{"podcast":{"title":"Channels with Peter Kafka","slug":"channels-with-peter-kafka-487706","podcast_index_feed_id":487706,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/recodemedia","website_url":"http://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/channels-with-peter-kafka","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e4384094-e69c-11e8-8066-d3e055e78c28/image/c9e40c7e1baaea55eee29ba9541579b7.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Vox Media Podcast Network","episode_count":598,"summary":"Media and tech aren’t just intersecting — they’re fully intertwined. And to understand how those worlds work, and what they mean for you, veteran journalist Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers - and gets them to spell it out in plain, BS-free English. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-02T20:20:06.224097+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706"},"episode":{"title":"The Weird, Big Business of Microdramas","slug":"the-weird-big-business-of-microdramas","published_at":"2026-08-26T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/the-weird-big-business-of-microdramas","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP9071008189.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP9071008189.mp3","summary":"Microdramas are the new phone-first soap operas: stories chopped into dozens of one-minute episodes: Low-budget productions filled with romance, werewolves, secret babies, and cliffhangers—and, eventually, a request that you pay to keep watching. Surprisingly, lots of people do.So how big is this business? And is it sustainable?I talk with Ali Albazaz, the CEO of Inkitt, which runs the CandyJar microdrama app, about turning web fiction into video, why he thinks CandyJar can be the HBO of microdramas, and why he is now making AI-generated action and superhero shows for men. Then I talk with Hernan Lopez of Owl & Co., whose new report estimates microdramas are already a $4 billion business outside China. We also talk about the obvious looming question: What happens when TikTok decides it wants to own this business itself? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Microdramas are the new phone-first soap operas: stories chopped into dozens of one-minute episodes: Low-budget productions filled with romance, werewolve…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2925,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/episodes/the-weird-big-business-of-microdramas/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/the-weird-big-business-of-microdramas.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}