Why Travel Brands Are Betting Big on Microdramas
Set-jetting and loyalty building in vertical format
Remember when everyone wanted to visit Croatia after watching Game of Thrones? Or how The White Lotus sent tourists flooding to Hawaii and Sicily? That’s called set-jetting, and it’s one of the most reliable ways film and TV influence travel decisions.
Now imagine triggering that same desire with content specifically designed to showcase a travel destination, released weekly in digestible episodes that people actively seek out. That’s the microdrama opportunity.
When viewers follow a romantic storyline unfolding across Macao’s historic streets or watch characters fall in love at a mountain resort, those locations become more than pretty backdrops. They become part of an emotional experience. And emotion is what drives travel bookings.
The Macao Blueprint
In late 2025, the Macao Government Tourism Office tried something ambitious. Instead of traditional ads targeting Southeast Asian travelers, they produced two TikTok microdramas with time-traveling romantic plots set across Macao’s landmarks.
The results? Over 180 million views across 22 episodes. Massive follower growth. And most importantly, comment sections filled with people saying the series made them want to visit.
This wasn’t just viral content. It was destination marketing disguised as entertainment, and it worked because viewers didn’t feel marketed to. They felt entertained. The tourism message was embedded in the story itself.
Airlines Are Becoming Story Studios
Even performance-driven brands like United Airlines are pivoting to storytelling. United’s VP of global advertising explicitly said the company is shifting from “overly digital and overly performance” tactics to becoming a “storytelling company.”
This isn’t about vanity metrics or brand awareness for its own sake. It’s a calculated bet that long-term brand value comes from creating content people actually want to watch, not ads they’re forced to sit through.
United is developing branded short films and series-style content that showcases their values through narrative, meeting audiences “where culture is” rather than interrupting their media diet.
For an airline, that’s a radical shift. But it signals where the industry is heading.
Why This Format Works So Well for Travel
Microdramas solve several problems traditional travel marketing faces:
1. They combat ad fatigue: Gen Z and young millennials have developed impressive abilities to mentally block out ads. But give them a compelling story, and they’ll watch voluntarily.
2. They create loyalty through serialization: Each episode’s cliffhanger brings viewers back, creating repeated touchpoints with your brand. Instead of one 30-second impression, you get hours of cumulative engagement.
3. They’re built for sharing: The fast-paced plots and emotional hooks make these series highly shareable on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Viewers become unpaid marketers.
4. They speak the language of mobile. These aren’t TV commercials awkwardly reformatted. They’re designed from scratch for vertical viewing, subtitles, and thumb-stopping mobile consumption.
5. They turn locations into characters. Rather than showing a destination’s features, microdramas make viewers experience it through story, which is exponentially more memorable.
👀 Spotted:
Access Entertainment exploring the microdrama space.
- has launched a microdrama series on her Scripted Futures Substack.
Vertical Branding: NextFrame Studios is looking for investors and brands to work with.
The University of Cincinnati’s Digital Performance Lab focuses on verticals and microdramas.
A new short drama digital content production report is available.
Inside Jana Winograde’s new microdrama studio MicroCo.
Tattle TV in the UK is looking for partners in the games industry to showcase ads. They are specifically looking for dog and martial arts themes at the moment.
Vertical dramas featured on France 24:
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Thanks so much for the shout out, very illuminating article!!