Watch Club Challenges Microdrama Rivals With Union Talent

The multibillion-dollar vertical microdrama industry, currently dominated by apps churning out formulaic, AI-adjacent content, is facing a new challenger. Watch Club, a startup founded by former Meta product manager Henry Soong, is betting that audiences are ready for higher-quality storytelling produced by unionized writers and actors.

While industry leaders like ReelShort and DramaBox generated significant revenue—$1.2 billion and $276 million respectively last year—Soong views their typical output as uninspired. “Ninety percent of these stories are, ‘I’m a poor girl! I fell in love with a secret billionaire! He’s a werewolf, and his mother is a vampire, and she disapproves of me!’” Soong noted. “There’s a market for that, but I think this can be so much bigger than just sloppy, AI-adjacent romance soap operas.”

Building Community Around Content

Soong’s strategy for Watch Club goes beyond production quality. Drawing on his background in social product development, he is integrating a social network directly into the app. The goal is to replicate the communal experience of traditional television, where viewers gather to discuss theories, gossip, and reactions.

“I think you can actually build such a more interesting business if you take what makes TV truly the most fun,” Soong said. He points to the way fans historically engaged with shows like Succession or White Lotus on platforms like Reddit or Tumblr. Watch Club aims to house both the video content and the fan forums in a single ecosystem.

Production and Investment

To ensure high production standards, Soong has tapped Devon Albert-Stone as founding producer and plans to enlist WGA writers for an initial slate of 10 shows. This approach provides creative professionals with a faster, more flexible alternative to traditional studio environments.

The company’s vision has attracted notable backing. Watch Club secured seed funding led by GV, with participation from Patreon CEO Jack Conte, executives from HBO Max and Hulu, and Upside Ventures, the firm operated by the Sidemen.

A New Business Model

Soong’s experience at Meta, where he helped generate $5 billion in annual ad sales from Chinese companies targeting international markets, gives him a unique perspective on the microdrama model. Having observed the rise of apps like ReelShort and DramaBox during his time at the tech giant, he believes the current industry reliance on aggressive paid user acquisition is unsustainable.

“I know this business playbook. I know how expensive and capital-intensive it is, and I think you can build a way better microdrama business if you aren’t 100% dependent on paid user acquisition,” he explained.

• First Release: The platform is set to launch its debut series, Return Offer, a drama centered on tech interns in San Francisco.
• Distribution: Episodes will be released on a daily schedule within the app.
• Talent: Unlike major competitors, the platform prioritizes SAG and WGA-affiliated talent.

“My goal is to prove that our high-quality stories can give birth to the thing that supplants streaming television,” Soong said. “We offer them huge creative latitude to go do something that Amazon would never let them do at a speed and velocity that feels way more exciting than the glacial pace of the television industry.”