A Kyiv Studio Wagers on the Vertical Drama
Holywater wasn’t born as a TV operation. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov started the company in 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products to this day reads more like a mobile entertainment lab than a streaming service. My Drama shares the portfolio with My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. This mix matters, since it shows a business that treats 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 a quick watch series phone held upright, was the bet it eventually made. The groups behind the category’s biggest names were Chinese and Singaporean, making this a daring market for a small Ukrainian firm to enter.
Spring 2024 and the Debut of the My Drama App
During spring 2024, the My Drama app went live, though the exact date depends on which source you trust. Google Play lists March 13, 2024, the App Store shows May 9, 2024, and TechCrunch placed the launch in April. Those store dates indicate that Android launched first, with the iPhone version arriving about two months later. The opening slate was built around the genre’s best-loved tropes. Most of what you need to know about the mood comes through in the first titles such as The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss. The partner it would soon be producing them with, not the stories themselves, is what ultimately set the company apart.
Fox, $22M in Funding and a Webby Award
In October 2025, My Drama ceased to be just a startup curiosity. Under a deal that came with a commitment to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years, Fox Entertainment took an equity stake in Holywater. Fox-produced titles on the service include Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. Then, in January 2026, three months on, Holywater secured $22M in a funding round led by Horizon Capital. The company also holds a 2025 Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, a distinction it shows off on its App Store listing. Put together, those milestones hand My Drama something few rivals can boast, namely a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama Fact File
For anyone who only has a minute, the table below is the short version of the story. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that matter most to a first-time viewer are collected there. Prices are the ones displayed in the US App Store as of September 2026. Since they vary by country, platform and promotion, treat them as a rough guide rather than a firm quote. If you ever need to challenge a charge, it matters that the legal entity you deal with depends on where you live. The install number refers to Google Play, where the app displays 5M+ downloads.
| Category | Specifics |
|---|---|
| Owner | Holywater, set up in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 |
| Co-founders | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Related apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Contract party, US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contract party, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Supported platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Android downloads | 5M+ on Google Play |
| Full-access pass | About $19.99 a week, renewing automatically |
| Coin bundles | Around $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium options | About $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Production partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Latest funding | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Awards | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
How Watching on My Drama Plays Out
The core experience is the one the whole category is built on. Formatted for an upright phone, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they typically run one or two minutes before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next. Series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, so a single story can quietly swallow an evening in small bites. The drama app truly sets itself apart through 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. ReelShort’s App Store listing, for comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all, which suggests that this big-screen option is less common than you might expect. Although a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen TV, the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can watch together.
In terms of content, the catalog blends Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. As titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make clear, the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s established formula. The honest caveat here is scale. On Google Play the app lists 5M+ installs, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. That gap tells you where My Drama stands in 2026: a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.
What My Drama Costs in 2026: Plans and Prices
The main figure is the weekly pass, one of the three ways Holywater sells access. Roughly $19.99 per week is what “My Drama: Full Access” costs in the US App Store as of September 2026. That places it on par with the weekly passes from ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort, which are listed at about the same price in the same store. From about $4.99 to $24.99, coin packs unlock individual episodes. Lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass, because a separate Premium tier is listed at around $4.99 to $9.99. Since prices vary by country, platform and promotion, the figure on your own screen may differ. The weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it, like its rivals’ plans. Before committing, do the arithmetic: four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass come to roughly $80 a month.
Terms to Read Before You Pay
My Drama’s terms of use carry fine print that merits more attention than most viewers pay it. There is no easy refund if a series disappoints after you unlock it, because coin purchases are final. Coins are also forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, which means a balance you ignore for a year can simply disappear. Purchases made on the web are labeled non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. For viewers in the EU and UK, there is a 14-day right of withdrawal, which reflects the consumer rules in those markets. The terms say clearly, and this matters most, that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. Android users go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play, while on an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions. Refunds for store purchases are processed by Apple or Google, not by Holywater.
Understanding exactly who sits on the other side of the contract is useful too. If you are in the US, 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, one more warning is worth making. Modded APKs, unlimited coins and free coin generators are promised by unofficial sites, and those sites are not a safe way to watch anything. When the price feels too high, the legal move is to cancel the pass, not to hunt 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. What it offers instead is an unlikely 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. ReelShort, for one, does not list Apple TV support, which makes it the practical upside for My Drama viewers. The downside is the same one that affects every rival, namely a weekly pass of around $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. When the largest claimed library is simply what you want, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice. If you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV, the My Drama app earns a place on your home screen. Either way, create a reminder the day you subscribe, and cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button.
