Microdrama giant poaches top Disney and Paramount execs: Is this the end of traditional streaming?

In a significant move that underscores the shifting power dynamics in global entertainment, microdrama powerhouse COL Group has fortified its American team by hiring former top executives from Paramount and Disney.

The move is seen as a major statement of intent as the bite-sized, vertical video format continues its explosive growth, challenging the dominance of traditional streaming giants.

According to a report from Deadline, the Shenzen-listed company has appointed Jason Ander as its new Head of US Partnerships. Ander brings a wealth of experience from his time at TikTok, Paramount, and Hulu. At Paramount, he rose from a Director of Brand Partnerships to Senior Director of Digital Strategy, and he also spent a notable nine-year spell at streamer Hulu.

He is joined by Eileen Low, who takes on the role of Head of Partnerships and Sales for Asia. Low previously served as an Affiliate Sales Manager for Canal+ and was a Sales Development Executive for Disney within its now-defunct Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution division.

A new era of entertainment

The hires are part of a broader strategy to build out COL Group’s popular microdrama app, FlareFlow, in the fiercely competitive U.S. market. The company also confirmed it will be hiring a Head of Marketing and a Head of Content and Operations for its American business in the coming month.

This talent acquisition comes as Timothy Oh, the company’s Singapore-based General Manager for International Business, has also seen his role expanded. He has been named the Chief Marketing Officer for FlareFlow, a position he will hold concurrently.

Oh has been instrumental in the company's international push over the past year, driving initiatives in distribution, localisation, and creator partnerships. He was the architect behind COL’s ‘Microdrama-in-a-Box’ solution, a turnkey system allowing content owners to quickly launch their own vertical video app.

The microdrama sector, which originated in China, is experiencing a period of unprecedented growth. Global revenues reportedly hit an astonishing $11 billion in 2025 and are projected to soar to $14 billion by the end of 2026. The United States has quickly become the largest international market for these short, serialised dramas, with a user base that is both highly engaged and lucrative.

Recent data reveals that viewers in the US are now spending more time daily on microdrama apps than on the mobile versions of established platforms like Netflix and Disney+.

Hollywood takes notice

This explosion in popularity has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. COL Group's move to hire established executives is part of a wider trend that has seen veteran talent migrate towards the burgeoning format.

Former Miramax CEO Bill Block, for example, co-founded GammaTime, a platform dedicated to premium micro-series, while Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment Group, launched MicroCo with a team of former Showtime and NBCUniversal executives.

Major studios are also getting in on the action. Fox Entertainment has invested in Holywater, the company behind the MyDrama platform, and Disney itself has included the microdrama app DramaBox in its prestigious accelerator programme.

The industry's own guilds, SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, have even created new agreements to cover members working on microdrama productions, legitimising the format as a serious new frontier for creators.

COL Group is pushing its FlareFlow app towards what it calls a 'Vertical 2.0' strategy. This involves expanding beyond the wildly popular romance genre into a much broader content ecosystem. The company is exploring live-action productions, creator-led stories, branded entertainment, and even AI-assisted workflows and productions to diversify its offering.

"The vertical content models that work in China and the US will not necessarily work for every market adopting vertical entertainment," Oh said in a statement. "Our focus now is building a more robust strategy across content, partnerships, localisation, and accessibility to make vertical content more accessible than ever to audiences globally. The only way forward is change."