A Kyiv Studio Gambles on the Vertical Drama
Holywater wasn’t started as a TV business. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov set up the studio in 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products still reads more like a mobile entertainment laboratory than a streaming service. My Passion covers books, My Muse covers AI, and FreeBits rounds out the family alongside My Drama. This breadth is telling, since video is one of several consumer www.reelshortmovies.com products for the company, not its entire identity. The vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for a phone held upright, was the bet it eventually made. For a small Ukrainian firm, this was a gutsy market to enter, because the category’s leading names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024 and the Arrival of the My Drama App
Spring 2024 brought the debut of the My Drama app, though the precise date depends on which source you believe. Per TechCrunch, the launch took place in April, whereas Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store shows May 9, 2024. Android appears to have come first, as the difference between those store dates suggests, with the iPhone version following about two months later. The genre’s favorite tropes shaped the initial slate. Initial titles such as The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss reveal most of what you need to know about the tone through their names alone. What eventually made the company stand out was not the stories themselves but the partner it would soon be making them with.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
In October 2025, My Drama ceased to be a startup curiosity. Fox Entertainment took an equity stake in Holywater, with an agreement that included a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years. The service carries Fox-produced titles such as Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. A $22M funding round led by Horizon Capital followed three months later, in January 2026, when Holywater raised the money. In its App Store listing, the company shows off another credential: a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025. Together, these milestones hand My Drama an edge few rivals can boast: a major American studio acting as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama: Key Facts
The condensed version of the story sits in the table below, for readers who only have a minute. It brings together the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a new viewer. As of September 2026, the prices match the ones listed in the US App Store. As they differ by country, platform and promotion, read them as a rough guide rather than a quote. The install count comes from Google Play, where the app shows 5M+ downloads. Where you live decides the legal entity you deal with, a detail that is relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge.
| Category | Information |
|---|---|
| Owner | Holywater, set up 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) |
| Contract party, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Release | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Installs on Android | 5M+ via Google Play |
| Full-access plan | Around $19.99 a week, auto-renewing |
| Coin bundles | Roughly $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium options | Around $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 | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
What It Feels Like to Watch My Drama
The entire category is built on the same basic experience, and My Drama sticks to it. Episodes are vertical and sized for an upright phone; in this genre episodes typically last a minute or two, and then a cliffhanger pushes you on to the next one. A single story can silently swallow an evening in small bites, because series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes. Where this drama app really stands out is the range of screens it supports. Besides iPhone, iPad and Android, the app appears for Apple TV running tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. By comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing shows no Apple TV version at all, so that big-screen option is less common than you might expect. Of course, a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, yet the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
In terms of content, the catalog blends Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. As titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make plain, the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s established formula. Here, the honest caveat is scale. ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list 100M+ installs on Google Play, while My Drama shows 5M+, a small fraction of that. That gap tells you where My Drama stands in 2026: a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.
My Drama Pricing in 2026
The headline figure is the weekly pass, one of three ways Holywater sells access. As of September 2026, the US App Store lists “My Drama: Full Access” at about $19.99 a week. ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort list their weekly passes at about the same price in the same store, so the app is level with them. Coin bundles, which unlock individual episodes, range from around $4.99 to $24.99. Lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass, because a separate Premium tier is listed at around $4.99 to $9.99. Until you cancel it, the weekly subscription renews automatically, just as its rivals’ plans do. Prices differ by country, platform and promotion, so the figure on your own device may differ. Before committing, do the arithmetic: four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total about $80 a month.
Terms Worth Knowing Before You Pay
My Drama’s terms of use include fine print that deserves more attention than most viewers pay it. Coin purchases are final, so there is no easy refund if a series disappoints after you unlock it. Also, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish. Anything you buy on the web is described as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. A 14-day right of withdrawal applies to viewers in the EU and UK, reflecting the consumer rules in those markets. Deleting the app does not cancel your subscription, and the terms state so plainly, and that is the most important point of all. On an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions, while Android users use the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. Holywater does not handle refunds for store purchases; Apple or Google handles them.
Knowing exactly who sits on the other side of the contract is useful too. Everyone outside the US contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus, while US users deal with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company. One more warning applies to My Drama as much as to any vertical drama app. Modded APKs, unlimited coins and free coin generators are promised by unofficial sites, and such sites are not a safe way to watch anything. When the price seems steep, the legitimate move is to cancel the pass, not to look for a hack.
Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
On install counts, My Drama is not close to being the largest vertical drama app. Rather, it offers an unlikely 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 benefit for viewers is Apple TV support, a feature ReelShort, for one, does not list. Like every rival, the drawback is a weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. The My Drama app deserves a place on your home screen if you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV. If you simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious pick. Either way, create a reminder the day you subscribe, and cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button.