iWorld
Short and sweet, One Take Media launches Vertigo TV for micro-dramas
MUMBAI: Two minutes to drama, sixty to closure storytelling just got a major speed boost. Mumbai-based One Take Media has taken a bold leap into India’s streaming wars with the launch of Vertigo TV App, a first-of-its-kind platform dedicated to vertical, short-form dramas. The app introduces Indian audiences to a global bingeing trend micro-dramas that wrap up entire story arcs in 40 to 60 episodes, with each instalment lasting barely two minutes.
In an era where Gen Z and millennials live by the swipe, Vertigo TV is built for the thumb and not the remote. It’s mobile-first, snackable, and designed for those who want their narratives as fast-paced as their feeds.
“Vertigo TV App isn’t just a platform; it’s a movement redefining storytelling,” said One Take Media Founder & CEO Anil Khera. “Today’s viewers want rich narratives—and they want them fast. We’re bringing gripping Korean, Chinese and international micro-dramas to India in a way that feels fresh, addictive and mobile-native.”
Micro-dramas, sometimes called mini-dramas or vertical dramas have exploded in Asia. By 2024, short-form videos made up over 60 per cent of all video consumption among 18–34-year-olds in Asia-Pacific, according to industry reports. In China alone, the micro-drama market was worth 5.3 billion dollars in 2023, growing at an impressive 18 per cent CAGR.
Vertigo TV aims to replicate that boom in India with its SVOD model priced at Rs 499 per year, available on both Android and iOS.
Why it clicks
● Hook in 10 seconds: Every drama is crafted to capture attention instantly.
● Mobile-optimised vertical format: Designed for on-the-go, one-hand viewing.
● Global stories, local touch: Content spans Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Hindi, and English originals, complete with subtitles.
● Binge without guilt: An entire show can be polished off during a commute, lunch break, or workout.
● High replay value: Short arcs make rewatching and sharing irresistible.
India’s OTT space has long been dominated by long-format web series and films. Vertigo TV flips the script by going short, vertical and international. With storytelling now tailored to India’s growing smartphone-first population, it offers a fresh alternative to the clutter of big-screen bingeing.
For viewers tired of endless episodes, cliffhangers that drag for months, or padded narratives, Vertigo TV offers a micro-dose of high-stakes drama with cinematic quality. It may well spark India’s own micro-drama revolution.
As Khera summed it up: “This is entertainment reimagined for the attention economy quick, powerful, and always within reach.
Gaming
India’s broadcasters say no to Fifa World Cup 2026
Fifa has slashed its asking price by 65 per cent but India’s broadcasters are still not buying
MUMBAI: The world’s biggest sporting event cannot find a single taker in the world’s most sports-mad nation. Fifa’s television rights for the 2026 World Cup remain unsold in India, and the clock is ticking loudly.
To shift the property, world football’s governing body has already swallowed hard and cut its asking price from $100m to $35m, bundling in the 2030 edition as a sweetener. It has not worked. Indian broadcasters have looked at the offer, done the sums and quietly walked away.
The reasons are brutally simple. The 2026 tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicks off in a time zone that turns India’s primetime into a graveyard shift. Most matches will air between midnight and 7am IST, a scheduling catastrophe for advertisers chasing mass reach. The 2022 Qatar edition was a gift by comparison, with matches dropping neatly into Indian evenings. North America offers no such luxury.
The market itself has also changed beyond recognition. The merger of Star India and Viacom18 into JioStar has gutted the competitive tension that once sent sports rights prices soaring. Where rival bidders once slugged it out, there is now a single dominant buyer, and it is in no hurry. JioStar has valued the rights at roughly $25m, a full $10m below Fifa’s already-discounted floor price. That gap has so far proved unbridgeable.
Broadcasters are also nursing a ferocious cricket hangover. Between 2022 and 2023, Indian media houses committed well over $10bn to cricket rights alone, covering IPL, ICC events and BCCI domestic fixtures combined. After a binge of that scale, appetite for a football package that delivers a fraction of the ratings, in the dead of night, is close to zero.
The economics of football broadcasting make the maths even harder. Cricket, with its natural breaks every few overs, is an advertiser’s paradise. Football offers a 15-minute halftime and precious little else. Recovering a nine-figure rights fee from a single half-hour ad window is a stretch at the best of times. These are not the best of times: the Indian government’s tightening grip on real-money gaming and gambling advertising has vaporised a category that once underwrote the economics of big sporting events.
Nor is the World Cup an anomaly. Indian Super League valuations have cratered. English Premier League rights have softened across successive cycles. The cooling of football as a broadcast commodity in India is structural, not cyclical.
With the tournament opening on 11th June, Fifa is running out of road. It may yet blink and meet JioStar at $25m. Or it may go direct, streaming the entire tournament on its own platform, Fifa+, or cutting a digital deal with YouTube, and hoping that a generation of Indian football fans finds its way there without a broadcaster to guide them.
Either way, the beautiful game’s Indian chapter is looking decidedly ugly.
