On April 25th, the GTC 2025 Short Drama Conference concluded successfully in Shenzhen with exciting insights from Digital Turbine’s APAC Supply Sales VP Helen Chen, who took the stage to share “2025 Growth Strategies for Short Drama Apps Going Global”—a deep dive into regional trends, hybrid monetization strategies, and fresh opportunities through brand takeover and alternative distribution models.
The 50% Club: North America Still Reigns Short Drama Revenue
Not all markets hold the same cards (or users). Chen broke it down here:
- North America still rules with 50% of global user watch time and top earnings. Fans in NA love paying to unlock episodes or subscribe for premium memberships.
- Southeast Asia & Japan are booming markets in APAC, exploring smarter monetization stacks to tap into growth opportunities.
The big revelation here: “The Short Drama audience persona heavily overlaps with web novel readers, and that is why mixing in-app ads (IAA) and in-app purchases (IAP) works magic for short drama publishers.”
Pro tip: Use ad placements like rewarded videos to boost revenue without annoying binge-watchers.
When Ads Become Storylines: How Brands Are Fueling 35% of Short Drama Profits
Banner ads might still work for some apps, but 2025 is all about brand storytelling. DT enables Brand Takeovers, seamlessly weaving brand content into the app experience storyline - placing products from jewelry to car brands into the app journey. Other insights shared at the event:
- Brand ad budgets hit 35%+ of total spend last holiday season (registering 50% during peak holiday seasons).
- Brand advertisers could care less about clicks and more about completion rates of video views, great for keeping viewers hooked.
And here’s a win for user experience: DT Offer Wall placements (“earn points for free episodes” features) are exploding. Leading audio series platform PocketFM saw a revenue uptick right after adding Offer Wall to their monetization stack. “Adding DT Offer Wall to our monetization strategy proved to be a seamless path to optimizing our rewards structure. It drove a 15% revenue lift, consistently outperforming other offerwalls and delivering higher CPMs”, said Nagakiran, Senior Programmatic Revenue Manager of PocketFM.
DT’s ONE Store International: Your Global Launchpad
For those breaking into new markets, DT’s recent acquisition of ONE Store International offers some major opportunities:
- Global-scale advertising with built-in alternative IAP billing
- Tailored support for alternative APKs
- Partnerships with top US telecoms
Chen wrapped up her session with DT’s mission: “We’re not just another ad platform. As the largest independent mobile growth platform, we connect every brand and app to the right mobile user, anywhere. For app developers, we are your full-cycle partner.” DT’s end-to-end solutions turn regional niche into profit: Hybrid model monetization for sticky audiences, diversified brand ads for premium eCPMs, and alternative distribution channel for global scaling.
With the Short Drama market size projected to hit $14B by 2027 (iiMedia Research), the playbook is clear. With plans to double down on global expansion in 2025, DT will continue its journey toward a Short Drama worldwide takeover.
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