Analysis · Consumer Internet & Media

Pocket FM co-founder on microdrama challenges

What they do

Pocket FM is an audio entertainment platform that also experimented with microdrama vertical Pocket TV

Co-founder Nishanth S. says microdrama platforms face weak user retention, with many users churning within weeks

He argues that AI can help build deeper catalogues and differentiated content to create lasting user habits

Pocket FM discontinued its microdrama vertical Pocket TV.
Co-founder Nishanth S. says the biggest misconception is that acquiring users is not difficult; consumers are willing to discover and try the format.
The harder problem is weak retention; many users churn within the first couple of weeks.
Entertainment businesses are built on habit, not curiosity; habit creates durable businesses.
Poor retention changes business incentives: marketing becomes the primary growth engine, and product decisions focus on conversion over retention.
Subscription funnels become aggressive, auto-renewal mechanisms more important, and dark patterns may appear.
Revenue grows from acquiring more users, not from existing users finding value; cohorts stop stacking.
Companies risk becoming marketing arbitrage businesses rather than entertainment businesses.

Microdrama is the fastest-growing entertainment category, with new platforms launching monthly and investment flowing in.
Microdrama platforms look remarkably similar: same relationship dramas, revenge plots, emotional hooks, and storytelling structures.
The similarity exists because the ecosystem is optimised around performance marketing; once a story works in ads, clones appear across platforms.
The industry chases the same hit instead of building differentiated IP, which improves acquisition short-term but not long-term loyalty.

Pocket FM is an audio entertainment platform that offers audio series and stories.
It also experimented with a microdrama vertical called Pocket TV, which has been discontinued.
The company's co-founder Nishanth S. oversees product strategy and technology.
The platform competes in the growing microdrama space, which is attracting significant investment.

Nishanth S. says the real promise of AI is more diverse content, more original IP, and richer catalogues.
AI can produce more stories, explore genres, build niche content, and create catalogue depth economically impossible before.
AI enables continuous experimentation, learning what resonates, and investing behind ideas that build long-term engagement.
Companies that define the future of microdrama will build products users return to, create differentiated catalogues, and use AI to deepen storytelling.