A Kyiv Studio Stakes Its Wager on the Vertical Drama
Holywater was not born as a TV operation. In 2020 Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov set up the company in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its product lineup still reads more like a lab for mobile entertainment than a streaming network. My Passion is for books, My Muse handles AI, and FreeBits rounds out the family alongside My Drama. This mix is important, because it describes a business that regards video as one of several consumer products rather than its entire identity. The gamble it eventually made was on the vertical drama, a format that mobile drama streaming started in China as duanju and is composed 9:16 for an upright phone. For a small Ukrainian company, this was a gutsy market to enter, because the genre’s biggest names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Arrives
The exact launch date of the My Drama app depends on which source you believe, but it went live in spring 2024. The launch timing differs by source: TechCrunch placed it in April, Google Play shows March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. The gap between those store dates suggests that Android came first and the iPhone version came about two months later. From the start, the slate leaned hard on 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 reveal most of what you need to know about the mood. What ultimately set the company apart was not the stories themselves but the collaborator it would soon be making them with.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
During October 2025, My Drama ceased to be just a startup curiosity. An equity stake in Holywater was taken by Fox Entertainment, and the agreement included a pledge to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. A $22M round led by Horizon Capital came three months later, in January 2026, when Holywater raised the money. The service hosts Fox-produced titles including Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. The company additionally holds a 2025 Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, a credential it shows off on its App Store listing. Combined, those milestones give My Drama something few rivals can boast, namely a major American studio working as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama: The Fact File
For readers who only have a minute, the table below is the quick version of the story. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a first-time viewer are collected there. As of September 2026, the prices are the ones shown in the US App Store. They differ by country, platform and promotion, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a fixed quote. The install count comes from Google Play, where the app shows 5M+ downloads. Which legal entity you contract with is determined by where you live, a detail that becomes relevant if you ever need to challenge a charge.
| Item | Information |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Holywater (founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Related apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Contracting entity, US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Legal entity for other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Release | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro and web |
| Android downloads | Google Play: 5M+ |
| Full-access pass | Around $19.99 per week, renewing automatically |
| Coin bundles | Roughly $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | About $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Latest funding | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
How Watching on My Drama Plays Out
At its core, the experience is the same one the whole category is built on. Sized for a phone held upright, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they usually last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you on to the next. A single story can silently consume an evening in small bites, since series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes. The range of screens it supports is where this drama app truly stands out. 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 think, since ReelShort’s App Store listing, for comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all. The option turns 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, which blends the two. The genre’s well-worn formula is still the template for the Fox releases, as titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make plain. The honest caveat here is scale. On Google Play the app shows 5M+ installs, a fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. This gap shows where My Drama sits in 2026, as a well-financed challenger rather than the category leader.
Pricing: How Much My Drama Costs in 2026
Access is sold in three ways, and the headline figure is the weekly pass. About $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, all listed at about the same price in the same store. For unlocking individual episodes, there are coin packs running from about $4.99 to $24.99. The store also lists a separate Premium tier at roughly $4.99 to $9.99, giving lighter viewers less expensive entry points than the full pass. Country, platform and promotion all change prices, so the figure on your own device may differ. As with its rivals’ plans, the weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it. Four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total around $80 a month, so run the numbers before you commit.
The Terms Worth Reading Before You Pay
The fine print in My Drama’s terms of use deserves more attention than most viewers give it. All coin purchase is final, which means 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 disappear. In the EU and UK, there is a 14-day right of withdrawal, in line with the consumer rules in those markets. Purchases on the web are listed as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Most important of all, the terms say clearly 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. Apple or Google, not Holywater, deal with refunds for store purchases.
It also helps to know exactly who sits on the other side of the contract. US users sign with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company, while everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. Here, as with any vertical drama app, a further warning applies. Sites that promise modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators are unofficial and are not a safe way to watch anything. Cancelling the pass, not looking for a hack, is the proper move when the price seems too high.
The Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood
Measured by install counts, My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and it is not close. 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 make up the uncommon combination it offers instead. The practical advantage for viewers is Apple TV support, something ReelShort, for one, does not list. Like every rival, the drawback is a weekly pass of around $19.99 that keeps renewing 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 their home screen. ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious pick if you simply want the largest claimed library. Whichever you pick, cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button, and set a reminder the day you subscribe.