The Vertical Drama Wager of a Kyiv Studio
Holywater wasn’t started as a television operation. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov started the company in 2020 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its range of products even now looks more like a lab for mobile entertainment than a streaming platform. Beside My Contract Marriage short reels Drama sit My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. This breadth is telling, since video is one consumer product among several for Holywater, not its entire identity. In the end, Holywater bet on the vertical drama, a format that began in China as duanju and is composed 9:16 for a phone held upright. The category’s largest players were supported by Chinese and Singaporean groups, so breaking into this market was a brave move for a small Ukrainian business.
The My Drama App Launches in Spring 2024
The precise launch date of the My Drama app depends on which source you trust, but the app arrived in spring 2024. TechCrunch placed the launch in April, Google Play gives March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. The difference between those store dates hints that Android came first and the iPhone version arrived about two months later. The genre’s best-loved tropes filled the initial slate. Most of what you need to know about the tone is clear in initial titles such as The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss. The company was ultimately set apart not by the stories themselves but by the partner it would soon be producing them with.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
October 2025 was the month My Drama stopped being a startup curiosity. Fox Entertainment took an equity stake in Holywater, in a deal that included a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years. The platform carries Fox-produced titles including Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. Horizon Capital headed a $22M funding round for Holywater three months later, in January 2026. A Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025 is also held by the company, which shows off it on its App Store listing. Taken together, those milestones give My Drama something few rivals can match, namely a major American studio serving as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama Fact File
The short version of the story sits 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 in one place. Prices are the ones displayed in the US App Store as of September 2026. As they differ by country, platform and promotion, read them as a guide rather than a firm quote. The install figure refers to Google Play, where the app lists 5M+ downloads. Which legal entity you contract with depends on where you live, a detail that becomes relevant if you ever need to dispute a charge.
| Item | Information |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Holywater (founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020) |
| Founded by | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Companion apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Contracting entity, 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) |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro and web |
| Android installs | 5M+ via Google Play |
| Full-access plan | Roughly $19.99 per week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin bundles | Roughly $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | Around $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Production partner | Fox Entertainment, equity stake held since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Funding | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | 2025 Webby Award, Best Streaming Service |
The My Drama Viewing Experience
The basic experience mirrors the one the whole category is built on. Episodes are vertical, sized for an upright phone, and in this genre they usually last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you to the next one. Since series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, a single story can quietly swallow an evening in small bites. What really marks this drama app apart is 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, by comparison, shows no Apple TV version at all, which suggests that this big-screen option is less common than you might expect. A 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen TV, but the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
The growing Fox slate sits alongside Holywater’s own early productions in the library. Titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession show that the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s familiar formula. Here, the fair caveat is scale. On Google Play the app shows 5M+ installs, a 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.
What My Drama Costs in 2026: Pricing
Of the three ways Holywater sells access, the weekly pass carries the main figure. Around $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 the app sits level with them. From around $4.99 to $24.99, coin bundles open up individual episodes. Thanks to a separate Premium tier listed at about $4.99 to $9.99, lighter viewers have cheaper entry points than the full pass. The weekly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it, like its rivals’ plans. The figure on your own device may differ, as prices vary by country, platform and promotion. Do the math first: at four renewals, a $19.99 weekly pass adds up to around $80 a month.
Terms Worth Knowing 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 lets you down after you unlock it. After 12 months of inactivity, coins are also forfeited, so a balance left untouched for a year can simply disappear. Anything you buy on the web is labeled 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. Crucially, the terms make it clear 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. 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. Everyone outside the US contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus, while US users contract with XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company. A further warning applies here as much as to any vertical drama app. Sites promising modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators are unofficial, and they are not a safe way to watch anything. When the price seems too high, the legitimate move is to cancel the pass, not to go hunting for a hack.
Verdict: A Challenger With Hollywood in Its Corner
Measured by install counts, My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and it is not close. What it has instead is an uncommon mix: 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 advantage for My Drama viewers. A weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that renews quietly in the background is the catch, the same one that dogs every rival. For viewers who simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax and its 50,000+ dramas make the more obvious choice. The My Drama app deserves a place on your home screen if you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a TV. Either way, never rely on the delete button: set a reminder the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account.
