below One of the main reasons for focusing on it is the participation of actor Lee Sang-yeop. These works are making inroads into various regions including Korea, North America, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and ‘Stormy Marriage’, which was released through the Dramabox platform, is especially attracting attention. This drama tells the love story of Seo Ji-an, the only daughter of a globally influential conglomerate, who hides her identity to avoid her father's excessive affection and control. In this process, Lee Sang-yeop plays the character Kim Hyun-woo, who enters into a contract marriage with Seo Ji-an and gradually falls in true love with her.


Viewers who saw Lee Sang-yeop in advertisements for short-form dramas through social media platforms such as YouTube Shorts expressed their curiosity by asking, "How does Lee Sang-yeop appear in there?" This drama was loved by viewers for its provocative yet immersive plot, garnering great interest in regions such as Korea and Japan, and setting a record of exceeding 10 million views in just 5 days.


In addition to Lee Sang-yeop, many other stars are making inroads into the world of short-form dramas. ‘Hello, Brothers’, in which actor Jeon No-min appeared, was released through a global short-form drama platform called Dramawave and ranked first in the world, and it was reported that Ji-sung Yoon has also confirmed his appearance in a work called ‘I am living with a chaebol that only I can see.’


Short-form dramas, with each episode lasting only 1 to 2 minutes, are different from traditional dramas and are more focused. It is capturing the attention of viewers with its unconventional story development. These short-form dramas are rapidly spreading in line with the recent trend of casual video consumption, and in China, it was reported that the size of the short-form drama market surpassed the movie box office last year. Statistics have also been announced that the market size will reach 63.4 billion yuan, or approximately 12.3 trillion won, by August 2025.


In Korea, short-form dramas have been criticized for "lack of probability," but despite this, an increasing number of viewers are increasingly fascinated by the thrilling fun of this type of drama. There is.


The production cost of short-form dramas is only about one-tenth of that of existing OTT dramas. As the film and drama market enters a recession, opinions are being raised that it is a natural trend for actors and creators to continue to challenge this genre, given that they can target the global market even at such low costs.


However, as Korea's short-form dramas are still only catching up to China's level, it has been pointed out that it is important to develop unique know-how unique to K-short-form dramas. An official from a video content production company said, "Short-form dramas use a different narrative grammar than existing dramas. Currently, there is a tendency to follow China's style, so it may be somewhat unfamiliar to domestic viewers," and "I think we need our own differentiated know-how to target the global market."


Even in the process of pursuing low production costs, systematic management is required to prevent the working environment of creators from becoming poor. The Hanbit Media Labor Human Rights Center recently held a forum under the theme of 'Labor behind the camera that platforms are changing' and discussed the emergence of short-form content and shorter contract periods as a result. According to a survey of 182 people working in short-form dramas and web dramas from July to August of this year, only 14.7% of them had written contracts. In addition, criticism was raised that the 'turnkey contract' method, which entrusts contracts to director-level staff rather than contracts with individual staff, accounts for 31%, and that the practice of working 15 hours a day, 4 days a week to fill 52 hours a week is becoming established.