A Kyiv Studio Wagers on the Vertical Drama
Holywater didn’t begin its life as a television business. The business was established in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020 by Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov, and its lineup to this day looks more like a lab for mobile entertainment than a streaming network. My Passion handles books, My Muse covers AI, and FreeBits completes the family alongside My Drama. This breadth matters, since video is one consumer product among several for Holywater, 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 bold for a reelshort small Ukrainian business, as the category’s biggest names were backed by Chinese and Singaporean groups.
Spring 2024 and the Debut of the My Drama App
The precise date of the My Drama app depends on which record you trust, but the app went live in spring 2024. Google Play lists March 13, 2024, the App Store shows May 9, 2024, and TechCrunch put the launch in April. Android appears to have come first, as the gap between those store dates suggests, with the iPhone version following about two months later. At launch, the slate leaned hard on the genre’s favorite tropes. The first titles featured The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast and Love Captive to a Mafia Boss, names that reveal most of what you need to know about the tone. What eventually 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
In October 2025, My Drama stopped being a startup curiosity. Under an agreement that came with a pledge to produce more than 200 vertical titles over two years, Fox Entertainment took an equity stake in Holywater. A $22M funding round led by Horizon Capital came three months later, in January 2026, with Holywater raising the sum. Fox-produced titles on the platform include Billionaire Blackmail, Bound by Obsession and My Heart’s Offside. A Webby Award for Best Streaming Service from 2025 is also held by the company, which shows off it on its App Store listing. Together, those milestones give My Drama an edge few rivals can claim: a major American studio acting as both shareholder and producer.
My Drama at a Glance
For anyone who only has a moment, the table below gives the condensed version of the story. It brings together the ownership, legal, platform and pricing details that matter most to a new viewer. As of September 2026, the prices are the ones listed in the US App Store. As they vary by country, platform and promotion, read them as a guide rather than a quote. The install count is taken from Google Play, where the app lists 5M+ downloads. Where you live decides the legal entity you contract with, a detail that is relevant if you ever need to challenge a charge.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Owner | 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 |
| Legal entity for US users | XOLY LIMITED (Delaware) |
| Contract party, other users | Holy Water Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) |
| Launch date | 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 | About $19.99 per week, with automatic renewal |
| Coin bundles | About $4.99 to $24.99 |
| Premium tier | Roughly $4.99 to $9.99 |
| Production 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, Best Streaming Service, 2025 |
What Watching on My Drama Feels Like
The core experience mirrors the one the entire category is founded on. Sized for an upright phone, episodes are vertical, and in this genre they typically last one or two minutes before a cliffhanger nudges you on to the next. A single story can silently consume an evening in small bites, as series often run anywhere from 20 to 100 episodes. The drama app really sets itself apart in 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. That big-screen option is less common than you might expect: 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.
On the content side, the catalog combines Holywater’s own early productions with the growing Fox slate. As titles like Billionaire Blackmail and Bound by Obsession make clear, the Fox releases stick close to the genre’s familiar formula. Here, the candid caveat is scale. The app displays 5M+ installs on Google Play, a small fraction of the 100M+ that ReelShort, DramaBox and ShortMax each show. This gap puts My Drama in 2026 as a well-funded challenger rather than the category leader.
Pricing: How Much My Drama Costs in 2026
Holywater sells access three ways, and the key figure is the weekly pass. In the US App Store as of September 2026, “My Drama: Full Access” is priced at roughly $19.99 a week. ReelShort, ShortMax, DramaWave and GoodShort list their weekly passes at about the same price in the same store, so My Drama is level with them. Coin packs, which unlock individual episodes, cost from about $4.99 to $24.99. Lighter viewers have lower-cost entry points than the full pass, as a separate Premium tier is listed at about $4.99 to $9.99. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, so the figure on your own device may be different. Until you cancel it, the weekly subscription auto-renews, as its rivals’ plans do. Do the math before you commit, because four renewals of a $19.99 weekly pass add up to around $80 a month.
The Terms Worth Reading 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. Also, coins are forfeited after 12 months of inactivity, so a balance you ignore for a year can simply vanish. Viewers in the EU and UK get 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 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. Apple or Google, not Holywater, deal with refunds for store purchases.
Knowing exactly who sits on the other side of the contract is also useful. XOLY LIMITED, a Delaware company, handles US users, whereas everyone else contracts with Holy Water Limited in Nicosia, Cyprus. One more warning applies to My Drama as much as to any vertical drama app. A site promising modded APKs, unlimited coins or free coin generators is unofficial, and it is not a safe way to watch anything. When the price feels too high, the right step is cancelling the pass; do not look for a hack.
The Verdict: A Challenger Backed by Hollywood
My Drama is not the largest vertical drama app, and on install counts it is not even 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. Viewers get a practical advantage in Apple TV support, which ReelShort, for one, does not list. Like every rival, the downside is a weekly pass of roughly $19.99 that keeps renewing quietly in the background. Viewers who want Fox-produced romance and the option to watch on a television will find that the My Drama app deserves a place on the home screen. If you simply want the largest claimed library, ShortMax, with its 50,000+ dramas, is the more obvious choice. Whichever you choose, set a reminder on the day you subscribe and cancel through your store account instead of trusting the delete button.