COL Group, CP Group strike shortform drama partnership in Thailand

Shortform drama platform Tatang on a smartphone

Chinese microdrama company COL Group and CP Group of Thailand have agreed a strategic partnership covering talent development, localised production and distribution across Thailand’s shortform drama industry.

The collaboration centres on a shortform drama talent incubation programme that COL Group and CP Group will develop jointly with a Thai academic institution, aimed at connecting emerging creative talent with the shortform entertainment sector and building a stronger talent pipeline for the industry.

The partners will also work on a Thai remake collaboration, adapting selected projects from COL Group and its Singapore-based FlareFlow microdrama platform for local audiences. Rather than translation, the stories will be reworked with Thai characters, settings and language, using AI-enabled production tools alongside COL Group’s content IP and shortform production expertise and CP Group’s local creator network and market knowledge.

The partnership will reach consumers directly through FlareFlow Mini, a FlareFlow-branded content corner launching in September within Tatang by TrueID, the shortform drama platform operated by True Corporation, part of CP Group. FlareFlow Mini will host FlareFlow’s vertical drama catalogue, localised for Thai audiences, with new titles added weekly.

Patsakorn Laohrenu, director of business development of content and media at CP Group, said: “Building a sustainable shortform entertainment industry requires us to invest beyond content and into the next generation of Thai creative talent.”

She added that COL and CP will “connect education with real industry opportunities – from storytelling and production to AI-enabled creation and access to real world audiences – building stronger capabilities for Thai creators and a foundation for original Thai stories and IP to grow in Thailand and beyond.”

Timothy Oh, general manager of COL Group and chief marketing officer of FlareFlow, said: “This partnership brings together the different pieces needed to grow shortform entertainment in a meaningful way, from developing the next generation of creators to localising proven stories for Thai audiences and creating new ways for those stories to reach viewers.”

COL Group, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext board, operates the FlareFlow vertical drama platform, which has more than 45 million registered users. CP Group is one of Thailand’s largest conglomerates, with a content and media business that sits alongside True Corporation, among the country’s biggest telecommunications and digital technology operators.