Turkish vertical Micro Dramas are coming to Italy with İki Dakika Creative House, the self defined “next-generation mobile story factory”, that aims to turn short-form storytelling into a global cultural phenomenon.
The launch of the Italian branch of the company was held on May 5th at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where İlkin Kavukcu, the founder of the company, also revealed the production of a new vertical series to be shot in Italy.
İlkin Kavukcu is a former tv journalist (CNN Türk, Habertürk TV, SkyTürk) and manager, that after a time in London, returned to Instambul after the Pandemic, with the idea of a new productive model, all digital, for the mobile world. And of course, vertical.
“We think that the world is vertical and that everybody is on the social media platforms.”
That is how İki Dakika Creative House was created last June. It counts on a small team composed almost of all women.
What are Micro Drama: a global phenomenon of vertiginous growth
The vertical Micro Dramas are series conceived for mobile viewing, with seasons between 40 and 80 episodes lasting between 2 and 3 minutes. They are are normally purchased on dedicated apps, coming from the IT world: more than 60% of global microdrama revenues come from subscription or transactional payments, often following a free introductory model.
The Micro Drama global market is multi bilioner and in full expansion, with tremendous growing rates, with around $11bn in global revenue in 2025 and projections to double its rates in the next years and reach the 26 billion dollars icy 20230.
China is the market leader, US is leader in international markets, followed by Japan, South Korea, the UK, and Thailand, where adoption continues to grow. Brasil and Turkey are strong markets as well, and this is also due to the long tradition of telenovelas and drama series.
Turkey is the the third exporter in the world, and the majority of the country production companies produce for foreign audiences like US and China.
İki Dakika Creative House: the Turkish way
İki Dakika Creative House distribute their own content domestically on their social networks (Instagram, TikTok and YouTube) while counting on Intermedya (one of the biggest distributors and producers of Micro Dramas in Turkey) for international distribution. The monetization, in this case, come from forms of product integration and and native advertising, that Iki Dakika Creative House is introducing in Turkey for the first time.
The production and distribution cycles of Micro Dramas are very quick: “an entire series is normally shot in 6-7 days, and we release from 5 to 10 episodes for each drama per week. We also have a longer-film version of what we are creating, and we are thinking to release them also as a horizontal one piece.” Says İlkin Kavukcu.
The long form is however, something that comes later on in the production process, which is very different from the one we are used to. “The scripts structure of Micro Dramas is simple, you jump directly into the conversation, there is no time for establishing shots, interconnecting scenes….Nevertheless, when it comes to shooting, we create additional material for the long version. – Explains Duygu Coskunseda, chief strategy officer of İki Dakika Creative House – “This helps also for brand integrations: what we create, instead of traditional placements, are meaningful brand experiences that become a natural part of the narrative. It is a great opportunity for many brands that want to rely on organic content and not so much on commercialized pieces. So we are offering them a story and creating a world for the brands as well. Sometimes we program one more shooting day, only dedicated to them, or we work with the cast to create some backstage videos for the brands.”
“We collaborate with leading brands across a wide range of industries and we seamlessly integrate from 5 to 10 of them in the storytelling universe of each series,- adds Özden Bal, CEO of the company.- Our brand partnerships span multiple sectors. Banking & Finance: Türkiye İş Bankası, Garanti BBVA Automotive: Peugeot Telecommunications: Vodafone FMCG: Algida, Eti, Popeyes (via TAB Gıda), Frito-Lay Cosmetics: Pastel Jewelry: Atasay Apparel: Mavi Durable Goods: Arçelik Home Care: Eczacıbaşı.”
The explosion of Micro Dramas, whose stories are typically romantic comedies with elements of sexuality and strong emotions, implies a a controversial approach to the gender issue, which is undoubtedly a delicate and urgent subject matter nowadays. These stories, in fact, whose main target are by the way women between 35 and 44 years old (willing to pay around $20 per week for content that engages them immediately, – source: Omdia research-), “regenerate that narrative that we want to bury.” Says Duygu Coskunseda.
This topic has been brought to attention in many industry panels of markets such as Series Mania Forum, where the underlying question was: is another narrative possible in Micro Dramas when they are produced by private companies?
İki Dakika Creative House thinks of itself as an alternative.
İki Dakika Creative House line up
“In Turkey we are the first company who is producing Turkish content. We think about the cultural nuances of the Turkish community and we create culturally relevant pieces. Family, football, generational change: these concepts are all deeply felt in Turkey.” Continues Coskunseda.
And they are the themes of the the four Micro Dramas produced by İki Dakika Creative House, which will arrive also in Italy in mid June: “we are planning to open our TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts with Italian dubbing” Declares Kavukcu.
New Generation Family, is a family-comedy a 50-episode production in a 2-minute format (and a horizontal version of 95’), with nearly 4 hundred millions reach in Turkey, focused on the clash between tradition and modernity that emerges when a very modern daughter in law enters in her new three generations family; Semt Çocuğu is a football story set in a suburban, popular neighbourhood (60 vertical episodes), while NKBİ – Ne Ki Benden İstediğin, is a romantic coming-of-age in 60 vertical episodes (and a horizontal version of 65’).
There is also a forth series premiering in Turkey in the middle of may, Duchesse, a dramatic comedy about a woman who divorced form her husband, starts a new life back in her mother house and finally finds herlself.” Reveals Kavukcu.
The Italian strategy in three pillars
Kavukcu illustrates that the approach to the Italian market is based on three pillars:
The first is the relaunch of the existing series, which will be dubbed: “we are still deciding if to make the dubbing with AI or with a dubbing studios.”
The second opens to the possibility of co-produced stories which deals with both cultures and landscapes and are created for Italian market specifically. One is already in progress:
“We are actually very keen on creating a series which we will shoot in Venice, most likely at the end of this summer. The story should start from Italy, where an Italian girl falls in love with a Turkish guy in Venice, and then move to Turkey, as they travel to Galata. We could have actors from both sides, and shoot 3 days in Venice and 3 in Istambul. We are still in negotiation with the teams.”
“Finally, we are looking for media distribution partners (public and private) in the Italian market as well, we approached a couple of partners but we haven’t signed any agreement yet. This segment is growing so fast in Turkey and we believe it could have the same success in Italy and Europe.”
If it is true that TikTok viewing time in Turkey is 40% higher than the European average, there are many common elements with a country like Italy, for example, that makes it a promising market for these narratives: strong filming locations, storytelling culture, and acting talent, and shared values and themes, like comedy, neighborhood stories, family relationships,
The production model exported to Italy will be exactly the same of Turkey, including the brand integration part: “There are many brands who are eager to launch two markets collaboration activation, for both Turkey and Italy for example.”
This could be also an opportunity location-wise: “We know that many tourism departments all over the world are creating specifically stories and working with micro drama production companies to enhance and promote tourism.”
