Insightrackr has released the April 2025 Global Short Drama App Download and Revenue Rankings based on its monitoring data of the global mobile market.
The rankings are sorted according to the app downloads and overall revenue calculated by Insightrackr, presenting the Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads and Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues. It also dissects the advertising and creative strategies of the popular cases in April.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads
In April’s Top 15 downloads chart, DramaBox by Dianzhong Tech retained the No. 1 spot, although its downloads dropped by 5.7% MoM.
ReelShort saw a 47.98% MoM increase, regaining the No. 2 position. DramaWave, published by Skywork AI, experienced a significant decline—downloads fell by 63.94% MoM, pushing it from second place in March to seventh in April.
New entrants such as RapidTV, MeloShort, StardustTV, and Micro Drama continued to see rising downloads in April, all posting over 30% MoM growth and climbing higher in the rankings.
In contrast, Melolo—which had surged in March and is backed by ByteDance—saw its downloads fall by 8.46% MoM, with its ranking also slipping.
Among more established players, GoodShort and ShortMax experienced declines. GoodShort's downloads dropped by 14.39%, while ShortMax saw a steep decline of 58.65%.
Fun Drama and Soda Reels emerged as the fastest-growing newcomers in April. Fun Drama surged by 556.47% MoM, and Soda Reels grew by 174.44%, with both titles entering the Top 15 chart for the first time.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues
In April, NetShort saw its revenue surge by 81.95% MoM, climbing to the top of the revenue chart. The leading positions remained dominated by veteran players like DramaBox, GoodShort, and ReelShort, all of which maintained positive MoM revenue growth.
In contrast, StardustTV experienced a significant revenue drop of 75.28%, causing its ranking to plummet from No.1 in March to No.12 in April.
MeloShort by HALOFUN was the fastest-growing app in terms of revenue in April, with a MoM increase of 116.31%.
Among new entrants, revenue trends were mixed: FlickReels, RapidTV, and Swift Drama continued to grow in April, while My Drama, Micro Drama, and MoboReels saw declines.
Specifically, FlickReels rose by 16.91%, RapidTV increased by 52.87%, and Swift Drama grew by 17.67%—all three apps focus on localized Chinese translated dramas.
Overall, the Top 15 revenue ranking remained stable in April, with no new titles entering the chart.
Short Drama Advertising Case Analysis
01 NetShort
NetShort, launched in July 2024, saw a revenue surge within just a year. According to Insightrackr, the app generated over $7 million in revenue in April, adopting a hybrid monetization model combining IAA and IAP.
By region, the United States, Brazil, and Turkey were the top contributors. The U.S. accounted for 27.53% of the revenue, followed by Brazil (10.07%) and Turkey (8.22%).
NetShort also delivered a strong performance in downloads. According to Insightrackr, the app reached nearly 9 million downloads in April, a 24.76% increase MoM, ranking 4th on the download chart.
Its top download markets were Brazil (15.76%), the United States (10.68%), and Indonesia (10.6%).
On the advertising side, the volume of active creatives slightly increased compared to early March, with around 120 creatives in rotation per day. Creatives were mainly targeted at the Philippines (6.98%), Japan (6.86%), and Brazil (5.54%).
Excluding Facebook and Google Ad Library data, Pangle was the dominant ad channel for NetShort in April, accounting for 94.35% of ad impressions.
Top traffic sub-channels included the religious app Bible Offline—popular in the South American market—and mobile games like Chaos Lords, Block Blast, and Cake Sort.
In terms of creative strategy, NetShort heavily promoted a Chinese drama titled “好孕甜妻被钻石老公宠上天” (“Lucky Wife Spoiled by Diamond Tycoon”) using drama clips with localized subtitles. The show, produced by China Literature, became a breakout hit after its January 2025 release.
At the same time, NetShort also ran creatives featuring “CEO Wants My Little Rascal”, a Western adaptation of the same storyline. This localized version was developed in partnership with China Literature, maintaining the same plot structure while replacing the cast with local actors.
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In NetShort’s key market, Brazil, the most exposed ad creatives also featured identical plot clips from the two highlighted dramas.
By using both translated clips and reshot local adaptations, NetShort adopts a dual-track localization strategy to bring domestic hit series to global audiences.
02 Fun Drama
Fun Drama is only available on Android. According to Insightrackr data, the app recorded over 2.82 million downloads in April.
Its top three download markets were Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia, primarily tapping into emerging markets with traffic dividends.
Between mid-to-late March, Fun Drama maintained a daily active creative volume of around 90 to 120. In April, the volume dipped slightly but began to rise again in late April, peaking at 150 creatives in a single day, with a noticeable increase in new materials.
Creatives were mainly targeted at Brazil (7%), Mexico (4.69%), and Chile (4.25%), focusing on the Latin American market.
Excluding Facebook and Google Ad Library data, 81.4% of Fun Drama’s ad impressions came from TikTok, followed by AdMob at 18.6%.
In terms of creative strategy, as a free short drama app, Fun Drama followed the typical IAA short drama advertising approach, highlighting its free access and abundant content as key selling points.
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One type of creative uses a familiar “Free” stamp in the first half, followed by clips from popular dramas often used in user acquisition materials. This mixed-editing approach allows for efficient reuse of older assets and leverages viral content to scale cost-effectively.
Another creative highlights the “free” value proposition through a foreground pop-up, while the background features a drama clip with AI-generated voiceover. Fun Drama also uses scenes from “好孕甜妻被钻石老公宠上天” (“Lucky Wife Spoiled by Diamond Tycoon”) , a hit drama with strong user acquisition potential for IAA-based products.
In terms of monetization, Fun Drama relies primarily on IAA, with revenue mainly coming from Mexico, Taiwan (China), and Brazil.
03 Soda Reels
Soda Reels is currently only available on Android. According to Insightrackr data, the app recorded over 2 million downloads in April, with the majority coming from Brazil (26.68%), Indonesia (15.38%), and Mexico (8.43%).
In terms of revenue, Soda Reels adopts an IAA monetization model, with advertising income primarily coming from Brazil, Indonesia, and South Korea, which aligns closely with its user distribution.
On the advertising side, active creatives volume dropped noticeably in early April but rebounded later in the month, reaching around 200 creatives per day. The creatives were mainly targeted at Japan, Brazil, and the United States.
Excluding data from Facebook and Google Ad Libraries, Soda Reels' ad impressions were also highly concentrated on TikTok, accounting for 96.63%. Beyond TikTok, a small portion of ads was directed to social apps and casual mobile games.
In terms of creative strategy, as a free short drama app, Soda Reels adopted a similar approach to Fun Drama. Its creatives featured montages of popular drama clips paired with the familiar "Free" stamp element. Once again, clips from “好孕甜妻被钻石老公宠上天” (“Lucky Wife Spoiled by Diamond Tycoon”) appeared.
Additionally, one segment included a real-life shot of a hand swiping through drama titles within the app interface. This "hand" element is a commonly used attention-grabber in ad creatives, and the real-world context enhances the ad’s credibility.
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Another creative format is a more typical short drama app video style—using longer drama segments (over 3 minutes) instead of short montages, aiming to create an immersive viewing experience and attract users through the actual content itself.
Overall, short drama apps continue to focus heavily on the Latin American market. In April, many IAA-based products broke through by leveraging similar creative strategies to drive growth.
Whether it's localized remakes or translated versions of Chinese dramas, classic short drama ad tactics—such as clip montages and the prominent "Free" stamp—remain effective. When combined with the appeal of hit dramas, these strategies offer a cost-effective way to scale user acquisition.
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