A Kyiv Studio Places Its Bet on the Vertical Drama
In the beginning, Holywater was not a TV company. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov started the company in 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products still reads more like a lab for mobile entertainment than a streaming platform. My Drama is listed next to My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. This breadth matters, since video is one consumer product among several for the company, not its whole identity. The wager it eventually made was on the vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for a phone held vertically. Moving into this market was bold for a small Ukrainian firm, reelshorts.org/where-to-watch/stranger-things because the genre’s biggest names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Launches
Spring 2024 brought the launch of the My Drama app, although the precise date depends on which record you trust. TechCrunch placed the launch in April, Google Play gives March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. The gap between those store dates hints that Android came first and the iPhone version followed about two months later. The initial slate was heavily built around 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 show 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.
The Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
During October 2025, My Drama stopped being a mere startup curiosity. Fox Entertainment acquired an equity stake in Holywater, in a deal that included a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years. A $22M funding round led by Horizon Capital followed three months later, in January 2026, with Holywater raising the sum. Among the Fox-produced titles on the service are Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. On its App Store listing, the company shows off a further credential: a Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025. Combined, those milestones give My Drama something few rivals can boast, namely a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama at a Glance
If you only have a moment, the table below is the condensed version of the story. New viewers will find the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that matter most to them gathered in it. Prices are the ones listed in the US App Store as of September 2026. Country, platform and promotion all affect them, so read them as a guide rather than a firm quote. Where you live decides the legal entity you contract with, something that is relevant if you ever need to challenge a charge. On Google Play, where the install figure comes from, the app shows 5M+ downloads.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Holywater (founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Companion apps | My Passion for books, My Muse for AI, plus FreeBits |
| Contracting entity, US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Legal entity for other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch date | Spring 2024 (Google Play on March 13; App Store on May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Android downloads | 5M+ on Google Play |
| Full access pass | Roughly $19.99 per week, auto-renewing |
| Coin packs | About $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | About $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 for 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 typically run a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next one, and they are vertical, framed for a phone held upright. A single story can quietly eat up an evening in short bites, since series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes. What really sets 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, in addition to iPhone, iPad and Android. That big-screen option is more unusual than you might think, since ReelShort’s App Store listing, for comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all. Although a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, the option transforms a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
On the content side, the catalog combines Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. The Fox releases hew close to the genre’s familiar formula, as titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make obvious. The candid caveat here is scale. On Google Play the app displays 5M+ installs, 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: What My Drama Costs in 2026
The headline figure is the weekly pass, one of three ways Holywater sells access. Around $19.99 a 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, each listed at about the same price in the same store. To unlock individual episodes, there are coin packs running from roughly $4.99 to $24.99. With a separate Premium tier listed at about $4.99 to $9.99, lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass. As with its rivals’ plans, the weekly subscription auto-renews until you cancel the plan. The figure on your own screen may differ, since prices change by country, platform and promotion. Do the arithmetic before you commit, because four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass add up to roughly $80 a month.
Terms to Know Before You Pay
Most viewers give less attention than they should to the fine print in My Drama’s terms of use. Coin purchases are final, so there is no easy refund if a series disappoints after you unlock it. Also, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply disappear. Whatever you buy on the web is described as non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. In line with the consumer rules in those markets, viewers in the EU and UK receive a 14-day right of withdrawal. The crucial point is this: the terms say clearly that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. To cancel on an iPhone, open Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions; on Android, use the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. Apple or Google, not Holywater, process refunds for store purchases.
It is also useful to know 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 deal with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company. Another warning applies to My Drama as much as to any vertical drama app. Any site promising modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators is unofficial, and it is not a safe way to watch anything. If the price seems steep, the proper move is to cancel the pass, not to go hunting for a hack.
Our Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
My Drama is not the largest vertical drama app, and on install counts it is not close. What it offers instead is 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 benefit for viewers is Apple TV support, a feature ReelShort, for one, does not list. The catch is the same one that dogs every rival: a weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice if you simply want the largest claimed library. The My Drama app earns a place on your home screen if you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV. Either way, cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button, and set a reminder the day you subscribe.

