“Day 25 of starting your life over again,” Reagan Lynch narrates in the short video. “Now, after my relationship ended and I had to leave my life behind, I found myself wandering alone in a country I had never seen before, in a town I had just moved to.”
It’s such an appealing hook that Lynch starts every video this way. She drags us around the aisles of a British grocery store (obviously very different from the American one) and bravely compliments strangers’ outfits in a feeble attempt to make new friends.
Within months of posting her first video, Lynch’s account had grown to more than 588,000 followers on Instagram and 432,000 on TikTok. But the rapid spread of Lynch’s story has less to do with her devastating breakup than with her crisp storytelling and commitment to cinematography. These episodic, web series-like videos bring a new twist to short-form content, pushing TikTok beyond its raw “get ready” routines and into more ambitious territory.
@raeganlynchh Day 25!! #Startingover #Breakup #Moving ♬ Original song – Raygan
Just last year, TikTok thrived on the idea that anyone could become a star, like Leesa Teesa from Who Did I Marry TF? In the series, simply telling your craziest stories on your way to and from work can go viral. Viewers seemed drawn to the off-the-cuff, casual style of the video, which felt like a friend telling a story over FaceTime. Even brands were changing their marketing styles, replacing studio shots with simple footage of someone speaking to the camera.
It used to be considered unprofessional to hold a clip-on microphone in front of your mouth, but in that moment, a more easy-going personality was the key.
A year after Reesa Teesa blew up, short video viewers are starting to want something different and more cinematic than these casual clips.
A scripted micro-drama called “The Group Chat” appeared on the Today show via TikTok as viewers watched to see how Lynch was adjusting to his new life.
Sidney Jo Robinson, creator of The Group Chat, plays each character in a group of friends, navigating tenuous text conversations. The everydayness of this drama is what makes it so interesting. In a group chat, a group of friends are planning a girls’ night out, but one of the friends demands they bring their boyfriends, and chaos ensues. The series is currently in its second season after the first season racked up nearly 100 million views across five TikTok videos.
@thatgirlsydjo Group Chat: Series #GroupChat #Friends #Drama #Tea ♬ Original Sound – Sydney Jo
The series garnered so much attention that brands like Alo Yoga and Little Caesars are now capitalizing on the trend and producing high-budget micro-dramas instead of blending their ads with more casual content.
Like Robinson, Nicholas Flannery, who has 5.5 million TikTok followers, also plays characters in his TikTok soap operas. He takes inspiration from popular movie clichés, such as the series that plays the prompt: “All those movies where a powerful CEO has an affair with a young guy.”
@nicholas_flannery Oops, not a business trip that isolates them with bonding time!! Poor husband, he barely gets to see her (lol) – I wonder how the meeting will go, it will probably be tense for a while… #babygirl #harrisdickinson #nicolekidman #thriller #cheaters ♬ Original Sound – Nicholas Flannery
But while Flannery and Robinson tell a complete story across multiple videos, each clip can stand alone. That way, even if a video in the middle of a series appears on a user’s For You page, they’ll still be drawn in.
Before the rise of vertical video, YouTube’s scripted web series were successful enough to spin out into cult favorite TV shows like “Broad City,” “Insecure” and “Letterkenny.” But when YouTube tried to emulate this success on its own, its approach to original content didn’t catch on.
But trends ebb and flow, and now creators like Lynch, Robinson, and Flannery are reviving the web series concept for a new generation. It’s not without direct competition from the streamers themselves.
Streaming platforms like Rakuten Viki have established themselves in the Asian market with short video series with timed comments. Recently, microdrama apps such as DramaBox and ReelShort have been booming in the United States.
According to app store data provider Appfigures, DramaBox and ReelShort earned $99 million and $152 million, respectively, in in-app purchases in the U.S., reflecting year-over-year growth of 203% and 233% from the same period in 2024. Since the beginning of 2025, each app has received at least 1 million downloads per month in the United States.
Demand for this scripted, crisply edited content is likely to grow even more as Americans’ viewing habits trend toward social video and bite-sized entertainment rather than traditional TV programming.
TikTok is also rumored to be considering scripted videos, and streaming network Peacock has trained four TikTokers to create four new TV shows through its creator accelerator. American audiences seem to enjoy this kind of social-first, scripted comedy, even though they previously rejected this type of media (remember Quibi?).
While TikTok’s audience won’t completely turn away from “get ready”-style videos that are widely accessible and replicable for novice creators, short-form videos could pave the way for a resurgence of web series.
