Unlock for a billion users

The technology provides Shortical’s disruptive mobile-first entertainment platform with emotionally authentic AI localization in six major languages, unlocking more than one billion additional potential viewers worldwide.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – June 18, 2026 (APOS 2026) - Panjaya.ai, the cinematic AI localization company, today announced a strategic partnership with Shortical, enabling emotionally authentic multilingual storytelling at global scale for premium serialized dramatic storytelling.

Through the partnership, Shortical's content is now being localized into Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German, with Japanese and Russian available soon, enabling the company to rapidly expand its international reach while preserving the emotional intensity, pacing, and cinematic realism that define its shows. Together, these language markets represent more than a billion potential viewers, allowing Shortical to bring its stories to a truly global audience, while enabling multilingual distribution at a fraction of the production cost.

The announcement comes as Shortical experiences rapid audience growth, making it the top platform in the category, with more than 20 million episodes watched monthly across the platform. Microdrama has rapidly become one of the fastest-growing segments in global entertainment. In China alone, industry analysts estimate the category now generates more revenue than the country's theatrical box office. Yet while demand for international content continues to grow, traditional dubbing workflows remain too slow and expensive for productions that release new episodes daily or weekly. As a result, most microdrama content struggles to reach a truly global audience.

Existing AI dubbing solutions, meanwhile, frequently produce performances that feel flat, disconnected, or visibly artificial, a critical limitation for dramatic content. Panjaya's expressive adaptation technology automates translation, voice performance adaptation, timing, and advanced lip-sync while preserving the emotional nuance required for premium dramatic storytelling.

Quotes

“Serialized, creative storytelling lives or dies on emotional authenticity,” said Guy Shimoni. “Our data shows how audiences immediately notice when localization breaks immersion. Panjaya was the first platform that allowed us to scale internationally without losing the emotional intensity and cinematic quality that define our shows.”

“Great dramas resonate with people when the performance feels raw and authentic, and they can resonate with billions of people when they feel that same way in the viewer's own language,” said Guy Piekarz, CEO of Panjaya. “We're witnessing the emergence of truly global storytelling formats. For the first time, creators in the rapidly growing micro-drama industry can bring emotionally authentic stories to more than a billion additional viewers across languages and cultures at a fraction of the production cost. This is a major milestone for the category and one that will delight audiences around the world.”

Guy Piekarz, CEO of Panjaya, will discuss the future of global storytelling and the Shortical partnership during his APOS 2026 session, Breaking the Language Barrier,
on June 18 at 17:50

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About Panjaya.ai:

Panjaya.ai is a cinematic AI localization company helping the world's stories travel across languages and cultures without losing their emotional impact. Through expressive voice and video adaptation, advanced lip-sync, and human-guided AI workflows, Panjaya enables studios, publishers, and media companies to bring premium video content to global audiences while preserving the authenticity of the original performance.

About Shortical:

Shortical is a disruptive mobile-first entertainment platform that merges the best technology and storytelling to create shows people not only watch, but return to. Guided by data, Shortical develops original AI-led entertainment series designed for today’s viewing habits: immediate, emotional, personal, and always within reach. As the fastest-growing app in its category, more than 20 million episodes of Shortical shows are currently watched every month in the US. For more, visit shortical.com.

Panjaya Partners With Shortical, Bringing Cinematic Emotion to Microdrama Across Languages with Expressive AI Dubbing