Manchu Vishnu recently produced Kannappa, which generated very good revenues in the first weekend of its theatrical release, only to collapse at the box office later. The buzz is that the movie did attain break-even, because its budget was never more than Rs 70 Cr.
Vishnu has now undertaken an interesting endeavour. He is committing as much as Rs 100 Cr to it! He will be investing in Microdramas. These are a form of short-form video series designed for mobile viewing. They originated in China and are now gaining popularity in other parts of the world, including the United States and India. Microdramas are "serialized stories with many very short episodes, usually between one and six minutes long, but often as short as 90 seconds to two minutes".
Why is Vishnu investing one billion rupees? He must be seeing extraordinary revenue potential in Microdramas. In a price-sensitive country like India, the subscription-driven revenue model doesn't work. So, Vishnu might be looking at E-commerce and other sources. "A growing trend, particularly in China, is for microdramas to integrate e-commerce. Products are naturally placed within the plot, and viewers can be directed to product links or live-streaming sessions with the creators to make purchases," a website analyzes.
