advertisers is up by fifty per cent in one year. Small businesses are mobile and a million advertisers create an ad directly on mobile for Facebook. The social media giant says that the three top advertising brand categories are services, local commerce and eCommerce.
As per data shared by Facebook 70 per cent of the three million companies are from outside the US, with the fastest growing region being south east Asia. 57 per cent of people on Facebook in India are connected to small businesses.
What’s more, as of October 2015, nearly 2 million small businesses in India actively use Facebook Pages because they’re free, easy to use, and they immediately give businesses a digital and mobile strategy. It is interesting to note that of 142 million monthly active users are in India alone, 133 million are active on mobile, facilitating over 1.99 billion interactions generated between businesses and people in India
Keeping the India market in mind, Facebook had also up the SME India Council for the first time in Asia Pacific, while an India Client Council with global advertisers was established in 2014. The SME India Council will meet few times over the coming months to discuss progress on solutions, business ideas, discuss new successes and challenges and meet the Facebook teams.
Currently more than 50 million small businesses use Facebook’s free Pages product to grow. Going by their analytics, more than one billion people on Facebook are connected to at least one business.
To celebrate these businesses, the social media giant has also announced the development of Your Business Story, a new movie tool that makes it easy for business owners to showcase what their company brings to the world. As part of the tool, businesses are able to upload their photos from their Page, overlay with music and share “what they are in the business of” doing.
iWorld
Micro-Dramas Surge in India, Redefining Mobile Content Habits
Meta-Ormax study maps rapid rise of short-form storytelling among 18–44 audiences.
MUMBAI: Micro-dramas aren’t just short, they’re the snack that ate Indian entertainment, and now everyone’s bingeing between the sofa cushions. Meta, in partnership with Ormax Media, has released ‘Micro Dramas: The India Story’, a comprehensive study unveiled at the inaugural Meta Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. The report maps how the vertical, bite-sized format is reshaping content consumption for mobile-first audiences aged 18–44 across 14 states.
Conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 through 50 in-depth interviews and 2,000 personal surveys, the research reveals that 65 per cent of viewers discovered micro-dramas within the last year proof of explosive adoption. Nearly 89 per cent encounter the format through social feeds and recommendations, making algorithm-driven discovery the primary engine rather than active search.
Key viewing patterns show a median of 3.5 hours per week (about 30 minutes daily) spread across 7–8 short sessions. Consumption peaks between 8 pm and midnight, with additional spikes during commutes and work breaks classic “in-between moments” that the format fills perfectly. Around 57 per cent of viewing happens in ambient mode (while doing something else), and 90 per cent is solo, enabling more intimate, personal storytelling.
Romance, family drama and comedy lead genre preferences. Audiences show growing openness to AI-generated content, 47 per cent find it unique and creative, while only 6 per cent say they would avoid it entirely. Regional languages are surging after Hindi and English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada dominate consumption.
Meta, director, media & entertainment (India) Shweta Bajpai said, “Micro-drama isn’t a passing trend, it’s rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment. In under a year, an entirely new category of platforms has emerged, built audience habits from scratch, and created a business vertical that is scaling fast.”
Ormax Media founder-CEO Shailesh Kapoor added, “Micro-dramas are beginning to show the early signs of becoming a distinct content category in India’s digital entertainment landscape. When a format aligns closely with how audiences naturally engage with their devices, it has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The study proposes ecosystem-wide responsibility, universal signposting of commercial intent, shared accountability among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents, built-in safeguards, and formal media literacy in schools.
In a feed that never sleeps and a day that never stops, micro-dramas have slipped into the cracks of every spare minute turning 30-second stories into the new national pastime, one vertical swipe at a time.
