iWorld
YouTube goes big at Mipcom Cannes 2025 with 20th anniversary blowout
PARIS: YouTube is pulling out all the stops for its 20th anniversary, marking the occasion with a heavyweight presence at Mipcom Cannes this October—the global television industry’s biggest annual market.
For the first time, the Google-owned platform will anchor itself at the Palais des Festivals with a branded hospitality space dubbed the YouTube Space, a daily schedule of creator economy workshops, and a headline keynote from Pedro Pina, YouTube’s vice-president for EMEA. The festivities will span both Mipcom (13–16 October) and MipJunior (11–12 October), as the platform ramps up efforts to forge deeper alliances with global TV players.
“Mipcom Cannes is where the industry is, and 2025 is the year of the global creator economy,” said Mipcom Cannes and MipJunior director Lucy Smith “YouTube’s presence is a strong signal of how creator-led content is reshaping traditional models.”
The platform’s participation ties into a broader Mipcom push to bridge the gap between digital-native creators and legacy media, with new initiatives designed to foster fresh storytelling, co-production, and monetisation models.
Chief among these is the international debut of BrandStorytelling—a summit born at Sundance and now making its European bow. The forum aims to link brands, digital creators, and producers in funding and distributing brand-backed narratives, with showcases and networking slated for 13–14 October.
The event also sees the Producers Hub reimagined as the Mip Creative Hub, transforming a beachside venue on the Croisette into a buzzing nexus for creators, studios, and brands. Meanwhile, the expanded MIP Innovation Lab inside the Palais returns with a slate of summits and demos on AI, Fast channels, CTV, and streaming. YouTube will host a series of practical workshops on audience building, monetisation, and format strategy.
Pina called the collaboration “a strategic move to bolster our international TV partnerships and showcase YouTube’s evolving role in the global content ecosystem”.
Last year’s Mipcom drew over 10,500 delegates from more than 100 countries. With YouTube now in the mix, the 2025 edition looks set to be the most creator-powered yet.
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.
