Lloyd Braun wants to make micro dramas Hollywood’s next breakout format — and he’s betting AI can make it happen.

The former ABC Entertainment chief and Yahoo Media Group head has teamed with ex-Showtime president Jana Winograde, former NBCUniversal content chair Susan Rovner, and Cineverse CEO Chris McGurk to launch MicroCo, a vertically shot, phone-first streaming platform for soapy, serialized, one-to-three-minute shows — think TikTok meets telenovelas.

Already a $7 billion business in China, micro dramas have titles like Selling My Virginity to the Mafia King and Pregnant by My Ex’s Professor Dad on apps such as ReelShort. Seasons run 30 to 150 episodes, production costs can be as low as $15,000 for an entire season, and episodes are designed to hook viewers in seconds. Analysts predict the genre could top $10 billion globally (outside China) by 2027.

“This is a rare white space in entertainment: an emerging global format with no clear leader in the U.S.,” Braun tells THR.

Funded by Cineverse and Braun’s Banyan Ventures, MicroCo will operate on a freemium model — offering free initial episodes, then charging via credits or subscriptions to unlock the rest. Ads are also on the table. The app is slated to launch early next year.

Unlike Quibi — the short-form service that famously flamed out in 2020 after burning through $1.4 billion — MicroCo plans to keep costs lean by integrating AI across production. Intelligent Animation, another Banyan-backed startup, will help slash animation costs from $15,000–$60,000 per minute to as little as $1,500.

“All of our content will have a human touch,” says Winograde, now MicroCo’s CEO. “But we’re going to use technology to scale smartly while delivering addictive storytelling.”

The plan: establish stakes in three seconds, hit a cliffhanger by 23 seconds, and retain the frothy, bingeable DNA that’s fueled the format overseas. Rovner, who officially joins in October, will lead creative — drawing on two decades at Warner Bros. TV, where she helped shepherd Ted Lasso, Gossip Girl and The Flash.

Cineverse, which holds a 50% stake in MicroCo, will build the app and leverage its library of 71,000 media properties for potential adaptations. The tech-driven entertainment company gained industry attention last year for turning the micro-budget Terrifier 3 into a $90 million global hit with under $1 million in marketing.

So why haven’t legacy studios jumped in?

“The entertainment business is in complete turmoil,” McGurk says. “The big studios are busy plugging holes. We’ve got the team, the tech, and the runway to actually focus on new, innovative formats.”