Vurt Bets on Next Wave of Vertical Screen Entertainment Growth Coming from Wide-Screen TVs, Not Just Mobile
The company recently launched dedicated apps for Apple TV and Android TV, offering over 3,500 episodes across more than 100 series. Since its launch in March, users have increased from 10,000 to 675,000.
Vurt primarily focuses on soap opera-style micro-dramas, mostly produced with live actors and crews, rather than the AI-generated content common among competitors, and allows free viewing through advertisements.
Co-founder Hilmon Sorey stated that users initially wanted to cast vertical content from their phones to TVs, prompting the team to develop a native app to leverage large-screen devices for HD and 4K quality and higher audio quality.
The platform expands its content library by signing licensing agreements with production studios and creators, employing a 50/50 revenue-sharing model.
The advertising revenue and creator sharing mechanism provide direct benefits to content suppliers, while platforms with native large-screen experiences gain advantages in viewing time and ad inventory as users transition from mobile to TV. Competitors relying solely on mobile face challenges due to screen size and experience differences.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Vurt was founded by Ted Lucas, who previously promoted music distribution through Slip-N-Slide Records, and is now applying a similar direct-to-creator model to vertical screen film and television, using a non-exclusive 50/50 revenue share and supporting rapid launches.
The capital path focuses on expanding from mobile micro-dramas to native smart TV applications, accumulating live-action content through licensing agreements, and monetizing through advertisements to convert user demand for mobile casting into high-definition viewing on large screens, forming cross-device content distribution.
This is similar to mobile-first micro-drama platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox, but Vurt is currently in the expansion phase of penetrating from native mobile to wide-screen TVs, akin to the early paths of short video platforms extending to TV.
Essentially, this represents a restructuring of the industry chain and a transfer of pricing power: vertical screen content is extending from pure mobile consumption scenarios to high-quality experiences on large screens, with the mechanism being the combination of users' existing content habits and device capabilities, allowing platforms with native TV applications to gain advantages in ad inventory and user duration.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Content first establishes habits on mobile, then converts viewing time on TV
Live-action production counters AI content, with quality becoming a differentiating entry point
Revenue share ratios determine supply, while experience dictates screen migration