The Vertical Drama Gamble of a Kyiv Studio
Holywater wasn’t born as a television company. Back in 2020 Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov established the studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its lineup even now looks more like a mobile entertainment laboratory than a streaming platform. Next to My Drama are My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. It Divorced at the Wedding Day online is telling that the portfolio is so spread out, since it shows a company that sees video as one of several consumer products rather than its whole identity. The vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for an upright phone, became its eventual wager. The groups behind the sector’s largest players were Chinese and Singaporean, which made this a bold market for a small Ukrainian company to enter.
The My Drama App Launches in Spring 2024
In spring 2024, the My Drama app went live, though the precise date hinges on which record you trust. TechCrunch placed the launch in April, Google Play shows March 13, 2024, and the App Store gives May 9, 2024. Based on the difference between those store dates, Android probably came first and the iPhone version followed about two months later. The opening slate was built around the genre’s favorite tropes. The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss were some of the initial titles, names that tell you most of what you need to know about the mood. The partner it would soon be making them with, not the stories themselves, is what eventually set the company apart.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Raise and a Webby
In October 2025, My Drama ceased to be a mere startup curiosity. An equity stake in Holywater was taken by Fox Entertainment, and the agreement included a commitment to make 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. Horizon Capital led a $22M round for Holywater three months later, in January 2026. A Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025 is also held by the company, which shows off it 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.
My Drama Fact File
The table below is the quick version of the story if you only have a minute. It brings together the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that matter most to a new viewer. The prices are the ones listed in the US App Store as of September 2026. Treat them as a guide rather than a firm quote, because they vary by country, platform and promotion. The legal entity you deal with depends on where you live, which becomes relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge. The install count is taken from Google Play, where the app displays 5M+ downloads.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Holywater, founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 |
| Co-founders | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Companion apps | My Passion for books, My Muse for AI, plus FreeBits |
| Legal entity for US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Legal entity for other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Android installs | 5M+ on Google Play |
| Full access pass | About $19.99 per week, auto-renewing |
| Coin bundles | Around $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium options | Around $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 |
| Awards | Webby Award, Best Streaming Service, 2025 |
The My Drama Viewing Experience
The basic experience matches the one the entire category is built on. In this genre, episodes generally last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next one, and they are vertical, sized for an upright phone. Series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, so a single story can silently consume an evening in short bites. What truly marks this drama app apart is the range of screens it supports. It is listed for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later and for Vision Pro, on top of iPhone, iPad and Android. ReelShort’s App Store listing, by comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all, which suggests that this big-screen option is rarer than you might think. A 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, but the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can watch together.
On the content side, the library blends 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 stick close to the genre’s established formula. Scale is where the honest caveat comes in. The app lists 5M+ installs on Google Play, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. That gap shows where My Drama sits in 2026: a well-backed 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. “My Drama: Full Access” costs around $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 the app is level with them. Coin bundles, which unlock individual episodes, run from roughly $4.99 to $24.99. A separate Premium tier is listed at about $4.99 to $9.99, so lighter viewers have cheaper entry points than the full pass. Until you cancel it, the weekly subscription auto-renews, as its rivals’ plans do. The figure on your own device may be different, since prices change by country, platform and promotion. Four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass add up to about $80 a month, so run the numbers before you commit.
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 lets you down after you unlock it. A balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish, since coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity. Except where the law requires otherwise, purchases made on the web are described as non-refundable. For viewers in the EU and UK, there is a 14-day right of withdrawal, mirroring the consumer rules in those markets. Most importantly, the terms state plainly 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. Holywater does not process refunds for store purchases; Apple or Google does.
It is also useful to know exactly who sits on the other side of the contract. If you are in the US, the counterparty is XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company; everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. As with any vertical drama app, another warning applies here. Sites that promise modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators are unofficial and are not a safe way to watch anything. When the price feels too high, the right step is cancelling the pass; do not look for a hack.
Our Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and going by install counts it is not even close. What it offers instead is an unusual 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. For viewers, the practical upside is Apple TV support, which ReelShort, for one, does not list. A weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background is the catch, the same one that plagues every rival. If you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV, the My Drama app deserves a place on your home screen. For viewers who simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax and its 50,000+ dramas are the more obvious choice. Whatever you decide, do not trust the delete button: set a reminder the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account.
