Cassandra Yang, CEO and cofounder of RisingJoy, tells ScreenMDM about how the company has assembled a microdrama distribution catalog and its aspirations to evolve into a studio working across original content, co-development, and branded experiences.
Yang spoke at NEM Dubrovnik this week and is heading to Bali next week to speak at APOS as part of that event’s vertical entertainment strand.
Give us the backstory of RisingJoy and the growth opportunities you saw in the sector at the time. How are you positioning the company amid this surging interest in the format?
RisingJoy was founded on a straightforward conviction: that microdrama was not a passing trend but a genuinely new content format with global legs, and that the world outside China was significantly underserved. We launched our content licensing business in 2024. From the outset, our focus was on curation rather than volume, identifying the highest-performing titles from China’s most premium studios and bringing them to international platforms that were beginning to recognize the opportunity.
In just a short time, we now have distribution partnerships across more than 30 countries and work with 50-plus local apps and platforms. What sets us apart is the depth of our China market knowledge and our ability to translate that into actionable content strategies for global partners.
Our ambition now is to evolve RisingJoy into a full-service micro-entertainment studio and platform, moving beyond licensing to include original production, co-development, and branded content experiences.
How far behind do you think the rest of the world is vis-à-vis China in this space currently? Has the U.S. started to close the gap?
I think about market maturity in terms of evolutionary stages. By that measure, most markets outside China are still in “Era 1.0,” i.e., microdrama is recognized by the industry, but it hasn’t yet broken into the mainstream. The average microdrama consumer base internationally is roughly a tenth of the short-video audience, which tells you how much headroom there is.
China, by contrast, has already entered Era 4.0: more than half of short-video users have become microdrama consumers; the monthly active user base of microdrama platforms now exceeds that of legacy OTTs; revenue from microdrama has surpassed the domestic movie box office; and billion-view premium titles are generating genuine media buzz. In fact, based on my observations, it’s already moving into Era 5.0—defined by AI-driven production—while that conversation is still in its early stages in most other markets.
The U.S. is the fastest-growing market outside China, and I would place it at Era 2.0: all the major players have begun experimenting with vertical microdrama, and we are seeing real commitment to original production. We receive strong and consistent interest from across the U.S. market, from established Hollywood studios and streaming platforms to newer apps entering the space.
It is becoming a highly competitive market, and that is a healthy sign. I am genuinely encouraged by how quickly our U.S. partners are scaling their microdrama businesses.
We’re seeing a lot of companies slicing up “traditional” content to fill the volume gap in microdrama. What’s your take on this trend?
Microdrama is a distinct format, not simply long-form content cut short. Every high-performing title I have encountered, including those we represent—such as The Dark Side of the Sun and Fallen into the Spring Night—has been conceived as microdrama from the ground up. That includes the scripts, the pacing, the performance style, the episode structure, all of it native to the format.
For any traditional player looking to build a genuine competitive edge, editing their existing horizontal library is not the answer. The winning titles will come from understanding what makes microdrama work on its own terms.
I expect more producers to learn this through trial and error, and those who invest in developing that expertise early will have a real advantage.
Tell us about the distribution library you’ve assembled, and your approach to distribution. Where are you seeing the strongest gains? What kinds of clients are you working with?
We have been very deliberate about the studios we work with, and we have established relationships with some of the most premium microdrama studios in China, as well as strong production partners across Asia. Our curated catalog is our defining asset.
We select titles based on performance data and organize them into clear tiers. Diamond level, which means more than 1 billion views, includes Summer Rose and Don’t Be a Good Girl; and Premium level titles, at more than 100 million views, span Chinese, Korean, and English titles across a range of genres.
But it is not just about the content itself. What we offer partners goes beyond a content list: we share data insights, provide programming guidance, and adapt our offering based on what is actually working in each market.
Our clients are international platforms of all kinds: established streaming and OTT players seeking a second window for audience growth, new apps that have scaled up from adjacent online services, and telecom operators with large user bases who recognize microdrama as a natural next content vertical. What they have in common is that they are all serious about microdrama as a long-term business, not a trial. We grow alongside them.
Tell us about your approach to partnerships, including the one you have with Double Vision.
We place enormous value on working with premium studios and creative partners outside China, and we approach every partnership with that seriousness. Double Vision is a highly respected production powerhouse with a strong track record in content creation and deep connections across Asia, the U.S., and Europe. Having them as a strategic partner is something we are genuinely proud of. Together, we are building a content creative hub focused on developing original micro formats for the global market, formats conceived for the vertical screen rather than adapted from elsewhere. That creative pipeline is, we believe, one of RisingJoy’s most significant competitive advantages for the future of micro entertainment.
What would you say to people who dismiss vertical drama as being of lesser quality and think this short-form scrolling trend is a fad?
I would point them to what has already happened in China. Quality has improved continuously as the format has matured, driven by audience feedback, fan engagement, and a growing community of production talent and media professionals who have committed to microdrama seriously.
That same evolution is already playing out in markets outside China, and I expect it to accelerate significantly in 2026. Micro entertainment in a vertical format is not a fad; it is a direct response to how the mobile generation consumes content.
The demand is real, the behavior is entrenched, and the best is still ahead. I believe vertical micro entertainment will be one of the defining content formats for the next generation of audiences.
What expansion opportunities are you pursuing in the coming months, on the heels of attending NEM and APOS?
RisingJoy is always looking to deepen relationships with content buyers, creative studios—including those embracing AI production—and IP companies open to co-development. Those three pillars define where we are focused right now. At the same time, we are evolving as a company, and that opens up new kinds of conversations: co-marketing partners and co-development studios who want to build something together rather than simply transact.