by Ronan Hand
The industry loves its buzzwords, but the most important trends are rarely overnight sensations. They circulate around in pitch decks and development meetings - sometimes for years - until technology, culture, and business models finally align well enough to let them break through.
This year, three topics seem to be dominating conversations and sessions held at industry conferences around the world: micro-content apps, creator-driven video content, and AI-enabled production. None of these ideas are new. But 2025 feels like the moment when they’ve finally met the market.
As a producer who has seen my fair share of trends come and go, I wanted to share some ideas on why I think these three buzz-worthy trends might actually stick.
1. Micro-Content Apps & the Micro-Drama Craze: The Comeback Nobody Saw Coming
Short-form, mobile-first storytelling is being treated lately like it’s a revelation—but the industry has been here before. Very publicly, in fact.
Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi launched in 2018 with nearly $2 billion in backing and a promise to reinvent entertainment in “quick bites.” It collapsed within two years. The reasons have been endlessly dissected: timing, strategy, a pandemic that kept people off their phones and on their couches. Roku later acquired much of Quibi’s library for The Roku Channel—where, ironically, much of it found the audience it never reached on the app.
So why is micro-drama suddenly hot again? Because in 2025, the ecosystem finally supports it. Let’s look at a few key things that have changed that are leading to short-forms success:
The platforms have changed—TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and a wave of Asia-based apps have trained billions of consumers to watch scripted and semi-scripted vertical stories.
The economics have changed—production pipelines for short narrative content are now fast, cheap, and scalable.
The talent supply has exploded—writers, editors, and digital-native creators can produce binge-worthy arcs in minutes—not months.
The issue wasn’t the idea itself; it was timing. Neither audience behavior nor the tech infrastructure was there yet in 2018. Now that audiences and the technology are aligned, it’s working.
2. The Creator Content Boom: Why It Finally Matters to Broadcasters
Creators have been dismissed, underestimated, and occasionally feared by traditional broadcasters. For a decade, they were seen as a parallel ecosystem—massive but somehow not “real entertainment” - or at least not broadcast quality. Yet creators have now crossed an invisible threshold: their formats, stories, and personalities are shaping global viewing habits, not just digital ones.
Broadcasters can stick their collective heads in the ground and be left behind or sit up and appreciate the key things the creator community can offer, namely:
- Creators have the most-loyal audiences in media. A creator with 5 million followers knows more about their audience than most channels with 50 million households. Engagement is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have for survival.
- Creator-led IP is a low-risk, high-reward development pipeline. Those of us who have spent the past couple of decades in development and production know that coming up with a hit show - no matter how good your gut instincts are or how solid your data - is calculated risk. Creators arrive with baked-in proof of concept and real-time feedback loops. A format that performs on TikTok or YouTube is already stress-tested before a broadcaster invests a single development dollar.
- Creators understand popular culture better than anyone. Their instincts about tone, humor, pacing, and cross-border appeal are often more current than traditional trend reports because of their uncanny relationship with their viewers.
The creator boom has been building for years. But today, broadcasters finally need what creators offer: adaptability, relatability, and IP that already resonates with viewers.
3. AI’s Real Benefits for Global Producers: Less Glamorous, More Transformative
AI has generated more headlines than actual workflows—but 2025 has been the year producers are finally discovering the tools that actually help them make better content.
Forget the fear-mongering about automation replacing creativity. The real value of AI is deeply practical. BIG Media, like other production/distribution companies serving the global TV market, has greatly benefited from tools that provide for smarter localization. AI-aided dubbing and subtitling now match tone, delivery, and emotional nuance—opening doors for truly global releases at a fraction of the time and cost.
In addition, producers are using AI for market research, cultural sensitivity checks, format bibles, and pitch-deck prep. This isn’t about replacing creativity; it’s about accelerating the unglamorous parts of development so teams can focus on the creative core.
AI systems are also making project management on international co-productions more efficient and streamlined. No longer are we slowed by time zones, translation, and paperwork, which is key for a company like ours that has built a production business around co-pros that help fund some of our biggest, most-successful hit series.
Why These Trends Matter Now
Individually, none of these ideas is new. But they’re finally hitting at the same time because:
Audiences are now platform-agnostic. They’ll watch a 20-second drama, a 20-minute creator series, or a 2-hour premium doc with equal enthusiasm—if the storytelling is good.
Technology is frictionless. Phones, TVs, apps, and global distribution now work together instead of fighting each other.
The global content market is more competitive than ever. Producers need speed, flexibility, and new pipelines to stand out—and to keep costs in check.
The temptation is to treat every new idea as a revolution. But the industry rarely moves in revolutions. Micro-content, creators, and AI have all been quietly maturing for years. The reason they’re trending now is simple: the technology, the culture, and the business finally align.
2025 isn’t the moment these ideas were invented. It’s the moment they became inevitable.
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Ronan Hand is an executive producer and head of development at Big Media in London.