Microdrama, Platformization, and Binge-Fragmentation: Transforming Audiovisual Consumption in the Mobile Media Era

Abstract

The expansion of mobile audiovisual platforms and short-form video has transformed how audiovisual content is produced, distributed, discovered, and consumed. One format emerging within this environment is microdrama, characterised by relatively short serialised episodes, narrative continuity, and strong orientation toward mobile viewing. This study examines microdrama as a platformized audiovisual product and explores the relationship among binge-watching, fragmented viewing, habitual media use, and continuity of narrative engagement. The study employs a Critical Literature Review based on 31 core analytical sources identified through Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and Google Scholar, supplemented by relevant academic publications, industry reports, and digital statistics. The literature was examined through thematic synthesis, constant comparison, and abductive reasoning. The synthesis indicates that short-form serialised consumption may involve relatively short and repeated viewing sessions distributed across different temporal occasions while engagement with an ongoing narrative remains continuous. This pattern is only partially captured by binge-watching, fragmented viewing, and habitual media use because each concept emphasises a different dimension of audiovisual behaviour. On this basis, the study proposes binge-fragmentation as a provisional conceptual proposition referring to continued engagement with serialised audiovisual narratives through temporally fragmented viewing sessions. The concept is not presented as a new theory or an empirically validated behavioural category. Its analytical value requires further empirical testing across users, platforms, genres, and cultural contexts. The study contributes to research on platformization and mobile audiovisual consumption by shifting analytical attention from continuity of viewing time toward continuity of narrative engagement. This perspective allows future research to examine session duration, repetition, temporal intervals, narrative continuity, and platform-mediated continuation as related but analytically distinguishable dimensions of contemporary audiovisual consumption.