TikTok accelerates in vertical series with Duanju and PineDrama

Micro-dramas have long thrived on the fringes of platforms, fueled by clips, shocking scenes, and cliffhangers recycled for acquisition. TikTok is changing tack. With PineDrama, the company is no longer simply serving as a marketing highway for third-party apps: it's creating a dedicated space where users consume fiction like a stream, episode after episode, without ever leaving the world of mobile devices.

A separate application to structure the experience

PineDrama presents itself as a standalone app focused on ultra-short series, designed for full screen and vertical scrolling. The implicit goal is to reduce fragmentation: instead of stumbling upon an isolated clip, the viewer is guided through a continuous narrative, with episodes of approximately one minute and a storyline designed to maintain retention. The product adopts the familiar interface of TikTok, while replacing creator-driven content with a catalog of serialized fiction, making the experience more akin to scrolling through streaming than a simple social feed.

Brazil as a testing ground outside the United States

The simultaneous launch in the United States and Brazil is no coincidence. By choosing a market where smartphones are already the primary screen for a large portion of video consumption, TikTok is creating a large-scale laboratory to test the appeal of vertical storytelling for continuous viewing and to observe what truly converts viewers: the frequency of episodes, the pace of plot twists, the length of story arcs, and recommendation mechanisms. For now, free and ad-free access resembles an installation phase. The central question going forward will be monetization: when and in what form will TikTok seek to capture value without disrupting the seamless flow that is the strength of this format?

Sources:

• TechCrunch – January 16, 2026

• Franceinfo – January 19, 2026

• Business Insider – December 26, 2025

• The Hollywood Reporter – January 20, 2026