iWorld
Sons of the Soil: Jaipur Pink Panthers drops on Amazon Prime Video
KOLKATA: The highly anticipated docu-series Sons of the Soil: Jaipur Pink Panthers has finally debuted on Amazon Prime Video. The five-episode series, directed by British director Alex Gale, stars the players from Pro Kabaddi League’s Jaipur Pink Panthers team, alongside Abhishek Bachchan, the team owner.
Produced by BBC Studios India, Sons Of The Soil: Jaipur Pink Panthers traces the team's journey through season 7 of the tournament and captures their highs and lows. Character-driven and illuminating in many ways, it is sure to resonate with fans of the contact sport who are starved of live kabaddi action.
This is Amazon Prime Video’s first Indian original sports docu-series about kabaddi. This unscripted show explores professional kabaddi and its players, with the help of honest and unfiltered documentation of everything – from the making of a kabaddi team, to the sacrifices that go into sustaining the team, making it an emotional journey you can’t help but feel invested in.
Since its inception seven years ago, the PKL’s popularity has only grown – as have the stakes in the competition. After riding high as the first ever PKL champions in 2014, the much-celebrated Jaipur Pink Panthers, arguably with the most popular team owners, failed to repeat the feat. This year, they decided to take a different route to reclaim their lost glory.
“Kabaddi is one sport that cannot be played well without teamwork, and that is the ethos of our Jaipur Pink Panthers family,” team owner Abhishek Bachchan said earlier. “I had made my digital debut with Amazon Original Series, Breathe: Into the Shadows so sharing the unfiltered story of my team, Jaipur Pink Panthers, through this global service made absolute sense. I believe we have created a show that will engage and inspire the audience.”
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.
