How China’s short-video streamers are reshaping Latin America’s media

Latin America’s media landscape is being reshaped by a new suite of entertainment producers, as short drama platforms, often with business ties to China, command an increasingly large share of the region’s video streaming market.

According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2026 report published last week, demand for short dramas is driving a “structural shift in consumer attention”, with such content thriving in Latin America.

Globally, the number of downloads of short-drama platforms surged by 186% year-on-year, to 733 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, surpassing those of video-streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+, at 658 million, according to the report.

Short dramas, also known as “micro”, or “mini” dramas, refer to vertically-shot serials featuring episodes typically no longer than three minutes long.

“The appeal of short dramas lies in their ability to deliver emotional intensity and stimulation, which is also what allowed the format to rise so rapidly in popularity”, says Wenjia Tang, research associate from the University of Sydney’s Media and Communications department.

First popularized in China on short-form content-sharing apps like Douyin, a sister app of TikTok, and Kuaishou, short dramas have found international appeal, with popular platforms such as ReelShort and DramaBox now producing content dubbed in English, Spanish and French, among others.

Although short dramas are increasingly expected to meet higher standards of production quality and professionalism, their original narrative style has largely been retained – delivering low-effort, low-commitment entertainment that requires neither deep thought nor extended attention, Tang told CNBC.

Such content is often “easier to digest” for consumers accustomed to watching short-form content like TikTok videos and Instagram reels, as opposed to longer-form content from streaming platforms like Netflix, according to Seema Shah, Vice President of Insights at Sensor Tower.

Sensor Tower reports that although there is a significant global uptick in consumption of short-drama content, Latin America is “emerging as the fastest-growing region for engagement” with these videos.

Latin American downloads of the top 20 short drama apps have increased by roughly 402% year-on-year in 2025, on top of a 4,300% year-on-year increase from 2024, according to Shah.

Not only do Latin American users overwhelmingly consume entertainment content on their mobile phones, there are also strong similarities between short dramas and telenovelas – a genre of serialized drama popular in Latin American countries, according to Maria Rua Aguete, Head of Media and Entertainment at research firm Omdia.

Short drama platforms DramaBox and ReelShort consistently ranked as two of the region’s most downloaded video entertainment apps, with ReelShort’s 77 million downloads in 2025 slightly edging out Dramabox’s 74 million downloads, according to figures provided by Shah.

While officially based abroad, both platforms have business ties to China.

ReelShort is owned by Crazy Maple Studio, a content creation and distribution enterprise founded in 2017 in San Francisco. Despite having offices in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, Crazy Maple Studio remains a subsidiary of the COL Digital Publishing Group – a Chinese media conglomerate.

Similarly, while officially headed by the Singapore-based Storymatrix Pte. Ltd, DramaBox’s content remains the intellectual property of China’s DianZhong Technology, according to a copyright infringement claim that it filed against Crazy Maple Studio in 2025.

ReelShort and DramaBox are part of a suite of entertainment firms competing for a stake in Latin America’s growing video streaming market.

Omdia estimates that the total revenue generated by the Latin American market grew by 9.1% between 2024 to 2025 – more than triple the revenue growth in the U.S. over the same period. That growth is projected to accelerate to 10.7% in 2026.

Latin America’s expanding middle class is driving the growth in demand for short-video streaming, along with retail and ride-sharing services, according to Shah.

Short-drama platforms aren’t the only beneficiaries of the growing Latin American market. The region is also an important source of revenue growth for streaming giants like Netflix, which saw the fastest revenue growth on an FX-neutral basis from Latin America, according to its Q4 2025 earnings report.

While the download figures of short-drama platforms have begun surpassing those of longer-form providers, experts do not see these new short video streaming platforms as credible threats to market leaders like Netflix.

“Not now, and it is not their targets either. They are aiming for different audiences, and their profit manners are different,” Tang told CNBC.

While short-drama platforms have lower production costs and can produce content at a much higher rate than more traditional studios, their business models are generally contingent on advertising revenue and pay-per-view income, which does not necessarily translate into higher margins, according to Omdia’s Rua Aguete.

Omdia estimates that the total revenue for all short-drama streaming platforms generated from outside China will amount to $3 billion in 2026. In comparison, Netflix reported $12 billion in revenue in Q4 2025.

Nonetheless, as demand for short-drama content grows in Latin America and beyond, it is likely that these platforms will produce an increasingly diversified video-streaming market.

“I don’t believe short-drama apps are a complete replacement for streaming. They are, however, additional competition for consumers’ attention and dollars,” says Sensor Tower’s Shah.