Jeffrey Schenck, Barry Barnholtz and Peter Sullivan have spent two decades making films together for Netflix and Hallmark. On Wednesday they launched VertTV, a subscription service for vertical micro-dramas, and opened it with a lineup that brings together actors from classic television. According to Deadline, the title Finding Hope is directed and written by Marla Sokoloff, and it again stars Fuller House alumni Jodie Sweetin and John Brotherton.
The three founders came from the production company Hybrid, where they made several well-reviewed films for Netflix. Their psychological thriller Secret Obsession, according to the company’s own figures, drew more than 40 million viewers in its first month, and it is joined by the romantic thriller Fatal Affair, starring Nia Long and Omar Epps. For Hallmark they made Christmas Under Wraps, which they describe as the most-watched film in the network’s history. They want to carry that experience into a format that until now has relied on fast, cheap production.
What VertTV is launching
VertTV describes itself as a “premium filmmaker-led studio delivering high-stakes, cinematic genre television for mobile audiences”. The core is a standalone app for iOS and Android, supplemented by a YouTube channel with free previews as an entry point. The catalogue starts with more than 200 exclusive titles from television, streaming and independent film, sorted into genre sections from thrillers through romance to holiday content. New originals are to be added every month, and the first is the romantic corporate thriller Lone Star Hearts, starring Josh Henderson and Cindy Busby.
The studio is based in Los Angeles and keeps the whole chain in-house, from development and scripts through production and post-production to technology and distribution. It employs established directors, writers and local crews from classic television and film. The advisory board is made up of distribution and monetisation experts Gene George and Matt Cohen, and the production team is led by Brian Nolan and Ben Rosenthal. After launch, VertTV plans to add an ad-supported and à la carte option alongside the subscription.
The founders’ argument is about quality. “We know that these viewers are increasingly consuming content on their mobile devices, but they are tired of the disposable, low-quality options currently flooding the market,” said Schenck, promising a format that will ensure that “micro-series finally receive the star power and creative respect they deserve”. Sullivan added a craft framing. “Whether you are pacing a traditional 90-minute feature film or an 80-episode micro-series, the fundamental creative challenge remains exactly the same,” he said, according to Deadline. The goal remains “keeping an audience entirely captivated by a gripping narrative”.
Chinese rapid production built the category
Premium mobile video has already failed once in Hollywood. Jeffrey Katzenberg launched Quibi in 2020 with $1.75 billion in funding, names such as Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro, and episodes of under ten minutes. Within roughly six months Quibi had shut down. It had spent more than $1 billion and gained fewer than 1 million subscribers, against a target of 7 million. Roku bought its library for less than $100 million.
Meanwhile, China has taken the format forward on a different basis, not on stars and production value. It rests on cheap, fast production, iteration based on data, integration with payments and series adapted from web novels. According to research firm Media Partners Asia, Chinese micro-drama revenue rose from $500 million in 2021 to $7 billion in 2024, and last year it overtook the domestic box office for the first time. The firm put the market outside China at $1.4 billion for 2024, with a forecast of $9.5 billion by 2030. “It’s no longer a fad. It’s a new entertainment and monetization layer that sits between social media and streaming,” said Media Partners Asia CEO Vivek Couto, according to Variety.
The numbers give VertTV and its rivals reason to hurry. Deloitte expects in-app payment revenue from micro-series to more than double in 2026, to $7.8 billion from an estimated $3.8 billion a year earlier. The US share of global revenue is expected to fall from half to 40%, as money moves into other markets. Deloitte estimates that 662 million people in China used the format in 2024, while in the US around 30% of Gen Z and millennials knew of micro-series in spring 2025.
Europe already knows the format
The format reached Europe before the Hollywood wave. Ukrainian company Holywater runs the My Drama app in the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany and Poland, according to VideoWeek. FOX Entertainment has taken a stake in Holywater and, together with the studio, plans around 200 vertical series. In Britain, the vertical app Tattle TV is already running. The production principle remains the same as in China. “Our main idea is to get you hooked and interested for the first three seconds, and then get converted,” said My Drama studio head Sasha Tkachenko.
For a European brand considering its own channel, one thing follows from this. The format relies on hooking attention immediately and on payment per episode. Practices from traditional video do not transfer well to it.
Other studios debuted the same day
VertTV is not the only studio pushing into this space right now. According to Deadline, New Short Media debuted the same day, led by 5X Media executives Scott Einbinder and Alon Shtruzman. A growing group of companies is bringing Hollywood names and production standards to vertical video.
The economics remain open. VertTV and its competitors are betting that viewers lack stars and craft, but the price per episode and distribution will decide. Quibi showed that prestige alone does not win over mobile audiences.
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