Urban One has released the trailer for Power & Influence, a new scripted microseries premiering exclusively on TikTok October 19 through BOSSIP’s account before expanding across the company’s broader digital, television, streaming, and audio platforms. The series is written by Dreux Dougall, whose credits include Lovecraft Country, and directed by Jamal Simmons, known for Married at First Sight.
Power & Influence follows Nia Whitmore, CEO of Metropolitan, a respected Black-owned advertising agency in Atlanta, as AI-generated deepfakes expose hidden internal scandals and threaten to take the company down. Nia is forced to lean on Zuri Reynolds, a young creative strategist whose street ties could either save Metropolitan or push it further into crisis. The ensemble also includes Chris, the co-founder; Ray, the creative director; Amenia, the COO; Dominic, a mogul navigating the fallout; and Diamond, an AI assistant who consistently seems to know more than she should. The series stars Ivory Shields, Tanazia Madan, Jay Jones, De’Tuan Williams, Ashley Brittney Silva, and Donny Carrington, with Ma’at Zachary executive producing. Each episode runs around 90 seconds, with 20 episodes total.
The series is one of two scripted microdramas Urban One is launching together, both built specifically for vertical, mobile-first viewing rather than adapted from longer-format content after the fact. The second project, Foul Play, is a revenge thriller from writer and executive producer Tanya Hoffler-Moore of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, following a military veteran and sports mom seeking retribution against the coach, referee, and player who conspired to injure her daughter during a high-stakes basketball tournament. Former WNBA player Ty Young directs, with Leon Lozado of All American: Homecoming serving as co-producer and co-director, alongside former players Ashley MacCalla and Sydney MacCalla as co-producers.
Allison McGevna, senior vice president of content at Urban One’s iONE Digital division, said both series are designed around how audiences actually consume content today, while EVP of branded entertainment Jeff Meza framed the format as a new way for brand partners to connect authentically with Urban One’s built-in audience from the ground up.
With both series launching almost simultaneously and positioned to expand well beyond their initial TikTok premieres, the real test will be whether Urban One’s existing audience base translates into sustained engagement once these microdramas move across the company’s full platform ecosystem.