Taiwan & Korea Unite for Premium Vertical Dramas

Taiwanese streamer Catchplay and its production arm, Screenworks Asia, are significantly expanding their vertical drama offerings through collaborations with Korean industry leaders. Celebrating a decade in business, Catchplay is launching a dedicated content zone across Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore with the Korean platform Sero. This initiative includes licensing agreements with CJ ENM and b.able for extensive K-drama content.

Furthermore, Screenworks Asia has teamed up with Korea's SLL Joongang to jointly create a series of high-quality, Mandarin-language vertical dramas. Catchplay's CEO, Daphne Yang, emphasized their goal to differentiate by offering premium vertical content that is lighter, sharper, and faster than traditional long-form dramas, while surpassing the quality of typical microdramas. This strategic move aims to position vertical drama as a premier narrative format with long-term IP potential in Asian and global Chinese-language markets.

The partnership will see creative teams from Taiwan and Korea collaborating on urban fantasy vertical dramas, integrating Taiwan's emotional storytelling with Korea's proficiency in genre pacing and visual design. Acclaimed screenwriter Shih-Yuan Lu is attached as a script consultant. SLL will also contribute to casting and creative direction, potentially featuring Korean actors.

In parallel, Catchplay has secured new distribution agreements with Taiwanese operators Home+ and TBC. Additionally, a regional partnership with Xperi will embed the Catchplay+ streaming service into high-end automotive models across Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore via the DTS AutoStage platform.