Mohalla Tech, the parent company behind social media platforms ShareChat, Moj, and Quick TV, has announced a significant investment of up to INR 100 crore by the end of 2026 to expand its AI-generated micro drama content ecosystem. The initiative aims to reduce production costs by approximately 70% and accelerate the hiring of personnel specializing in AI-assisted production workflows.
The company stated that the investment would support the development of its in-house deep-tech and AI capabilities, enabling a substantial increase in AI-led content creation. Currently, AI-generated micro dramas constitute nearly 10% of Mohalla Tech’s overall content mix, a figure projected to reach 30-40% by the end of 2026.
Mohalla Tech: Growth in Micro Drama Consumption and Engagement
The announcement follows a period of rapid growth in micro drama consumption across Mohalla Tech’s platforms. The company reported 850 million daily episodic video plays, equivalent to over 680 million minutes of content consumed per day. This volume has more than doubled in the last six months, with projections indicating daily episodic plays could exceed one billion in the upcoming quarter.
Quick TV, Mohalla Tech’s subscription-based platform, first introduced the micro-drama format in 2025 before its integration into the ad-supported models of Moj and ShareChat (https://sharechat.com/). The company notes that vertical drama content has doubled the daily time spent per user on Moj and increased it by 35% on ShareChat. The exposure-to-engagement ratio has improved from approximately 45% to over 74% within the same period, while average episodes watched per user per day have risen from 20 to over 80.
The ShareChat ecosystem reportedly serves approximately 70 million monthly active users of the micro drama format, which the company claims represents nearly 70% of India’s estimated 100 million micro drama consumers.
Cost Reduction and Strategic Focus
Mohalla Tech highlighted the economic benefits of its AI-assisted production workflows. Traditional micro-drama productions in India typically cost between ₹15-20 lakhs per series. The company’s current AI workflows have already reduced these costs by approximately 40% compared to conventional live-action productions, by minimizing the need for physical shoots, large crews, and extensive logistics. The target is to achieve a 70% cost reduction, which is expected to widen profit margins as content volume scales.
Ankush Sachdeva, Co-Founder & CEO at Mohalla Tech, emphasized the strategic importance of AI in content delivery. “Content is the fuel, but it is our AI-driven recommendation engine that determines how far it travels,” Sachdeva stated. “Our aim is not just to produce more content with these investments, but continue to get significantly better at putting the right story in front of the right person at the right moment. That is what drives retention, and retention is what separates a platform driving repeat engagement.”
While AI-generated content is expanding, live-action content still maintains a slight engagement advantage. QuickTV’s most recent AI-generated micro dramas recorded an Episode 20 completion rate of nearly 50%, compared to approximately 60% for live-action titles. However, the company noted that this gap has narrowed as AI visual realism and model quality improve, reflecting broader trends in **recent industry developments** regarding AI’s role in content creation, which can be further explored on TechnoSports (https://technosports.co.in/).
Sachdeva further clarified the company’s perspective on AI, stating, “We view AI not as a replacement for live-action storytelling, but as a complementary production layer that enables faster experimentation, lower costs by approximately 70%, and greater content scalability across the micro-drama ecosystem.”
The company plans to showcase opportunities for brand integration within AI-generated content at ShareChat’s Culture Intelligence Summit. Mohalla Tech expects to release a slate of six AI-led micro dramas in the first week of August 2025, with an additional 6-10 titles planned for release each month, covering genres such as mythology, thrillers, sci-fi, and action.
