When Brands Stop Making Ads and Start Making Shows

By Rudrajeet Kumar Laskar | Netive

For years, advertising has worked by interrupting entertainment. A film pauses for an ad, a video begins with a commercial, a social feed is broken by a sponsored post. But as audiences become more selective about what they watch, brands are beginning to ask a different question: what if the brand itself created something people actually wanted to watch?

That thinking is behind the growing rise of branded mini-series and microdramas. In 2026, brands such as Crocs, Maybelline, Procter & Gamble, Tata Motors and JK Super Cement are experimenting with episodic storytelling, integrating products into characters, situations and narratives rather than simply placing them inside conventional advertisements. Crocs, for instance, created Charmed to Meet You, a five-part romantic microdrama, while Tata Motors and JK Super Cement have backed longer-form episodic stories where their products naturally exist within the narrative.

The shift is significant because an advertisement asks for attention, while a story has to earn it. A good series gives people a reason to stay, and more importantly, a reason to return. The cliffhanger at the end of one episode becomes the media strategy for the next.

And this idea is not entirely new. Brands have always understood the power of entertainment. What is changing is the scale, speed and format. With short-form video, creator culture and microdramas becoming part of everyday viewing behaviour, branded entertainment is moving closer to becoming entertainment itself.

The opportunity becomes particularly interesting in a market like the Northeast, where there is no shortage of stories but plenty of them remain undocumented or under-told. Take Xipa Bisari, presented by ITC Sunrise Pure Masala and hosted by Chef Atul Lahkar. Instead of simply talking about spices or recipes, the series travels into Assam's communities, food traditions and cultural memory. One episode for example, explores the Mising community through its food, folk traditions, festivals and connection with the land. The product remains part of the world, but the larger story is about people and heritage.

Wonder Assam follows a similar broader philosophy through travel and food-led storytelling, looking beyond the familiar postcard version of Assam to discover lesser-known recipes, places, landscapes and experiences. It is a useful reminder that branded or platform-led content does not always have to manufacture a story. Sometimes the most powerful stories are already there — in a village kitchen, a forgotten recipe, a community tradition or a landscape that most people have simply never seen.

That may be the real opportunity for brands in the Northeast. Instead of adding a token local element to a national campaign, they can create content that genuinely comes from the region and allows audiences elsewhere to discover it.

But there is an important distinction: a longer advertisement is not automatically a story. If the audience can see the selling message before they can see the human story, the format changes but the problem remains.

The strongest branded entertainment makes the product a natural participant rather than the constant protagonist. Crocs can become part of a romance. A cement brand can exist within the story of building a home. A masala brand can become a doorway into food, memory and culture. The product is still present, but it is no longer asking to be admired every few seconds.

This is where the next phase of brand storytelling could become interesting. Brands are no longer competing only for impressions; increasingly, they are competing for attention, curiosity and return visits. One post can generate a view. A story can create anticipation. For the Northeast, the opportunity is even more human. The region does not need to imitate the entertainment formats emerging elsewhere. It has its own characters, kitchens, music, landscapes, crafts, humour, communities and contradictions. What it needs is more storytelling around them.

Perhaps the question for brands is no longer simply, “Did you see our ad?”

It could be: “Did you see our story?”

And if the answer is yes, the next question becomes even more valuable:

“What should we tell you next?”