Melolo Short Drama App

ByteDance Ventures into Overseas Short Drama Market: Launches Melolo Short Drama App

ShortDrama BuffayMedia Sweetwater Studio

ByteDance has established an overseas short drama business team and is hiring for several positions related to short drama overseas, such as Overseas Short Drama Product Manager, European and American Copywriter, etc. The base locations are in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities. In addition, ByteDance has launched a short drama app called "Melolo" in overseas markets, which operates short drama under a free model. This is ByteDance's first short drama product to be launched overseas.

Melolo Short Drama APP Visualization(Created By Chatgpt)

Regarding the Melolo product, a representative from Melolo told Tech Planet that Melolo is a free short drama app for overseas markets that provides short drama content to meet the viewing needs of overseas users. The product was launched in mid-November 2024 in markets like Indonesia and the Philippines and is currently undergoing business exploration and verification.

Screenshot of Melolo's official website

ByteDance’s move into the overseas short drama business has been anticipated. In November last year, according to Information, TikTok was considering adding mini short drama formats to its platform. After the great success of short dramas in China, TikTok did not want to miss out and planned to replicate this model in overseas markets to attract more users.

Overseas short-drama expansion has always been seen as a potential growth with huge opportunities. The number of short drama users overseas is expected to reach 200-300 million USD monthly, and the market size will reach $10 billion. Short dramas have expanded into markets in Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, becoming one of the latest highlights in the global entertainment industry.

Domestic platforms and long-form video platforms such as Tencent Video, iQIYI, and Youku, have all made moves into the overseas short drama market.

One of the most prominent platforms is ReelShort. In its parent company(CMS)'s 2024 interim performance report, it was mentioned that CMS had a revenue of 1.086 billion RMB in the first half of 2024, with a net profit of 22.93 million yuan.

Now, ByteDance has launched its first overseas short drama product, Melolo, which is targeting the enormous market behind overseas short dramas. However, can ByteDance successfully replicate the viral success of its domestic free short drama model abroad?

ByteDance’s First Attempt at Overseas Short Dramas

It is shown that Melolo is an easy-to-use free short drama app, designed for a smooth user experience. The app includes three main sections: My List, Discover, and Personal Center. The Discover section is where users can search for short drama content, with smaller subsections like New Series, Recently Watched, and Trending to help users find suitable short dramas.

Melolo APP UI

On the viewing page, users can watch short dramas in high definition, with features such as built-in subtitles and an auto-full-screen mode to enhance the viewing experience. Currently, the content on Melolo includes not only short dramas from partners but also its own exclusive original content. The app features genres like romance, thriller/suspense, and historical dramas, as well as the ever-popular CEO dramas that resonate with international audiences. Since the app targets Southeast Asian users, the characters and themes are also tailored to local tastes.

Overall, Melolo fits ByteDance’s usual style for overseas products: low entry barriers, easy to use, and more localized. Of course, ByteDance’s overseas short drama business is not just about launching this product. ByteDance’s short video platform TikTok is also considering adding mini short drama content formats. In July of last year, TikTok for Business, TikTok’s global marketing platform, released the 2024 Short Drama Overseas Marketing White Paper, noting that since 2023, global short drama viewing time has continued to increase, and the related discussions around short drama have also grown. The number of overseas monthly short drama users is expected to reach 200-300 million, and the market size is anticipated to reach $10 billion.

The white paper also pointed out that, in addition to dedicated short drama apps, platforms like TikTok are also becoming important channels for users to watch short dramas, with 93% of short drama users considering social media platforms as their main method of watching.

ByteDance’s exploration of short dramas overseas is not limited to the product side. We have learned that ByteDance is also exploring other dimensions, such as gamification and commercialization. For example, in the job listing for an overseas copywriter, ByteDance explicitly requires the applicant to research and analyze short dramas and games, extract viral elements, and create stories based on the worldviews and characters of the product. This could lead to interactive short dramas, combining the storytelling of short dramas with game elements, allowing viewers to influence the storyline by making choices.

On the commercialization side, ByteDance is building a systematic short drama material strategy and enhancing the advertising strategy for paid short dramas. In addition to utilizing its own traffic pool advantages like TikTok, ByteDance is also focusing on expanding partnerships with various high-quality platforms to ensure that its advertisements reach potential paying audiences accurately.

Replicating the Success of Domestic Free Short Dramas, Creating a New Hit?

Comparing ByteDance’s viral success with its domestic free short dramas APP, can the similarly free-model Melolo become ByteDance’s next hit? From an opportunity perspective, the overseas short drama market is still in its early stages of development. As mentioned earlier, the large potential user base and $10 billion market size provide ByteDance with ample space to grow. Furthermore, TikTok’s massive global user base provides a natural high-speed road for ByteDance’s overseas products, including products like the Lemon8 community platform, which has already become a global hit. If Melolo can also leverage TikTok's promotion, it has the chance to quickly reach a large target audience and grow rapidly.

Oversea Landscape of ByteDance

However, challenges should not be underestimated. First, there’s the issue of cultural differences. Users in different regions have varying aesthetic tastes, values, and preferences for storylines. How ByteDance can effectively tailor content to fit these regional differences and create global content is a key challenge it faces.

According to Wang Kui, CFO and Head of Overseas Operations at Qimao Culture, there are still many uncertainties when it comes to the commercial model. The key to success in the overseas short drama business is replicating China’s short drama production capacity abroad, from content operations to deep localization and market launches. This requires systematic capabilities that not only involve content but also the entire process of creating, adapting, and marketing the product.

Additionally, there is significant competition from other companies already entrenched in the overseas short drama market. For instance, ReelShort has already established a strong presence abroad. According to SensorTower data, ReelShort generated $63.43 million in net revenue in Q3 2024, a 52% increase from the previous quarter and a 327% year-on-year growth. From January to September 2024, it had $140 million in net revenue, a 688% year-on-year increase.

ByteDance will have to overcome these competitive barriers. Moreover, overseas market regulations, advertising rules, and compliance challenges are far more complex than in China, meaning any oversight could impact product operations.

ByteDance’s Overseas Entertainment Ecosystem Takes Shape

Behind ByteDance's short drama expansion is the gradual development of its overseas entertainment ecosystem. From short dramas to novels, comics, and content creation tools, ByteDance has extended its footprint across Europe, the U.S., Southeast Asia, and Japan. Its products, such as Melolo, Fizzo, Fizzo Novel, My Topia, and Fizzo Toon, are becoming key drivers of ByteDance’s overseas entertainment ecosystem.

Among these, Fizzo is considered ByteDance’s version of Yuewen(Good News Sub Corp) for overseas markets. In addition to the Fizzo reading app, the products mentioned above are all driven and organized by Fizzo. Fizzo has also made significant strides in Southeast Asia. Launched in 2021, Fizzo quickly showed remarkable growth, topping the Books Apps Ranking in Indonesia on both iOS and Android within two years.

As the short drama expansion continues, ByteDance's Fizzo-based overseas entertainment ecosystem is entering a crucial strengthening phase. It is expected that the different business units will start working closely together. Short dramas, with their compact plots and strong visual appeal, will help drive traffic to novels and comics, while the rich story reserves in novels and the unique visuals in comics will support short drama creation, creating a mutual feedback loop. ByteDance is accelerating the development of its overseas entertainment ecosystem, but the ultimate effectiveness of this will still need to be tested by the market and time.

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