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The Vertical Drama Wager of a Kyiv Studio
At first, Holywater was not a television outfit. In 2020 Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov established the studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products even now looks more like a lab for mobile https://www.reelshorts.org/ entertainment than a streaming network. My Drama shares the portfolio with My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. That spread matters, because it reveals a business that treats video as one consumer product among several rather than its complete identity. Eventually, the company wagered on the vertical drama, a style that originated in China as duanju and is shot 9:16 for a phone held upright. The groups behind the category’s largest players were Chinese and Singaporean, making this a daring market for a small Ukrainian company to enter.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Launches
The exact date of the My Drama app depends on which source you trust, but it arrived in spring 2024. TechCrunch placed the launch in April, Google Play gives March 13, 2024, and the App Store shows May 9, 2024. Those store dates imply that Android launched first, with the iPhone version following about two months later. At launch, the slate leaned hard on the genre’s go-to tropes. The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss were some of the first titles, and the names alone tell you most of what you need to know about the mood. The partner it would soon be making them with, not the stories themselves, is what eventually set the company apart.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
The month My Drama ceased to be a startup curiosity was October 2025. An equity stake in Holywater was taken by Fox Entertainment, and the deal included a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Horizon Capital led a $22M round in Holywater three months later, in January 2026. Fox-produced titles on the platform include Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. A Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025 is also held by the company, which features it on its App Store listing. Few rivals can boast what those milestones give My Drama, namely a big American studio acting as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama at a Glance
For anyone who only has a moment, the table below is the quick version of the story. It gathers in one place the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a first-time viewer. The prices are the ones listed in the US App Store as of September 2026. Because they differ by country, platform and promotion, read them as a guide rather than a firm quote. The install figure is taken from Google Play, where the app lists 5M+ downloads. The legal entity you deal with depends on where you live, which is relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge.
| Category | Specifics |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Holywater (founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Sister apps | My Passion for books, My Muse for AI, plus FreeBits |
| Contract party, US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contracting entity, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch date | Spring 2024 (Google Play on March 13; App Store on May 9) |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro and web |
| Android downloads | Google Play: 5M+ |
| Full access pass | About $19.99 a week, auto-renewing |
| Coin bundles | Around $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | About $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Production partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake held since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Latest funding | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Awards | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
The My Drama Viewing Experience
At its core, the experience is the same one the whole category rests on. In this genre, episodes typically last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you on to the next one, and they are vertical, framed for an upright phone. With series often running anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, one story can silently eat up an evening in short bites. This drama app truly stands out in the range of screens it supports. As well as iPhone, iPad and Android, the app appears for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. That big-screen option is rarer than you might think, since ReelShort’s App Store listing, for comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all. A 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, but the option converts a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
Holywater’s own early productions and the growing Fox slate make up the library, which blends the two. The Fox releases stick close to the genre’s well-worn formula, as titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make plain. Scale is the fair caveat here. On Google Play the app shows 5M+ installs, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. That gap reveals where My Drama stands in 2026, as a well-financed challenger rather than the category leader.
My Drama Pricing in 2026
Of the three ways Holywater sells access, the weekly pass is the main figure. In the US App Store as of September 2026, “My Drama: Full Access” costs roughly $19.99 per week. ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort list their weekly passes at about the same price in the same store, so My Drama sits level with them. From about $4.99 to $24.99, coin bundles open up individual episodes. A separate Premium tier is listed at roughly $4.99 to $9.99, so lighter viewers have cheaper entry points than the full pass. Just as with its rivals’ plans, the weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it. Country, platform and promotion all change prices, so the figure on your own device may differ. Before committing, run the numbers: four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass come to roughly $80 a month.
Terms Worth Knowing Before You Pay
Most viewers give less attention than they should to the fine print in My Drama’s terms of use. Every coin purchases are final, which means no easy refund if a series lets you down after you unlock it. A balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish, because coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity. In line with the consumer rules in those markets, viewers in the EU and UK have a 14-day right of withdrawal. Purchases on the web are labeled non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Most importantly, the terms state plainly that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. Android users go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play, while on an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions. Holywater does not handle refunds for store purchases; Apple or Google does.
Knowing exactly who sits on the other side of the contract also helps. US users contract with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company, while everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. In this case, as with any vertical drama app, a further warning is worth making. A site promising modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators is unofficial, and it is not a safe way to watch anything. Canceling the pass, not hunting for a hack, is the legitimate move if the price seems too high.
Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
My Drama is not the largest vertical drama app, and on install counts it is not even close. What it offers instead is an uncommon combination: a Kyiv founding story, a Fox equity partner committed to more than 200 titles, fresh funding from January 2026 and a Webby on the shelf. ReelShort, for one, does not list Apple TV support, which makes it the practical upside for My Drama viewers. As with every rival, the downside is a weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious pick if you simply want the largest claimed library. Viewers who want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV will find that the My Drama app earns a place on the home screen. Either way, never rely on the delete button: set a reminder the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account.
