ReelShort Hits Basics A Closer Look

A Kyiv Studio Stakes Its Wager on the Vertical Drama

TV was not where Holywater started out. It was in 2020 that Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov set up the studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its lineup still reads more like a mobile entertainment laboratory than a streaming network. My Passion handles books, My Muse handles AI, and FreeBits completes the family alongside My Drama. It is telling that the lineup is so spread out, because it reveals a company that sees video as one of several consumer products instead of its whole identity. The vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for an upright phone, became reelshort free series its eventual wager. The groups behind the category’s biggest names were Chinese and Singaporean, which made this a daring market for a small Ukrainian company to enter.

The My Drama App Goes Live in Spring 2024

Spring 2024 saw the launch of the My Drama app, though the exact date depends on which record you trust. TechCrunch placed the launch in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. Android appears to have come first, since the gap between those store dates indicates, with the iPhone version following about two months later. The initial slate relied heavily on the genre’s favorite tropes. Early titles such as The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss tell you most of what you need to know about the tone through their names alone. The partner it would soon be producing them with, not the stories themselves, is what ultimately made it stand out.

The Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby

During October 2025, My Drama stopped being just a startup curiosity. An equity stake in Holywater was taken by Fox Entertainment, and the deal carried a pledge to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. In January 2026, three months later, Holywater pulled in $22M in a funding round led by Horizon Capital. Fox-produced titles on the app 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 shows off it on its App Store listing. Few rivals can boast what these milestones hand My Drama, namely a big American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.

My Drama at a Glance

If you only have a minute, the table below gives you the short version of the story. It pulls together the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a new viewer. As of September 2026, the prices match those shown in the US App Store. Because they change by country, platform and promotion, treat them as a guide rather than a firm quote. Where you live determines the legal entity you contract with, something that is relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge. The app shows 5M+ downloads on Google Play, which is what the install count refers to.

Topic Details
Parent company Holywater, set up in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020
Founded by Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov
Related apps My Passion for books, My Muse for AI, plus FreeBits
Contract party, US users XOLY LIMITED (Delaware)
Legal entity for other users Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus)
Release Spring 2024 (Google Play on March 13; App Store on May 9)
Supported platforms iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web
Android downloads 5M+ via Google Play
Full-access pass Around $19.99 per week, renewing automatically
Coin packages 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
Funding $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital
Recognition Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, 2025

How Watching on My Drama Plays Out

The basic experience is the one the whole category is built on. Formatted for an upright phone, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they usually last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next. Since series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, a single story can silently consume an evening in short bites. This drama app truly distinguishes itself through the range of screens it supports. As well as iPhone, iPad and Android, the app appears for Apple TV running tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. ReelShort’s App Store listing, by comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all, which shows that that big-screen option is less common than you might expect. Granted, a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen TV, yet the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.

Holywater’s own early productions and the growing Fox slate make up the catalog, which blends the two. Titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession show that the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s established formula. Scale is the honest caveat here. On Google Play the app shows 5M+ installs, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. This gap shows where My Drama sits in 2026, as a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.

My Drama Pricing in 2026

The main figure is the weekly pass, one of three ways Holywater sells access. In the US App Store as of September 2026, “My Drama: Full Access” runs roughly $19.99 a week. That places it on par with the weekly passes from ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort, which are listed at about the same price in the same store. To unlock individual episodes, there are coin packs priced from around $4.99 to $24.99. A separate Premium tier is listed at roughly $4.99 to $9.99, so lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass. Country, platform and promotional offers all affect prices, so the figure on your own device may be different. Like its rivals’ plans, the weekly subscription auto-renews until you cancel it. Do the arithmetic before you commit, because four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass come to about $80 a month.

The Terms to Understand Before You Pay

My Drama’s terms of use include fine print that merits more attention than most viewers give it. As coin purchases are final, there is no easy refund if a series disappoints after you unlock it. A balance you ignore for a year can simply disappear, since coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity. Whatever you buy on the web is described as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Reflecting the consumer rules in those markets, viewers in the EU and UK get a 14-day right of withdrawal. The most important point is this: the terms say clearly that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. To cancel on an iPhone, head to Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions; on Android, go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. Refunds for store purchases are handled by Apple or Google, not by Holywater.

It also helps to know exactly who sits on the other side of the contract. If you are in the US, the contracting party is XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company; everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. One more warning applies here as much as to any vertical drama app. 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 proper move if the price seems steep.

Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner

My Drama is not the largest vertical drama app, and going by 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. The practical upside for viewers is Apple TV support, something ReelShort, for one, does not list. The drawback remains the same one that plagues every rival: a weekly pass of about $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. The My Drama app earns a place on your home screen if you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV. ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice if you simply want the largest claimed library. Whichever you choose, create a reminder on the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account instead of trusting the delete button.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *