A Kyiv Studio Wagers on the Vertical Drama

Television was not how Holywater got its start. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov set up the studio in 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its product lineup still looks more like a mobile entertainment laboratory than a streaming network. My Passion handles books, My Muse handles AI, and FreeBits rounds out the lineup beside My Drama. It matters that the lineup is this broad, since it shows a company that treats video as pine drama one of several consumer products instead of its entire identity. In the end, it made its bet on the vertical drama, a format born in China as duanju and framed 9:16 for an upright phone. For a small Ukrainian business, this was a daring market to enter, as the sector’s biggest names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.

Spring 2024 and the Debut of the My Drama App

The My Drama app went live in spring 2024, though the precise date hinges on which listing you believe. The launch date varies by source: TechCrunch placed it in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. Android seems to have come first, since the gap between those store dates suggests, with the iPhone version arriving about two months later. The initial slate leaned heavily on the genre’s go-to tropes. Early titles featured The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss, names that reveal most of what you need to know about the mood. The collaborator it would soon be making them with, not the stories themselves, is what ultimately set the company apart.

Fox, $22M in Fresh Funding and a Webby Win

The month My Drama stopped being a startup curiosity was October 2025. An equity stake in Holywater went to Fox Entertainment, and the agreement carried a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside are some of the Fox-produced titles on the app. Then, in January 2026, three months later, Holywater pulled in $22M in a round led by Horizon Capital. On its App Store listing, the company features a further credential: a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025. Those milestones, taken together, hand My Drama a distinctive advantage that few rivals can claim: a major American studio acting as both shareholder and producer.

The My Drama Fact File

For anyone who only has a moment, the table below is the quick version of the story. It collects the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a new viewer. The prices are those shown in the US App Store as of September 2026. They differ by country, platform and promotion, so use them as a guide rather than a fixed quote. If you ever need to dispute a charge, it helps to know that the legal entity you contract with depends on where you live. The app shows 5M+ downloads on Google Play, which is the store the install figure refers to.

The My Drama Viewing Experience

The central experience mirrors the one the whole category is founded on. Episodes are vertical, framed for a phone held upright, and in this genre they usually run a minute or two before a cliffhanger propels you on to the next one. With series often running anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, one story can silently swallow an evening in short bites. The range of screens it supports is where this drama app truly distinguishes itself. Besides iPhone, iPad and Android, it appears for Apple TV running tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro. This big-screen option is rarer than you might think: for comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing shows no Apple TV version at all. The option converts a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together, even though a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen TV.

Holywater’s own early productions and the growing Fox slate share the catalog, blending the two. The genre’s familiar formula is still the template for the Fox releases, as titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make plain. Scale is where the candid caveat comes in. At 5M+ installs on Google Play, the app has a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. This gap puts My Drama in 2026 as a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.

Pricing: How Much My Drama Costs in 2026

Holywater sells access three ways, and the key figure is the weekly pass. “My Drama: Full Access” costs roughly $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, run from about $4.99 to $24.99. The store also lists a separate Premium tier at about $4.99 to $9.99, giving lighter viewers less expensive entry points than the full pass. The figure on your own screen may be different, as prices vary by country, platform and promotion. Until you cancel it, the weekly subscription renews automatically, just as its rivals’ plans do. Do the math before you commit, because four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total around $80 a month.

Before You Pay: Terms Worth Knowing

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. Coins are also forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, which means a balance you ignore for a year can simply disappear. A 14-day right of withdrawal applies to viewers in the EU and UK, reflecting the consumer rules in those markets. Except where the law requires otherwise, purchases made on the web are described as non-refundable. Most importantly, the terms state plainly that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. To cancel on an iPhone, head to Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions; on Android, use the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. When you buy through a store, refunds are handled by Apple or Google, not by Holywater.

It is also worth knowing exactly who sits on the other side of the contract. Everyone outside the US contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus, while US users contract with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company. As with any vertical drama app, one more warning applies here. Modded APKs, unlimited coins and free coin generators come from unofficial sites, and such sites are not a safe way to watch anything. Canceling the pass, not looking for a hack, is the legitimate move when the price feels too high.

Our Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner

My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and judging by install counts it is not even close. What it has instead is an uncommon mix: 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 advantage for viewers is Apple TV support, something ReelShort, for one, does not list. A weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that renews quietly in the background is the drawback, the same one that plagues every rival. If you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a television, the My Drama app earns a place on your home screen. When the largest claimed library is all you want, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice. Either way, cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button, and set a reminder the day you subscribe.