Recently, a short-form drama app called "My Drama" has been incredibly popular overseas. But just how hot is it?
Five Months, One Million Users
Since its launch in April, My Drama has skyrocketed in popularity, attracting over 1 million users and earning $3 million!
So, what's the story behind "My Drama"? This app is actually developed by a Ukrainian company called Holywater. Previously, this company had a reading app called "My Passion" with popular novels. Thanks to this rich content, "My Drama" has managed to stand out in the short-form drama market, offering over 30 soap operas and short films to attract viewers.
Holywater believes that due to its strong IP library, My Drama has stood out in the increasingly crowded market. With thousands of books already published on the reading app, My Drama has ample content to adapt into films.
By the end of this year, My Drama plans to release 100 films.
It's clear that Holywater is really putting in the effort!
Introducing AI Characters for New Play
The most eye-catching feature is that "My Drama" will introduce AI characters that can interact with the audience, creating an immersive storytelling experience.
After its release, My Drama users will have the opportunity to interact with two fictional characters: Jaxon, the billionaire lover from "The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast," and Hayden, the powerful mafia heir from "Love Captive to a Mafia Boss."
Currently, two characters have been launched, Jaxon from "The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire" and Hayden from "Love Captive to a Mafia Boss."
After watching a few chapters of the series, the system prompts viewers to chat with the characters. They can also request the characters to send images. (My Drama does not allow NSFW content.)
In a demonstration, CEO Nesvit and CTO Kasianov personally demonstrated the interaction with Hayden.
The app guides you to build a relationship with him and win his trust (after all, he's a terrifying mafia boss). He will ask you about information related to events in the series, such as asking about the rival gang he plans to defeat.
At the top of the screen is a gauge to measure your ranking on Hayden's trust gauge. The company explained that this gamification strategy is aimed at increasing engagement on the platform.
In addition to interacting with characters through the My Drama app, Holywater also plans to launch an independent app called "My Imagination," which is currently in the testing phase. With the new app, users can have more personalized conversations with characters.
In the future, users will even be able to create their own characters, which is one of the features of Character.AI.
It is worth noting that the characters Jaxon and Hayden are played by real actors who agreed to use their portraits for the AI companions.
According to Holywater, these actors are paid not only a fixed salary but also additional royalties. Actors who perform well can earn over $10,000 a month, making a lot of money!
Reducing Short Film Production Costs with AI Technology
To improve production efficiency, "My Drama" utilizes AI technology in scriptwriting and dubbing, saving a lot of costs.
The company hired hundreds of actors to shoot the content, all of whom agreed to use their portraits for voice sampling and video generation. My Drama uses various AI models, including ElevenLabs, Stable Diffusion, OpenAI, and Meta's Llama3.
For example, shooting a fire scene using AI technology cost only $100, while traditional filming would cost about $8,000! Holywater plans to reduce costs by at least 40% by the end of the year.
Moreover, "My Drama" will continuously iterate the AI chat function, and after interacting with the characters, users can also see new scenes, turning the audience into co-creators!
In addition, video and voice chat functions will be added to make interactions more real and interesting.
My Drama is available on the web as well as iOS and Android devices. Although a few episodes can be watched for free, subsequent episodes require payment, ranging from $2.99 per week to $19.99 to unlock premium ad-free viewing and early access to content.
"My Drama" is not just a short-form drama app; it is exploring a new interactive narrative experience through AI technology. This way of bringing the audience closer to the characters is truly refreshing and gives us a glimpse of the future direction of short-form dramas.
Key Points:
📲 "My Drama" is a short-form drama app that has quickly attracted 1 million users, earning $3 million.
🤖 The newly launched AI chatbots allow viewers to interact with characters in the series, enhancing the viewing experience.
💰 Real actors provide images for AI characters, and their income can even exceed $10,000 per month, a novel model!