MIP LONDON 2026: The Rise of Microdramas and Vertical Storytelling takes center stage

MIP LONDON announced a dedicated focus on microdramas and vertical storytelling at the second edition of the international TV and streaming content market, taking place 22–24 February 2026 at the IET London and The Savoy.

The programme will feature a main stage panel and first-time summit featuring key players from the international microdramas and vertical storytelling sector and covering audience trends, platform strategy, monetisation models, creative and commercial dynamics.

The genre’s business models and global opportunities will be explored on Monday 23 February at 14.45 in the IET London’s Kelvin Theatre in a main stage panel with speakers including Timothy Oh, General Manager, COL Group International and Alex Montalvo, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer, GammaTime and moderated by Maria Rua Aguete, Head of Media & Entertainment, Omdia.

COL Group offers more than 1,000 internationally distributed titles across the United States, Japan, Southeast Asia, and other markets, comprising one of the world’s largest directly owned microdrama libraries. As Managing Director at COL Group International, Oh leads international strategy and growth for the company’s global microdrama business, overseeing content distribution, partnerships and market expansion.

The first Hollywood-backed micro-drama platform, GammaTime combines cinematic storytelling with mobile-first engagement and data-driven decision making, offering original vertical series across a wide range of genres including romance, thriller, and true crime. As Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer, Montalvo leads creative strategy, partnerships, and content development for the platform, drawing on experience in short-form and digital storytelling from prior roles at Quibi and other media ventures.

The panel will be preceded by the market’s first Microdrama & Vertical Content Leaders’ Summit on Sunday 22 February at The Savoy’s Lancaster Ballroom from 14.00-15.30. Structured around a series of expert-led roundtables, the Summit will combine a data-driven industry snapshot with curated discussions focused on practical market insight, partnership opportunities and long-term value creation in the area.

Part of a greater emphasis on structured networking running across all days at the market, table leaders for the summit include Matt Campion, Creative Director and Co-Founder, Spirit Studios; Benjamin Pengilly, Founder and CEO, Onset Octopus Ltd; Brandan Dennehy, Founder and Head of Vertical Drama, Stratagem Vertical; Mohammad Faizan, Founder and CEO, Blingwood; Deniz Yildiz, Producer, Sea Star Production; and Timothy Oh, General Manager, COL Group International.

MIP LONDON has confirmed more than 500 international buyers to date for its second edition, including senior acquisitions and commissioning executives from Amazon Studios, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, The Walt Disney Company, National Geographic, Sky, ZDF, RTL, RTÉ, Nine Entertainment, Red Bull Media House, Al Jazeera International, ITV, BBC, AMC Networks, Globo, PBS and Samsung among others.

The microdrama sessions form part of a wider MIP LONDON conference programme addressing emerging cultural and commercial trends including the creator economy, podcasting, streaming and AI, alongside multi-genre screenings, showcases and structured networking, under the theme “Joining the Dots: Finding the Value',

MIP LONDON is designed to unite digital creators, television producers, platforms, distributors, buyers and brands across all genres during a key week in the global industry calendar in London.

Further contributors to the microdrama and vertical content sessions and wider conference programme will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

LC