Vertical Streaming Startup Vurt Expands to Smart TVs With 3,500 Episodes Across 100 Shows

Vurt, a startup focused on vertical microdrama streaming, has launched dedicated apps for Apple TV and Android TV, making a bet that the next phase of short-form vertical content will play out on wide-screen televisions rather than smartphone screens.

The company offers access to 3,500 episodes across more than 100 shows and has grown its user base from 10,000 to 675,000 since launching in March, according to Vurt.

Vurt cofounder and angel investor Hilmon Sorey said the push into TV apps was shaped directly by user feedback. Viewers were already casting vertical content from their phones to larger screens, but the development team concluded that a dedicated app would allow them to offer a meaningfully better experience.

"At first, we first developed the ability for folks to cast to smart TVs," Sorey said. "But we decided that wasn't the best experience because we could leverage all of the technology in those large-screen devices to bring features like HD / 4K video, and the ability to do really high-quality audio."

The company says overall engagement time has increased among users watching through its TV apps, a figure Vurt attributes to the convenience of consuming content without relying on a phone.

Vurt's library consists primarily of the soapy, melodramatic microdramas that have also driven the popularity of rival platforms such as DramaBox and ReelShort. The company distinguishes itself from those competitors by relying on human casts and crews for the vast majority of its programming, in contrast to what Sorey characterized as an influx of AI-generated content on rival services.

The platform is free to watch, funded through advertising partnerships rather than the microtransaction systems used by some competitors. Sorey was pointed in his criticism of those models.

"If you are a platform that's doing your own original content and you don't have creators to pay, then 'give us $20 and we'll give you 500 coffee beans' kind of gamification is intentional," Sorey said. "It's a ruse that they can use to boggle your mind because they control that entire content ecosystem."

To build out its catalog, Vurt signs licensing agreements with studios and individual creators on a 50/50 revenue split. Independent creators can submit projects directly to the platform and, once approved, can have their content available for streaming within a few days.

Sorey described the qualities that define vertical microdramas — short episodes, formulaic plots, and cliffhanger endings — not as limitations but as the hallmarks of a distinct genre.

"You can have a different kind of immersive experience — even on a wide screen in vertical format — because verticals tell their stories in a very different way," Sorey said. "You've got to have your hook to begin and at the tail end of that, you've got to thrust them into the next episode by virtue of a cliffhanger."

Vurt's TV expansion arrives as larger platforms are also looking beyond mobile. This past June, Instagram updated its TV app to include Reels, disappearing Stories, and horizontally oriented videos — moves widely seen as an effort to compete with YouTube on connected-screen devices.

Sorey said Vurt intends to remain focused on vertical content while also developing new programming formats, including original series and livestreamed sporting events.

Whether demand for vertical video on large screens extends beyond audiences already accustomed to microdrama platforms remains an open question, but Vurt's early engagement numbers will likely serve as a closely watched data point for the broader industry as it weighs the limits of the format.

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