A young woman is desperate to raise US$50,000 for her mum’s life-saving medical treatment. She will get the money, but only if she agrees to her stepsister’s unusual proposal: to marry her wayward fiancé, who comes from a wealthy family but also has a criminal record.

That is the plot line for an episode of The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband.

It may sound like a telenovela. In fact, it is a popular series that appears on ReelShort, an app where audiences can view on their smartphones over-the-top, dramatic tales reminiscent of soap operas called micro dramas.

Unlike a regular television show, this drama unfolds over 60 episodes, each lasting one to three minutes. After six episodes, viewers hit a paywall, where they can continue watching ad-free with a US$20 weekly subscription, watch ads or pay as they go.

Already, the series has garnered more than 494 million views since it launched in 2022, and ReelShort says it has made more than US$4 million from the show.

These micro dramas – also referred to as vertical dramas because of the format they are presented in – lean heavily into sensationalism. Their budgets are typically less than US$300,000 per series. Many of them are filmed in Los Angeles.