iWorld
Lionsgate Play to premiere crime thriller series ‘The Pact’
Mumbai: Lionsgate Play will premier the crime thriller drama series The Pact on 11 June. Directed by Rebecca Johnson and Eric Styles, the six-episode series stars Abbie Hern, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Laura Fraser, Eiry Thomas, and Heledd Gwynn as friends with a common agenda of acrimony towards their functional team leader.
The Pact revolves around the lives of five colleagues who share similar concerns regarding their current boss. The five make common cause of their vindictive feelings, and abduct their unconscious boss, taking him into the woods. While they had planned to click his pictures in a semi undressed state to be circulated on social media and made to go viral, to leave him embarrassed, things didn’t go as per their plans.
When the friends next return to the woods to check on him, they find his cold lifeless body introducing criminal intrigue into the story plot. They make a pact on what has to be done next. The unexpected moments with twists and turns throughout the night play out for the major part of the six-part teleseries.
Magnificent locations, right from the chilling scenes in the woods to the warmth of the brewery all form a part of the unfolding drama of entanglement and secrets along with the suffering repercussions that follow.
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.
