TikTok's latest creation has piqued the attention of many as it brings an emerging form of media into the mainstream, yet there's a good chance that you won't even be able to download it, leaving millions across the world in a fit of frustration.
It has been over half a decade now since TikTok became one of social media's dominant platforms, and it's certainly had a greater impact than most when it comes to the way people consume content online.
For years video content on social media was consumed on either ends of an extreme, as you had either the immense popularity of long-form output on YouTube – where videos sometimes even stretched beyond an hour – to the extremely limited format of apps like Vine.
However, TikTok opened up those barriers but retained a focus on short-form videos, filling a void that many other platforms including both Instagram and the aforementioned YouTube have been trying to catch up to.
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Dominating the market seemingly isn't enough for TikTok though as it appears as if the app has found a new niche to plant its flag within, launching a bizarre brand new app that could change how media is consumed.
As shared by Trusted Reviews, PineDrama is the newest app to be paired with TikTok, and it's purpose is to exclusively serve what's known as 'microdramas', which are TV-esque 'episodes' that are usually only around a minute long.
The purpose of these extremely short episodes is for them to be consumed in short bursts, almost akin to watching TikToks, as studio executives try to combat the allegedly waning attention spans of youth across the world — although you could argue that it's directly a result of apps like TikTok in the first place.
Unlike TikTok, where each video is mostly independent from the last and the next, these microdramas maintain a narrative that viewers can follow along with as if they were watching a regular show, but without the 'commitment' of spending 30 mins to an hour watching real TV.
Right now it has launched in an ad-free format, although it would be surprising if it stays that way for long, yet there remains one big catch: it's only currently available in two regions worldwide.
Only users in the United States and Brazil can download PineDrama right now, leaving the rest of the world looking in from the outside. You might even be able to see it in your local app store right now, but you won't be able to download it unless you're in one of the aforementioned nations.
It's unclear when (or if) PineDrama will launch in other nations at this point, but that likely depends on the success of its current format, and expansion across the rest of the world could spell danger for more traditional forms of media.