The Economist.
After a steamy night of passion and posing for selfies, a couple wakes up in bed together.
Neither of them has any idea who the other one is.
What the hell are you doing here?
Have you lost your mind?
Their phones ring.
Hi, I'm busy right now.
I'll call you.
What?
And they discover that they seem to be married.
To whom?
So then what?
End of episode.
All this happens in one minute 35 seconds.
That's the first episode of Insta Marriage, a micro drama from a Chinese owned platform called Real Short.
Micro dramas are China's response to a new age when audiences attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
They're dramas with episodes shorter than an average TV commercial and packed full of twists and turns.
And these micro dramas have been a huge success.
Between 2021 and 2023, their market has grown tenfold.
Last year, micro drama revenues outperformed the film industry in China for the first time.