REGIFTED: MY DRAMA AND THE VERTICAL TAKEOVER

Happy Summer Break from The Media Odyssey podcast!

What if the future of entertainment fits in your pocket and a six-year-old startup from Ukraine is already building it?

Welcome to the Media Odyssey Podcast, recorded live at StreamTV Europe, featuring Bogdan Nesvit, founder of HOLYWATER TECH and the microdrama platform My Drama. What started six years ago as an interactive fiction app has quietly evolved into one of the most data-sophisticated entertainment companies operating today. One that is now partnering with Fox Entertainment and eyeing a full theatrical release.

If you've ever wondered how a media startup goes from zero to 7 million monthly active users without a single piece of traditional distribution, Bogdan doesn't just tell you what HOLYWATER TECH built, he gives raw data and operational transparency you almost never get from a founder.

Beyond content strategy, Bogdan pulls back the curtain on the business model to detail the full transition from microtransactions to subscription, how the platform runs over 1,000 A/B tests per year, and why he believes proprietary user data (not product or AI) will be the defining competitive advantage of the AI era. He also touches on the Fox partnership, the road to ad monetization, and his personal philosophy around meditation, focus, and leadership.

Key Takeaways:

1. Scale is Accelerating Fast

My Drama currently has close to 300 titles on the platform, targeting 500 by the end of 2026 and 1,000 by the end of 2027. Each title contains around 90 one-minute episodes, effectively repackaging a full 90–120 minute film into bite-sized vertical content.

2. The Subscription Model Dominates

The platform fully shifted away from microtransactions with more than 90% of customers subscribing. Subscription users retain at 2x the rate of in-app purchase users and consume 3x more content. Users on an ad-supported tier consume an average of 1.5 hours of content per day, a striking engagement metric.

3. AI Slashes Production Costs and Timelines

Live-action microdrama costs $120K–$250K per title and takes roughly four months to produce. Netflix takes 100 weeks. AI-generated content on the MyMuse platform costs only a few thousand dollars and can be produced and tested in two weeks. Scripts, however, remain 100% human-written.