Insightrackr has released the August 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 July.
Spotlight Case Studies: DashReels / MiniReels / FlareFlow
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads
- Top Players Hold Steady in August
In August 2025, DramaBox (Dianzhong Tech) maintained its top position on the global short-drama app download chart. Despite a slight MoM decline of 3.75%, its user acquisition power across global markets remained solid.
Kuku TV (MEBIGO LABS) climbed to second place thanks to continued penetration in India and neighboring regions (earlier recap here), though its downloads fell 6.11% MoM. ReelShort (Crazy Maple Studio) slipped to third, with downloads down 13.87% MoM—likely linked to a slowdown in ad spending following the peak of the summer season (see our earlier recap on its female-oriented content strategy).
Top Short Drama App Downloads – August 2025
- Fierce Competition Among Rising Apps
Among mid-tier players, India's local product QuickTV (ShareChat) stood out, posting a 34.31% MoM increase and jumping three spots to No. 4. Melolo (ByteDance) also grew 29.68% MoM, rising to sixth place, signaling ByteDance's continued push in the short-drama segment. GoodShort (NEW READING TECH) rebounded with 16.54% growth, moving back up to eighth after a weak performance in July.
The biggest dark horses were DashReels (Dashverse) and MiniReels (minha tela), which surged 264.81% and 331.19% MoM, breaking into the Top 15 at ninth and eleventh place, respectively—highlighting the explosive potential of new entrants in emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia.
In contrast, RapidTV (Kennedyy) suffered a sharp setback, sliding seven places with downloads dropping 44.94% MoM, possibly due to intensified competition and user diversion in key markets like Indonesia and Latin America (case review here).
Overall, the August chart reflected a pattern of stability at the top but fierce competition in the mid-tier. Fast-rising apps often relied on short-term marketing spikes, but whether they can convert this momentum into long-term retention remains to be seen.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues
- Top 3 Revenue Apps Hold Strong in August
In August, the top three revenue-generating apps remained NetShort (NETSTORY), DramaBox (Dianzhong Tech), and ReelShort (Crazy Maple Studio). NetShort achieved a 17.19% MoM revenue increase, securing the No.1 position, while ReelShort delivered the most notable growth at 20.68% MoM.
Top Short Drama App Revenue – August 2025
- Rising Contenders and Declining Players
Among mid-tier performers, GoodShort (NEW READING TECH) rose to fifth with 7.71% MoM growth. FlickReels (FARSUN) achieved a 16.66% revenue increase, while DreameShort (CRATER) grew 21.14% MoM—likely driven by heavier summer ad spending in North America and the launch of localized female-oriented dramas that boosted in-app purchases.
The standout was DashReels (Dashverse), surging 100.62% MoM and climbing eight spots, boosted by its earlier download momentum.
In contrast, Kuku TV (MEBIGO LABS), RapidTV (Kennedyy), and StardustTV (Hongxing Media) all saw revenue declines of 16.38%, 24.28%, and 23.80% MoM, reflecting challenges in paid user retention.
Overall, the August revenue chart showed a relatively stable market structure, though several new entrants emerged at the lower end of the ranking.
Short Drama Advertising Case Analysis
01 DashReels
- DashReels' Market Focus and Growth in India
According to Insightrackr, DashReels launched on both Google Play and the Apple App Store in Q1 2025, with its main push concentrated on Android.
Overview of DashReels’ Advertising Strategy and Creative Approach
From both a market and revenue perspective, India stands as the app's core growth engine, with downloads and revenue heavily reliant on the local market. This strategy of focusing on India mirrors the approach taken by several other Indian short-drama apps previously analyzed.
The developer behind DashReels is Dashverse Corp (formerly Dashtoon), an Indian entertainment tech company. In August 2025, the company announced three major milestones: officially rebranding as Dashverse, surpassing 5 million downloads in the app's first month, and securing $13 million in Series A funding.
At the same time, Dashverse consolidated its product portfolio—including the Dashtoon comics platform, the DashReels short-drama app, and the AI-powered video generation tool Frameo—into a single ecosystem, marking its full transition into an AI-driven entertainment and content distribution company.
- AI-Powered Advertising and Creative Strategy
As a company built around AI as its core strategy, Dashverse not only integrates AI capabilities into its products but also applies them extensively in its advertising creatives of DashReels.
For example, in late August, DashReels promoted its drama Raftaar (a translated adaptation of the Chinese Drama 极速飞驰) with ad creatives that combined original show footage with AI-generated video content.
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02 MiniReels
- MiniReels' Market Footprint
MiniReels, developed by minha tela, is currently only available on Google Play.
Its downloads are primarily concentrated in Southeast Asia and Latin America, with Thailand, Mexico, and the Philippines together accounting for about 40% of total installs. This distribution reflects the typical profile of IAA-driven apps.
Overview of MiniReels’ Advertising Strategy and Creative Approach
- Advertising Strategy and Creative Tactics
In early August, MiniReels significantly increased its ad spending, with the number of daily active creatives peaking at nearly 1,200. Its targeting strategy was relatively broad, with a global campaign approach rather than heavy concentration in a few markets—even its top three APAC countries did not dominate the share.
From a channel perspective, beyond Facebook, Mintegral played a central role in driving impressions, while GoodNovel, TikTok, and ReelShort served as major sub-publishers for traffic acquisition.
In terms of creative execution, MiniReels followed many of the common IAA short-drama playbook tactics previously summarized by Insightrackr (click to read). These included bold Pop-style fonts, banners or pop-ups at the top of the frame, and AI voice over to strengthen the call-to-download.
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Interestingly, some MiniReels video ads also displayed a CADPA 18+ label. While this standard originates from China's China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association for online games—and is not required for short-drama advertising—the use of this label appears to be a deliberate design choice, subtly sparking user curiosity and imagination about the content of the dramas.
03 FlareFlow
- FlareFlow Achieves 500% Revenue Growth
We first analyzed FlareFlow in the June short drama rankings (click to read), when the app was already showing strong growth potential.
On August 24, COL Group officially announced that FlareFlow was developed by one of its in-house teams and disclosed several impressive performance metrics: monthly in-app purchase revenue growth exceeding 500%, nearly 10 million cumulative downloads worldwide, retention rates above the industry average, and an average daily viewing time of 31.5 minutes per user. The timing of this announcement—coinciding with the release of its half-year financial report—suggests that COL Group is highly satisfied with FlareFlow's progress so far.
Overview of FlareFlow’s Advertising Strategy and Creative Approach
- From Fast-Drama to Emotional Resonance
Compared to the June data, FlareFlow has maintained its U.S.-centric market strategy, with additional broad coverage across Southeast Asia and Latin America. Notably, its revenue contribution from Europe has been on the rise.
From a user acquisition perspective, beyond Facebook, FlareFlow has shifted its traffic sources: while it previously relied heavily on TikTok, the majority of its ad exposure now comes through AdMob.
In earlier reports, we highlighted FlareFlow's localization strategy for creatives, where the same drama is translated into multiple languages for ad campaigns. The recent official announcement, however, emphasized the app's broader content strategy shift—moving beyond the conventional “fast-drama” formula toward building emotional resonance and social insights. Its approach combines internationalized story selection with localized adaptation, aiming to appeal to diverse global audiences.
Insightrackr analysis of August creatives confirms this trend: the share of high-quality, original overseas dramas has increased, video quality is clear, and on-screen text overlays are restrained, prioritizing the display of premium content over visual clutter.
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In summary, AI-generated content, localized adaptation, and emotionally driven storytelling are becoming key trends in short-form drama advertising. DashReels leverages AI technology to reshape narrative content, MiniReels uses visual cues to spark user imagination, and FlareFlow emphasizes high-quality originals and cross-cultural resonance. Together, these approaches highlight the continuous improvement in content quality across the short-drama industry.
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