ReelShort Shorts Guide 2026 Everything Explained
A Kyiv Studio Gambles on the Vertical Drama
The company called Holywater did not begin its life as a TV business. Back in 2020 Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov established the company in Kyiv, Ukraine, and its portfolio even now looks more like a mobile entertainment lab than a streaming platform. My Drama sits in a portfolio with My Passion for books, My Muse for AI and FreeBits. That spread is important, since it describes a company that regards video as one consumer product among several rather than its whole identity. The gamble it ultimately made was on the vertical drama, a format reelshorts that began in China as duanju and is framed 9:16 for a phone held vertically. For a small Ukrainian company, this was a daring market to enter, since the category’s leading names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024: The My Drama App Hits the Stores
The My Drama app appeared in spring 2024, but the precise date depends on which record you trust. The launch timing differs by source: TechCrunch put it in April, Google Play lists March 13, 2024, and the App Store lists May 9, 2024. Those store dates suggest that Android was first, with the iPhone version landing about two months later. The opening slate leaned hard on the genre’s most popular tropes. Early titles such as The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss reveal most of what you need to know about the mood through their names alone. What in the end distinguished the company was not the stories themselves but the collaborator it would soon be making them with.
A Fox Deal, a $22M Round and a Webby
My Drama ceased to be just a startup curiosity in October 2025. An equity stake in Holywater was taken by Fox Entertainment, and the deal included a pledge to produce 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 platform carries Fox-produced titles including Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. The company also has a 2025 Webby Award for Best Streaming Service, a distinction it displays on its App Store listing. Taken together, those milestones give My Drama something few rivals can boast, namely a major American studio working as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama: Key Facts
For anyone who only has a minute, the table below gives the condensed version of the story. The ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that count most to a first-time viewer are pulled together there. As of September 2026, the prices are those listed in the US App Store. They differ by country, platform and promotion, so read them as a guide rather than a fixed quote. Which legal entity you deal with depends on where you live, a point that is relevant if you ever need to challenge a charge. On Google Play, the source of the install figure, the app shows 5M+ downloads.
| Category | Information |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Holywater, established in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 |
| Co-founders | Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov |
| Companion apps | My Passion (books), My Muse (AI), FreeBits |
| Legal entity for US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contracting entity, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch | Spring 2024 (Google Play: March 13; App Store: May 9) |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (tvOS 18+), Vision Pro, Android, web |
| Android installs | Google Play: 5M+ |
| Full-access pass | Roughly $19.99 per week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin packs | About $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | Around $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Studio backer | Fox Entertainment, equity stake since October 2025, 200+ titles over two years |
| Investment | $22M in January 2026, led by Horizon Capital |
| Recognition | Webby Award, Best Streaming Service, 2025 |
What Watching on My Drama Feels Like
The central experience mirrors the one the whole category is built on. Framed for an upright phone, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they typically last a minute or two before a cliffhanger nudges you on to the next. Series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes, so a single story can silently swallow an evening in small bites. What really sets this drama app apart is the range of screens it supports. Besides iPhone, iPad and Android, the app is listed for Vision Pro and for Apple TV on tvOS 18 or later. That big-screen option is rarer than you might think: by comparison, ReelShort’s App Store listing shows no Apple TV version at all. Although a 9:16 frame will never fill a widescreen television, the option turns a solo phone habit into something a couple can enjoy together.
Holywater’s own early productions and the growing Fox slate make up the catalog, blending the two. The Fox releases hew close to the genre’s established formula, as titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make plain. Here, the honest caveat is scale. With 5M+ installs on Google Play, the app has a small fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each show. That gap places My Drama in 2026 as 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. As of September 2026, the US App Store prices “My Drama: Full Access” at about $19.99 per week. The weekly passes from ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort are listed at about the same price in the same store, which places My Drama on par with them. Coin packs, which unlock individual episodes, range from about $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. Prices change by country, platform and promotion, so the figure on your own screen may be different. Until you cancel it, the weekly subscription renews automatically, just as its rivals’ plans do. Run the numbers first: with four renewals, a $19.99 weekly pass adds up to around $80 a month.
The Terms Worth Reading Before You Pay
The terms of use for My Drama include fine print that deserves more attention than most viewers give it. Since coin purchases are final, 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. For viewers in the EU and UK, there is a 14-day right of withdrawal, mirroring the consumer rules in those markets. Purchases made on the web are labeled non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Most importantly, the terms say clearly that deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. On an iPhone you cancel under Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions, while Android users go through the Subscriptions menu in Google Play. Holywater does not process refunds for store purchases; Apple or Google does.
It also helps to know exactly who sits on the other side of the contract. XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company, handles US users, while everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. One more warning applies here as much as to any vertical drama app. Modded APKs, unlimited coins and free coin generators come from unofficial sites, and those sites are not a safe way to watch anything. If the price feels too high, the proper move is to cancel the pass, not to go hunting for a hack.
Verdict: The Challenger With Hollywood on Its Side
Measured by install counts, My Drama is not the biggest vertical drama app, and it is not close. What it offers instead is an uncommon 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. Like every rival, the downside is a weekly pass of around $19.99 that keeps renewing quietly in the background. ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious pick if you simply want the largest claimed library. The My Drama app deserves a place on your home screen if you want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a television. Whichever you pick, cancel through your store account rather than trusting the delete button, and set a reminder the day you subscribe.