The Vertical Drama Bet of a Kyiv Studio
The company called Holywater didn’t begin life as a television business. It was in 2020 that Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov set up the studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its lineup still looks more like a mobile entertainment lab than a streaming service. Next to My Drama you will find My reelshorts website Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. That breadth matters: it shows a business for which video is one consumer product among several, not its whole identity. Eventually, Holywater wagered on the vertical drama, a style that originated in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for a phone held vertically. For a small Ukrainian firm, this was a brave market to enter, since the category’s biggest names were supported by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Hits the Stores
During spring 2024, the My Drama app debuted, though the precise date hinges on which source you trust. TechCrunch dated the launch in April, Google Play gives March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. Android seems to have come first, since the difference between those store dates suggests, with the iPhone version following about two months later. At launch, the slate leaned hard on the genre’s best-loved tropes. Initial titles like 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 mood just by their names. What ultimately distinguished the company was not the stories themselves but the partner it would soon be making them with.
The Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
My Drama stopped being just a startup curiosity in October 2025. Fox Entertainment acquired an equity stake in Holywater, with an agreement that included a pledge to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside are among the Fox-produced titles on the app. Three months later, in January 2026, Holywater secured $22M in a round led by Horizon Capital. The company also holds a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025, an honor it displays on its App Store listing. Combined, those milestones hand My Drama something few rivals can claim, namely a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
The My Drama Fact Sheet
For anyone who only has a moment, the table below gives the condensed version of the story. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a first-time viewer are pulled together in one place. Prices are the ones shown in the US App Store as of September 2026. Country, platform and promotion all affect them, so read them as a rough guide rather than a firm quote. The app shows 5M+ downloads on Google Play, which is the store the install figure refers to. Where you live determines the legal entity you deal with, a detail that is relevant if you ever need to challenge a charge.
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Owner | Holywater, established in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Companion apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Legal entity for US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contract party, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch date | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Installs on Android | Google Play: 5M+ |
| Full-access pass | Around $19.99 a week, auto-renewing |
| Coin packs | Roughly $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | Roughly $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake held since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Investment | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, 2025 |
How Watching on My Drama Feels
At its core, the experience is the one the whole category is built on. In this genre, episodes generally last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you on to the next one, and they are vertical, sized for an upright phone. A single story can silently consume an evening in short bites, because series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes. What truly marks this drama app apart is the range of screens it supports. Besides iPhone, iPad and Android, it is listed for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. That big-screen option is less common than you might expect, since ReelShort’s App Store listing, for comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all. A 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen TV, but the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can watch together.
In terms of content, the library mixes Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. Titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make it clear that the Fox releases stay close to the genre’s established formula. The honest caveat here is scale. With 5M+ installs on Google Play, the app has a small fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each show. This gap puts My Drama in 2026 as a well-financed challenger rather than the category leader.
What My Drama Costs in 2026: Pricing
Access comes in three ways, and the key figure is the weekly pass. “My Drama: Full Access” costs about $19.99 per week in the US App Store as of September 2026. 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. Coin bundles, which unlock individual episodes, cost from about $4.99 to $24.99. Thanks to a separate Premium tier listed at about $4.99 to $9.99, lighter viewers have cheaper entry points than the full pass. Since prices change by country, platform and promotion, the figure on your own screen may be different. The weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it, like its rivals’ plans. Before committing, run the numbers: four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass add up to about $80 a month.
Terms to Know Before You Pay
My Drama’s terms of use contain 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. In addition, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish. Except where the law requires otherwise, purchases made on the web are labeled non-refundable. A 14-day right of withdrawal covers viewers in the EU and UK, in line with the consumer rules in those markets. Crucially, the terms make it clear that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. Android users use the Subscriptions menu in Google Play, while on an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions. Apple or Google, not Holywater, handle refunds for store purchases.
Understanding exactly who sits on the other side of the contract is also useful. If you are in the US, the counterparty 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. Cancelling the pass, not looking for a hack, is the proper move if the price feels steep.
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 has instead is an uncommon combination: a Kyiv founding story, a Fox equity partner signed up for more than 200 titles, fresh funding from January 2026 and a Webby on the shelf. The practical benefit for viewers is Apple TV support, something ReelShort, for one, does not list. The drawback is the same one that affects every rival, namely a weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. Anyone who wants Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV should know that the My Drama app earns a place on the home screen. For viewers who simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax and its 50,000+ dramas make the more obvious pick. Whatever you decide, never rely on the delete button: create a reminder the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account.
