It looks like each different week we’re getting hit with information concerning the leisure trade that impacts us as TV watchers. There are value hikes. There are firm mergers. Live sports activities streaming is messy. And there’s the continued convo about whether or not we’re again within the cable TV period, regardless of streaming companies’ takeover of our wallets and screens. It’s no shock that, on common, we spend $101 a month on streaming right here within the US. It’s in all probability no shock that the variety of households that also have conventional TV has declined to 41%, whereas 91% of us have streaming subscriptions, in keeping with Parks Associates. We’re streaming Stranger Things, NFL video games, Landman and reside occasions just like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We watch quite a bit at dwelling, and we watch extra on our telephones — whether or not we’re on the go or staying put at dwelling. Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based opinions. Add CNET as a most popular Google supply on Chrome.But there’s one thing else happening. We, as viewers, are altering the kind of content material that’s king, and we’re influencing how and what tales are made. Microseries might be the following ‘it’ styleDeloitte printed its 2026 Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions report in November, highlighting the brand new instructions TV is taking, because of our evolving viewing habits. The takeaway? Get prepared for extra microseries and video podcasts. This 12 months, media analysis specialists say we’re consuming extra video content material via social media and streaming companies, corresponding to YouTube, Netflix and TikTok, moderately than conventional TV. While there’s an uptick throughout all generations, Gen Z and millennials surveyed are getting most of their video leisure via social media and think about it their foremost approach of watching TV — by way of their telephones. It’s a shift that has gotten audiences accustomed to abbreviated types of leisure the place there’s an urge for food for short-form vertical movies, and microseries might turn out to be the following massive wave. Popularized in China, microseries — and their subgroup, microdramas — are quick, bite-sized TV exhibits and movies designed for cellphone viewing, usually lasting one to 2 minutes per episode. (Yes, it sounds just like the now-defunct Quibi platform.) The idea is taking off within the UK, the place there are manufacturing homes like Onset Octopus devoted solely to the format, and right here within the US, the place yow will discover apps like ReelShort, DramaBox or GoodShort pumping out cleaning soap opera-esque dramas. Occasionally, you will have seen clips pop up in your TikTok or Instagram feed, beckoning you to stream I Kicked Out My Three Fiances in My Second Life in its entirety — damaged down into 60- or 90-second segments. While some content material is free, a paid subscription is required to stream all content material in an app’s library. Here’s a have a look at some titles the Dramabox microdrama app has to supply. Dramabox/Screenshot by Kourtnee Jackson/CNETDeloitte predicts that in 2026, microseries’ in-app income will surge to $7.8 billion, double the projected quantity for 2025 at $3.8 billion. For conventional Hollywood leisure manufacturers, there are alternatives to step into this rising style of microcontent via collaborations with particular person creators, fastidiously curated use of generative AI or by utilizing what these firms have already got. When I spoke with Wenny Katzenstein, a managing director at Deloitte, she famous that media giants might discover a gap to seize viewers’ eyeballs by “using them to actually drive back to IP that already exists.” It’s a strategy to reconnect with followers like us by turning our consideration towards acquainted characters and titles via newly created microcontent — and even AI-generated content material — and truly might not be that far off for some firms. Eric Schrier, president of Disney’s tv studios, lately advised Variety that he hopes to deliver microstorytelling to the platform quickly by way of vertical video, however there aren’t any agency plans on when. For now, the main focus is on the way to deliver manufacturing as much as par to satisfy Disney Plus’ requirements. Viewers appear to be open to extra, with Activate Consulting reporting that 52% of adults it surveyed aged 18 to 34 used at the very least one microdrama app to observe one thing. That does not imply streaming TV platforms will go extinct however it could imply that what we’ll see within the realm of vertical video expands to greater than Tubi’s Scenes characteristic or Netflix’s experiment with short-form feeds on its cell app. Video podcasts, or vodcasts, achieve popularityWho says podcasts are simply to your ears? Video podcasts hit your TV and cellphone screens as incessantly as new episodes of community exhibits like Chicago Fire. There’s additionally a time period for them that you may both embrace or hate: vodcasts. It’s doubtless you have already watched video podcasts on YouTube, Spotify or Wondery, and it is also doubtless you have scrolled via clips (viral or not) on social media. Some viewers stream episodes utilizing paid subscriptions, and also you’re additionally in all probability watching advertisements in alternate for catching a free episode. No matter the way you slice it, it is a format that is right here to remain, and as you will have guessed, there are two teams who watch frequently: millennials and Gen Z-ers. During its fall 2025 survey, Deloitte discovered 27% of shoppers it surveyed within the US watch vodcasts weekly, and Activate Consulting stated 70% of the highest 50 US audio podcasts have a video providing. When you consider your must-see TV exhibits, do you embody titles like Crime Junkie AF or Club Shay Shay? Pointing to components corresponding to parasocial relationships with visitors and vodcast hosts, in addition to the flexibility to include visuals, Deloitte famous that viewers achieve a greater sense of authenticity and relatability — making them extra more likely to return and watch extra. Already a mainstay on YouTube, vodcasts are spreading to extra screens. In a serious transfer, Netflix is getting within the sport, partnering with iHeartMedia, Barstool Sports and Spotify to launch video podcasts on the streaming platform in 2026 for US viewers. If you are a fan of The Breakfast Club, The Ringer NFL Show, Conspiracy Theories or The Ryen Russillo Show, you can open the Netflix app to stream these titles and at the very least two dozen others. One of the vodcast titles you will see on Netflix subsequent 12 months. Barstool Sports/Netflix What does it imply for the way forward for TV? The Hollywood Reporter has described Vancouver as a microdrama manufacturing hotspot, with somewhat little bit of curiosity trickling in from Hollywood. And Netflix isn’t the one massive streamer moving into the vodcast area, as Prime Video streams new episodes every week of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce. Streaming companies and different media firms proceed to check vertical video codecs in numerous methods. Viewers such as you — who watch TV in your telephones — ought to put together for newer, broader types of leisure that embody mini episodes and discuss TV (aka vodcasts). Expect a bump in video podcasts entry in your telephones and TVs subsequent 12 months and past, however do not count on anybody making an attempt to pry conventional weekly medical procedurals and hour-long bingeable episodes out of your fingers simply but. Streaming and cable are nonetheless on the menu, however they’re additionally embedded into your cellphone display, too. I requested Katzenstein what all this says about every era’s preferences for content material and the way it’s delivered. “I think the level of access that younger generations have and that they have been trained to be used to has a big implication on their desire on where they want to engage,” she stated. “I think there’s also the desire around having relevant content when I want it, how I want it — it’s something I think younger generations are just used to.” Keeping her personal teen youngsters in thoughts, Katzenstein defined that the concept of getting to attend for entry to theatrical movies, or for one thing to reach on streaming or linear TV — launched in keeping with an enormous media supplier’s phrases — is “just completely different for generations that are growing up seeing people who are relevant to them.” She added that leisure firms will probably be pushed to grasp that and meet the necessity.
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