How a Kyiv Studio Bet on the Vertical Drama
Holywater didn’t start life as a television outfit. The studio was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 by Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov, and its portfolio still reads more like a mobile entertainment laboratory than a streaming service. Beside My Drama sit My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. This The Vanished Champ Strikes Back online breadth matters, since video is one of several consumer products for the company, not its entire identity. The vertical drama, a format born in China as duanju and framed 9:16 for a phone held upright, was where it eventually placed its wager. Breaking into this market was a bold step for a small Ukrainian company, as the genre’s biggest names were supported by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
The My Drama App Launches in Spring 2024
Spring 2024 brought the launch of the My Drama app, although the exact date depends on which record you believe. The launch date varies by source: TechCrunch placed it in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store shows May 9, 2024. Those store dates imply that Android came first, with the iPhone version following about two months later. From the start, the slate relied heavily on the genre’s go-to tropes. Initial titles like The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss tell you most of what you need to know about the mood through their names alone. What in the end set the company apart was not the stories themselves but the partner it would soon be making them with.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Raise and a Webby
My Drama stopped being a startup curiosity in October 2025. Fox Entertainment took an equity stake in Holywater, and the agreement came with a pledge to make more than 200 vertical titles over two years. Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside are among the Fox-produced titles on the app. A $22M funding round led by Horizon Capital followed three months later, in January 2026, with Holywater raising the sum. A Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025 also belongs to the company, which displays it on its App Store listing. Few rivals can boast what those milestones give My Drama, namely a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama Fact File
If you only have a spare minute, the table below is the quick version of the story. It gathers in one place the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a new viewer. Prices are the ones listed in the US App Store as of September 2026. Read them as a guide rather than a firm quote, as they differ by country, platform and promotion. The install figure is taken from Google Play, where the app lists 5M+ downloads. If you ever need to challenge a charge, it helps to know that the legal entity you contract with depends on where you live.
| Item | Specifics |
|---|---|
| Owner | Holywater (established in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founders | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Sister 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) |
| Launch date | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro and web |
| Installs on Android | 5M+ via Google Play |
| Full-access plan | Roughly $19.99 a week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin packages | Roughly $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium options | Roughly $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Funding | $22M raised in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Honors | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
The My Drama Viewing Experience
The central experience is the one the whole category is built on. In this genre, episodes typically last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you toward the next one, and they are vertical, framed for an upright phone. Series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, so a single story can silently eat up an evening in bite-sized pieces. What really 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, beyond iPhone, iPad and Android. This big-screen option is rarer than you might think: for comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing shows no Apple TV version at all. A 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, but the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
In terms of content, the catalog mixes Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. As titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make obvious, the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s familiar formula. Scale is the honest caveat here. At 5M+ installs on Google Play, the app has a small fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each list. In 2026, that gap tells you that My Drama is a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.
Pricing: How Much My Drama Costs in 2026
Of the three ways Holywater sells access, the weekly pass carries the main figure. About $19.99 per week is what «My Drama: Full Access» runs 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 My Drama sits level with them. From around $4.99 to $24.99, coin bundles open up individual episodes. There is also a separate Premium tier at around $4.99 to $9.99, which gives lighter viewers lower-cost entry points than the full pass. Since prices change by country, platform and promotion, the figure on your own screen may differ. The weekly subscription auto-renews until you cancel it, just like its rivals’ plans. Four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass total about $80 a month, so do the math before you commit.
Terms Worth Knowing Before You Pay
The fine print in My Drama’s terms of use merits more attention than most viewers give it. Coin purchases are final, so there is no easy refund if a series disappoints after you unlock it. In addition, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish. Whatever you buy on the web is labeled non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Viewers in the EU and UK have a 14-day right of withdrawal, in line with the consumer rules in those markets. Deleting the app does not cancel your subscription, and the terms say so plainly, and that is the most important point of all. To cancel on an iPhone, head to Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions; on Android, go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. When you buy through a store, refunds are handled by Apple or Google, not by Holywater.
It also helps 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. 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 steep, cancel the pass; do not look for a hack.
Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood on Its Side
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 committed to 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 plagues every rival, namely a weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that renews quietly in the background. 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. If the largest claimed library is simply what you want, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice. Either way, set a reminder on the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button.