TikTok is testing a new micro-drama feed, and its top shows feature AI zombies and sad polar bears

• TikTok is testing a new mini-drama feed, “TikTok Short drama,” inside its app.
• Some of its most popular series are AI-generated, featuring characters like a sad, dancing polar bear.
• This new push shows how serious TikTok is about cracking the micro-drama space.

Brace yourself for raunchy mini dramas in your TikTok feed.

TikTok has begun a limited test of a new mini-drama feed in its app, dubbed “TikTok Short Drama,” a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

The feature looks a lot like TikTok’s separate mini-drama app, PineDrama, but appears in the main app instead. It’s currently available to a small group of users over 18 in the US and a handful of other regions, the spokesperson said.

Many of the popular videos on TikTok’s short drama feed, which are made by partners, appear on PineDrama, too. TikTok vets the content that shows up in the feed.

At the top of TikTok’s mini-drama library are categories like “Crime Lord,” “Cute Kids,” “One-night stand,” and “CEO.” Scroll through some of the episodes, and you’ll see: mermaids, depressed polar bears dancing on beaches, AI-generated zombies, and even a “Burger CEO” seemingly poking fun at the CEO of McDonald’s.

Mini dramas — also known as “verticals” or “micro dramas” — are shows broken into short clips, typically one to five minutes long. Popular plots involve sexy billionaires, sordid love affairs, or tales of revenge. They’re immensely popular in China, where TikTok’s parent ByteDance was founded, and are increasingly gaining steam in the US. Some up-and-coming American actors are starring in “verticals” rather than filming for Hollywood, and it’s helping them pay their bills.

Mini-drama apps pulled in $1.4 billion in the US last year, according to an estimate from the streaming consulting firm Owl & Co. Some of the category leaders include DramaBox and ReelShort.

Many startups in the space operate on a freemium model, where the first few episodes are free but you have to pay to watch the rest. On TikTok’s short-drama feed, all episodes are free.

TikTok’s launch of a short-drama product raises an interesting question: Who will “own” the format’s future on the platform? Will TikTok become a marketplace for short-drama apps (like Roku does for streaming) or will it make a more aggressive push into original content (like Netflix or Disney)?

At the moment, the company is keeping both lanes open.

Viewers of TikTok’s short-drama repertoire are prompted to download PineDrama after watching some videos.

However, TikTok also highlights a slate of 20 other third-party short-drama feeds in its app via its minis program, which allows users to stream content from partners like ShortMax, FlareFlow, and YuzuDrama directly within TikTok. Users can watch a few episodes for free on most of these partner feeds, but eventually have to pay.

Some micro-drama companies, like DramaBox, are spending big on TikTok ads to promote their separate apps, too.

AI polar bears and Tarzan knock-offs

While human actors regularly appear on TikTok’s feed, AI-generated content is also prevalent.

One of the most popular — and bizarre — shows on TikTok is “Untamed,” an AI-generated riff on Tarzan, with a character named “Targay.”

The show has more than 500 million views, per the TikTok app. In one of the minute-long episodes, the plot even takes an existential turn about AI.

“Ice all gone. No home,” a polar bear says to two human characters, including Targay, on a beach. “AI computers generating content using too much power, creating heat.”

The episode ends with the polar bear dancing with humans (including babies) and gorillas wearing bikinis.

“If I’m going to die, might as well dance,” the AI-generated polar bear says. The episode closes with an ironic acknowledgment that it was made with AI.