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“ Day 25 of starting over my whole intact life,”Raegan Lynchnarrates over a brusque video . “ Right now , I ’m wandering around the city I just move to , in a country I ’d never project , all by myself after my relationship terminate , and I had to depart my old life behind . ”
It ’s a moderately enticing hook , which is why Lynch starts every video this way . She pull us along as shenavigates British market aisles — which are evidently quite dissimilar from those in the States — and bravelycompliments a alien ’s outfitin a infirm endeavor to make a new friend .
Within a few months of posting her first video , Lynch has mature her accounts to over 588,000 followers on Instagram and 432,000 on TikTok . But what made Lynch ’s floor go viral has more to do with her kinky storytelling and attention to filming than her ruinous breakup . These episodic , web series - esque videos are bring a novel spin to short - form content , push TikTok from raw “ get ready with me ” routines into more ambitious territory .
As recently as last year , TikTok thrived off the melodic theme that anyone could be a star — likeReesa Teesafrom the “ Who TF did I get hitched with ? ” serial , you could go viral just by telling your dotty stories while you force to and from employment . Viewers seemed to gravitate toward this off - the - cuff , casual trend , where the picture feel like a acquaintance is telling you a account on FaceTime . Even brands had shifted their merchandising style , convert studio shoots for simple footage of someone talk into the photographic camera .
In the past , holding a magazine - on mike in front of your back talk would seem unprofessional , but in that mo , a more carefree nature was the point .
Now , a year after Reesa Teesa flub up , short - form video viewers are starting to crave something different and more cinematic than these more casual clips .
As witness tune in to see if Lynch is settling into her new life , a scripted microdrama called “ The Group Chat ” has made its elbow room from TikTok tothe Today show .
The creator behind The Group Chat , Sydney Jo Robinson , plays each fictitious character in a chemical group of friends as they navigate a tenuous textbook conversation . The mundanity of this play is what makes it so fun . The Group Chat is about a radical of friends who planned a young woman ’ nighttime , but one friend asked to bring her swain , and chaos ensues . The serial publication has now entered its 2nd season after the first season rack up nearly 100 million views across five TikTok TV .
The serialized show collect so much attention that , now , instead of make their ads blend in with chance content , brand likeAlo YogaandLittle Caesarsare producing mellow - budget micro play to capitalise on the tendency .
Like Robinson , Nicholas Flannery , who has 5.5 million TikTok followers , plays each case in his serialized TikTok drama . He takes aspiration from cliché plots in popular movies , like a serial playing off the prompt , “ every movie where the high - powered chief operating officer has an amour with a younger humankind . ”
But while Flannery and Robinson severalize complete stories across several videos , each cartridge clip can stand alone on its own . That room , if a video from the heart of the series open on hoi polloi ’s For You Pages , they ’ll still be drawn in .
Before the rise of erect video , written web series on YouTube were successful enough to spin around out into furor - pet TV show like “ Broad City , ” “ Insecure , ” and “ Letterkenny . ” When YouTube tried to mimic this success on its own , however , its original content initiatives did n’t trance on .
But trends ebb and flow rate , and now , Jehovah like Lynch , Robinson , and Flannery are reviving the construct of the vane serial for a new generation . They ’re not without direct competition from streamers themselves .
grant to app store data providerAppfigures , DramaBox and ReelShort have made $ 99 million and $ 152 million from in - app purchase in the U.S. , respectively , shine a 203 % and a 233 % yr - over - yr growing from the same clock time frame in 2024 . Since the starting signal of 2025 , each app has earned at least 1 million downloads a month in the U.S.
As Americans ’ viewing habitstrendmore toward societal video recording or bite - sized entertainment , rather than traditional television shows , there could be more demand for this script , crisply edited content .
TikTok is alsorumored to be bet into scripted TV , and the cyclosis web Peacocktrained four TikTokersthrough a Jehovah accelerator to make four unexampled TV show . American viewers seem to be enjoying this form of societal - first , scripted comedy , even when they have reject this kind of medium before ( rememberQuibi ? ) .
TikTok ’s audience will never fully turn its back on “ get quick with me ” way videos , which are generally accessible and duplicable for novice creators , but short - form video could pave the elbow room for a renaissance of the vane series .
