Soccer icon Neymar Jr. has signed on for a 16-title AI-powered live-action microdrama franchise with COL Group‘s FlareFlow platform, with the first six titles to debut globally beginning June 19.
The partnership was unveiled ahead of FlareFlow chief marketing officer and COL Group general manager Timothy Oh appearance on the APOS conference’s microdrama industry panel. The rollout is timed to coincide with heightened global attention during soccer World Cup season, with the opening wave of six titles launching through June 22.
Produced using AI-powered live-action production workflows, the franchise spans genres ranging from sports redemption drama to science fiction. The six debut titles are “The Way Back to Glory,” “The Playboy System: Scoring the Goddesses,” “Soccer Star Kidnapped Into the Galaxy Cup: Score or Die!,” “Fake Neymar, Real God,” “Project to Legend: NEY 10,” and “The Limping Janitor Is the True World Football King.”
“This partnership represents a defining moment for the global entertainment ecosystem,” said James Wang, CEO of FlareFlow. “Neymar is one of the most commercially magnetic athletes on the planet. Bringing his global star power together with our advanced AI creative workflows allows us to push the boundaries of storytelling at an unprecedented scale.”
As part of the distribution agreement, the slate will also roll out in mainland China via Xiaohongshu, the digital lifestyle platform whose daily active user base tops 200 million.
“Unveiling this franchise at APOS marks the true dawn of our Vertical 2.0 strategy,” said Oh. “We are expanding premium vertical storytelling far beyond its first wave into highly scalable genres like sports, timed perfectly to capture global attention during the World Cup season.”
Neymar carries a combined social following of more than 220 million, which the company characterizes as a significant validation for the vertical entertainment category. FlareFlow, which operates under COL Group – listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext board – has released approximately 5,200 series to date, with 33 million registered users, support for 14 languages, and a presence spanning upward of 200 countries and regions.