The founder of E! Entertainment Television, Alan Mruvka, is set to launch the first-ever U.S. platform for microdramas, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Mruvka is funding the platform himself.
Verza TV is weeks out from launch, THR is told, which will make it the first such American platform to market; others have been announced, but are not ready. Most of the existing platforms for microdramas are Chinese.
Verza TV, a mobile-first, vertical streamer, has a pay model with a somewhat generous trial. Users can watch up to five episodes of any and every title for free — it will cost $4.99 to access the rest.
The vertical microdrama market surpassed $6.5 billion in revenue in 2024, and is expected to double by 2030.
“When I founded E! Entertainment Television, we were the first to pioneer celebrity-based programming and forever changed how audiences watched and engaged with entertainment,” Mruvka, the Verza TV founder and CEO, told THR. “With Verza TV, we’re doing it again — this time for the mobile-first era. Today’s viewers are more sophisticated than ever, but they consume everything vertically on their phones. We have incredible things planned, and we’re going to elevate that experience to an entirely new level.”
“By combining celebrity-driven storytelling with creator-led series, Verza TV will deliver the authenticity Gen Z demands with the polish and credibility that resonates with older demographics,” the company promises, unlike its “international out-of-touch competitors.”
Micro-shots fired. To be fair, they’re operating in the world of soap operas.
Verza TV will launch in mid-November. Its programming will include “trending-TikTok-inspired dramas, reality micro content, exclusive red carpet interviews and fan-favorite microdramas.”
Mruvka is joined in the venture by his E! Entertainment Television co-founder Larry Namer as partner; E! was launched on July 31, 1987. Namer will sit on the board of Verza TV and “provide insightful corporate strategy going forward,” the company said.
Meanwhile, E! is on its way to Versant (not to be confused with Verza), as part of NBCUniversal’s spin off and sale of most of its cable channels. Layoffs recently hit the channel as E! News (the TV show) was canceled; some Access Hollywood employees got caught in the net.
