How a Kyiv Studio Bet on the Vertical Drama
At the outset, Holywater was not a television business. The studio was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 by Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov, and its product lineup even now looks more like a mobile entertainment lab than a streaming platform. My Drama is listed next to My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. It is telling that the portfolio is so spread out, since it shows a business that sees video as one of several consumer products instead of its whole identity. The gamble it eventually placed was on the vertical drama, a format that originated in China as duanju and is composed 9:16 for a phone held vertically. Breaking into this market was bold reelsshorts.org for a small Ukrainian company, as the genre’s biggest names were supported by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Arrives
Spring 2024 brought the launch of the My Drama app, although the precise date depends on which source you trust. The launch timing differs by source: TechCrunch put it in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store shows May 9, 2024. Judging by the gap between those store dates, Android likely came first and the iPhone version arrived about two months later. The opening slate was heavily built around the genre’s favorite tropes. The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss were among the first titles, and their names tell you most of what you need to know about the mood. What eventually distinguished the company was not the stories themselves but the collaborator 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, and the agreement came with a commitment to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Horizon Capital headed a $22M round for Holywater three months later, in January 2026. The platform hosts Fox-produced titles including Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. The company also has a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025, a distinction it features on its App Store listing. Together, those milestones hand My Drama something few rivals can boast: a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama at a Glance
The short version of the story is in the table below, for readers who only have a minute. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that matter most to a new viewer are gathered there. As of September 2026, the prices are the ones listed in the US App Store. Read them as a guide rather than a firm quote, because they differ by country, platform and promotion. The install figure is taken from Google Play, where the app shows 5M+ downloads. Where you live determines the legal entity you deal with, a detail that is relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Holywater (established in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Related apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Legal entity for US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contracting entity, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Release | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro and web |
| Android downloads | 5M+ on Google Play |
| Full access pass | About $19.99 a week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin packs | Around $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | Roughly $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio backer | Fox Entertainment, equity stake since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Funding | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, 2025 |
How Watching on My Drama Feels
The basic experience mirrors the one the whole category is founded on. Sized for a phone held upright, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they usually last one or two minutes before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next. Since series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, a single story can quietly consume an evening in small bites. This drama app really sets itself apart through the range of screens it supports. Besides iPhone, iPad and Android, listings show it for Vision Pro and for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later. By comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing shows no Apple TV version at all, so that big-screen option is rarer than you might expect. Granted, 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.
On the content side, the library combines Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. Titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession demonstrate that the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s familiar formula. Scale is the fair caveat here. ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list 100M+ installs on Google Play, whereas the app shows 5M+, a small fraction of that. That gap tells you where My Drama sits in 2026: a well-financed challenger rather than the category leader.
What My Drama Costs in 2026: Pricing
Access is sold in three ways, and the main figure is the weekly pass. About $19.99 per week is what “My Drama: Full Access” runs in the US App Store as of September 2026. 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. From around $4.99 to $24.99, coin packs open up individual episodes. A separate Premium tier is listed at roughly $4.99 to $9.99, so lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass. The weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it, like its rivals’ plans. The figure on your own screen may differ, because prices change by country, platform and promotion. Before committing, do the math: four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total roughly $80 a month.
Before You Pay: Terms Worth Knowing
The fine print in My Drama’s terms of use warrants more attention than most viewers give it. Coin purchases are final, so there is no easy refund if a series lets you down after you unlock it. On top of that, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish. Purchases made on the web are listed as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Reflecting the consumer rules in those markets, viewers in the EU and UK have a 14-day right of withdrawal. Above all, the terms make it clear that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. 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 does.
It is also useful to know exactly who stands on the other side of the contract. US users contract with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company, while everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. In this case, as with any vertical drama app, a further warning applies. Sites offering modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators are unofficial and are not a safe way to watch anything. When the price seems too high, cancel the pass; do not go hunting for a hack.
Our Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
My Drama is not the largest vertical drama app, and going by install counts it is not even close. Instead, it offers 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 advantage for viewers is Apple TV support, something ReelShort, for one, does not list. The drawback is the same one that plagues every rival, namely a weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. Anyone who wants Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a television will find that the My Drama app earns a place on the home screen. If you simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious pick. Either way, cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button, and set a reminder the day you subscribe.
