COL Group, VIRTUE Asia and V47 Entertainment have joined forces to stage what is being billed as the first-ever upfront event for microdramas and the vertical video economy, taking place in Singapore on October 27.
The initiative, Inside Microdramas, announced at the ContentAsia Summit in Bangkok, intends to bring together senior execs from the entertainment, advertising, technology, platform and consumer brand spaces. It will make a clear distinction between the serialized storytelling of microdramas and the broader mobile-first content industry. The theme of the event is “Inside the Business, Culture and Future of Entertainment’s Fastest-Growing Format.”
“Microdramas are not the entire story,” said Timothy Oh, GM for international at COL Group. “They are the first signal of a much bigger shift in how entertainment is created, distributed, funded and consumed. Inside Microdramas is designed to move the conversation beyond the format itself and explore the wider vertical entertainment economy emerging around it. It will also give brands the opportunity to participate much earlier, not simply as advertisers, but as partners in building the next generation of entertainment IP.”
David Webster, Chairman of V47 Entertainment, added, “The next evolution of branded entertainment will not come from placing brands into stories after they have already been developed. It will come from bringing brands, creators and producers together at the very beginning. This upfront creates a marketplace for that collaboration, where original ideas can find the right partners, funding and distribution to become entertainment audiences genuinely choose to watch.”
COL Group will present the opening session on how the rise of microdramas is forcing studios, platforms and creators to rethink how stories are developed, distributed and consumed. VIRTUE Asia, a strategic and creative agency, will explore how brands can engage audiences with mobile-first content. V47 Entertainment’s cross-industry panel will bring together representatives from brands, platforms, production and entertainment to examine the new economics shaping the sector.
The event will also showcase the upcoming slates at COL Group and V47 Entertainment, unveiling approximately 10 projects available for development and production with brand partners. There will also be dedicated sessions to allow brands and industry partners to discuss potential collaborations, commissions, financing, distribution, and co-development opportunities directly with the teams behind each project.
