How a Kyiv Studio Bet on the Vertical Drama
Television wasn’t where Holywater began. Back in 2020 Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov established the company in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products still looks more like a mobile entertainment lab than www.reelshorts.org/genre/fantasy a streaming service. Beside My Drama you will find My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. That breadth is telling: it shows a business for which video is one consumer product among several, not its entire identity. Eventually, it placed its bet on the vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for an upright phone. For a small Ukrainian firm, this was a daring market to enter, since the sector’s leading names were supported by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Arrives
In spring 2024, the My Drama app arrived, although the exact date varies with which source you trust. The launch timing varies by source: TechCrunch placed it in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. Going by the difference between those store dates, Android likely came first and the iPhone version followed about two months later. From the start, the slate leaned hard on the genre’s favorite tropes. Early titles featured The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss, names that tell you most of what you need to know about the style. It was not the stories themselves that eventually made the studio stand out, but the partner it would soon be making them with.
The Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
In October 2025, My Drama ceased to be a mere startup curiosity. Fox Entertainment acquired an equity stake in Holywater, and the deal came with a pledge to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Then, in January 2026, three months on, Holywater pulled in $22M in a round led by Horizon Capital. Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside are some of the Fox-produced titles on the app. The company also has a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025, a credential it features on its App Store listing. Combined, those milestones give My Drama an edge few rivals can claim: a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
The My Drama Fact Sheet
The table below offers the quick version of the story if you only have a minute. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a first-time viewer are gathered in one place. The prices are those listed in the US App Store as of September 2026. They change by country, platform and promotion, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a firm quote. The install count refers to Google Play, where the app displays 5M+ downloads. The legal entity you deal with depends on where you live, which becomes relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge.
| Category | Specifics |
|---|---|
| Owner | Holywater (founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Co-founders | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Sister 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) |
| Launch | Spring 2024 (Google Play on March 13; App Store on May 9) |
| Supported platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Installs on Android | Google Play: 5M+ |
| Full-access pass | Around $19.99 per week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin bundles | Around $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium options | Roughly $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio backer | Fox Entertainment, equity stake held since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Investment | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
What Watching on My Drama Feels Like
At its core, the experience is the same one the entire category rests on. Episodes are vertical, framed for a phone held upright, and in this genre they generally last a minute or two before a cliffhanger propels you to the next one. As series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, a single story can silently eat up an evening in bite-sized pieces. The drama app really distinguishes itself through the range of screens it supports. In addition to iPhone, iPad and Android, it is listed for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. That big-screen option is rarer than you might expect: for comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing 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 watch together.
Holywater’s own early productions and the growing Fox slate share the catalog, which blends the two. Titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make it clear that the Fox releases stay close to the genre’s familiar formula. Scale is the honest caveat here. On Google Play the app displays 5M+ installs, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. That gap reveals where My Drama stands in 2026: a well-financed challenger rather than the category leader.
What My Drama Costs in 2026: Plans and Prices
Access is sold three ways, and the main figure is the weekly pass. As of September 2026, the US App Store lists “My Drama: Full Access” at roughly $19.99 per week. That puts it level with the weekly passes from ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort, which are listed at about the same price in the same store. Coin bundles, which unlock individual episodes, range from roughly $4.99 to $24.99. Lighter viewers have cheaper entry points than the full pass, as a separate Premium tier is listed at about $4.99 to $9.99. Like its rivals’ plans, the weekly subscription auto-renews until you cancel it. Country, platform and promotional offers all change prices, so the figure on your own device may be different. Four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total around $80 a month, so do the arithmetic before you commit.
Terms to Know Before You Pay
Most viewers give less attention than they should to the fine print in My Drama’s terms of use. Since coin purchases are final, 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. In line with the consumer rules in those markets, viewers in the EU and UK get a 14-day right of withdrawal. Purchases made on the web are described as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. The terms state plainly, most importantly, that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. On an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions, while Android users go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. Refunds for store purchases are handled by Apple or Google, not by Holywater.
It is also worth knowing exactly who stands on the other side of the contract. For US users, the counterparty is XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company; everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. Here, as with any vertical drama app, a further warning applies. Sites advertising modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators are unofficial and are not a safe way to watch anything. If the price feels steep, the legitimate move is to cancel the pass, not to go hunting for a hack.
The Verdict: A Challenger Backed by Hollywood
My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and going by install counts it is not close. What it has instead is an unusual 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 upside for viewers is Apple TV support, a feature ReelShort, for one, does not list. The catch is the same one that affects every rival, namely a weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. If you simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice. Anyone who wants Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a television should know that the My Drama app earns a place on their home screen. Either way, never rely on the delete button: create a reminder the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account.
