It’s April 2020. Quibi has officially come onto the scene with its bite-sized, mobile-first, episodic content. In less than seven months, Quibi will be dead.

Fast-forward to May 2026. ReelShort and DramaBox, two microdrama apps, are the most-downloaded video-streaming apps worldwide, beating out Netflix, according to Sensor Tower’s annual State of Mobile report. TikTok is operating PineDrama, a microdrama app; testing a microdrama feed within the TikTok app; and striking deals with Hollywood talent like Issa Rae to create microdrama content. In Tinseltown, current and former legacy TV executives from companies like Showtime, NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment, and Miramax are investing in and producing microdramas. TelevisaUnivision announced an expanded slate of microdrama programming on its streamer this week after last year’s initial investment delivered more than 1 billion views and has grown nearly 50% quarter over quarter. And in ad land, brands like Maybelline, Crocs, and Starbucks are dabbling in the content format for everything from holiday campaigns to ongoing series.

Today, bite-sized, mobile-first content is all the rage—and the grim reaper is nowhere to be seen.

So what changed in six years? Notably, there was a pandemic. For Quibi, the rise of working from home during the pandemic spelled doom for an app whose programming was meant to be consumed during daily commutes and coffee breaks. Meanwhile, the scrolling addictions developed during lockdown have only compelled users to look for more places to scroll further—and microdramas, with roughly two-minute-long episode lengths, soapy, cliffhanger-framed storylines, and sometimes hundreds of episodes per series, provide plenty of opportunities.

“When I started to look at this, it was the data and the audience behavior trends that I think I’ve been waiting for my whole career in digital,” Scott Brown, CEO of the digital production company Second Rodeo, told us. “People, at the end of the day, love these stories not because there’s a very unique creator behind them, but because they want to know what happens next.”

As with any rising trend, the brands continue to trickle in, exploring how to make their own characters and ultra-short storylines to entertain and entice consumers. But is the microdrama trend worth investing in, as either a content format for ads or a platform to place ads? After all, Quibi had advertisers, too.

Continue reading here.—JN

Upfronts week can be something of a slog. On Tuesday evening at the Javits Center, the Walt Disney Company did its best to get advertisers singing instead of slumping in their seats.

Sports was a hyper-present topic throughout the presentation—not unexpected for the company that owns ESPN and the rights to the 2027 Super Bowl—and Disney execs leaned into other live entertainment properties like Dancing with the Stars, the Grammys, and the Oscars.

“It’s really just a year of live, and we own it,” Adam Monaco, EVP of sales for Disney Advertising, told Marketing Brew ahead of the event, noting the company’s College Football Playoffs, Grammys, Super Bowl, and Academy Awards rights for 2027. “These are the moments that drive unmatched reach and real-time attention across sports entertainment, as well as cultural moments that matter. Together, they position Disney really at the center of the biggest live-viewing windows in the marketplace.”

In typical Disney fashion, a roster of A-list celebrities graced the stage alongside execs; the Savannah Bananas, Anne Hathaway, and new CEO Josh D’Amaro kicked things off, while Jimmy Kimmel closed the show as he usually does—before attendees were treated to a surprise performance from Olivia Rodrigo.

Read more here.—AM

OpenAI has plans to beef up its roster of marketing execs.

The company is looking to hire creative and partnerships leaders in Latin America and Europe and is expanding marketing hires in Asia, according to listings on the company’s careers page. The listings, which signal an effort to brand-build and find new business in international markets, come as OpenAI also aggressively pushes into its ads business; last week, the company announced it would soon open its ChatGPT ads pilot to the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea.

Around the world in 80 days: In Latin America, OpenAI is looking for a creative director who is “culturally fluent across LATAM markets,” the job listing reads. The executive will “lead creative direction across LATAM brand campaigns, marketing, digital, content, experiential, events, and partnerships across audiences from consumer to B2B.” That person will also work with OpenAI’s international and US creative studio, its in-house teams, in tandem with local marketers, according to the post.

In Europe, the company is also looking to add to its talent roster and seeking a head of partnerships, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), according to another post on the company’s job board. According to that listing, that executive will be in charge of facilitating “a regional partnership strategy that accelerates adoption of OpenAI’s products” and could work out of OpenAI’s Paris, Dublin, London, or Munich outposts.

And in the APAC region, OpenAI is hiring social and consumer marketing leads in Japan, as well as a social marketing lead in South Korea, according to job listings.

Continue reading here.—JS

Real jobs shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

• Vice President, Digital Health Strategist at FleishmanHillard
• Brand Manager at Winland Foods
• Copywriter / Senior Copywriter, Political Cycle 2026 at FleishmanHillard
• Senior Marketing Copywriter at Billie
• Director of Creative Operations at REI

Stories we’re jealous of.

• The New York Times wrote about the thriving secondhand market for pharmaceutical merch, aka “pharmacore.”
• The Current wrote about how Chinese electric vehicle companies are “getting serious about brand-building.”
• New York Magazine wrote about the various strategies Delta has used to win over elite clientele in air travel.