Insightrackr has released the February 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 February.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads
Among the Top 15 short drama apps by downloads in February 2025, 5 apps saw a significant surge in rankings, climbing by 5 or more spots. This indicates that newer entrants in the market can still gain a competitive edge.
Leading the surge, DramaWave—a short drama app under SKYWORK AI—topped the charts with an impressive 221.89% MoM growth. It surpassed January’s leader, DramaBox, to claim the No.1 position in February.
RapidTV and NetShort also maintained strong growth momentum. With MoM increases of 98.01% and 96.51% respectively, both apps broke into the Top 10 download rankings.
RapidTV was launched on Google Play in late November last year by developer Kennedyy, while NetShort was created by NETSTORY PTE. LTD.
MeloShort saw a MoM growth rate of 173.05% and entered the rankings for the first time. Crazy Popcorn also grew by 64.11% MoM.
Notably, Short Reels and MoboReels saw significant declines in downloads, dropping by 53.11% and 49.98% MoM, respectively.
Previously, Insightrackr has analyzed Short Reels and Crazy Popcorn (click to read). Both products made excellent use of AI voiceovers in their ad creatives. Short Reels mainly targets non-English-speaking markets.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues
In terms of revenue, the rankings of apps in the Top 15 remained relatively stable, but some products experienced remarkable MoM revenue growth.
DramaBox, developed by DianZhong Tech, saw its revenue ranking rise by one spot, and overtook ReelShort to become the revenue leader.
StardustTV, a short drama app by Hongxing Media, also climbed into the Top 2. However, ReelShort experienced a 13.57% MoM revenue decline, dropping to third place.
DramaWave saw the fastest growth in the Top 15 apps by revenue, with a 95.59% MoM increase. It was also the fastest-growing app in the download rankings in February.
NetShort also performed well, with a 54.27% MoM revenue growth, rising to the Top 8 in the revenue rankings. This growth is likely positively correlated with its increase in downloads.
However, both My Drama and DramaReels saw significant declines in revenue, with MoM decreases of 29.25% and 30.94%, respectively.
DramaReels, as well as DramaWave, are short drama apps under SKYWORK AI. While DramaWave follows a paid model, DramaReels focuses on a free model, primarily targeting the Southeast Asian market. The ad creatives for DramaReels are also localized (click to read).
Short Drama Advertising Case Analysis
01 DramaWave
DramaWave was launched in September last year by Skywork AI. Since its release, it has repeatedly ranked on Insightrackr's monthly download and revenue charts for short drama apps.
Skywork AI’s short drama apps, DramaWave and DramaReels, follow distinct monetization models. DramaWave, which adopts a paid model, primarily targets Western markets. DramaReels follows a free model, and over 70% of its downloads came from Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia (click to read).
However, Insightrackr’s data shows a shift in DramaWave's download sources in February. While Indonesia remained the top market, Mexico ranked second with 12.28%, followed by the Philippines in third. Other Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, also made it into the Top 10.
In terms of revenue, the U.S. contributed the most in February, accounting for 18.47%. Latin American markets followed closely, with Brazil at 7.15% and Mexico at 6.42%. Beyond North America and Europe, Latin America has become a key expansion target for DramaWave.
In early February, DramaWave maintained an average of over 3,000 active ad creatives per day, reaching a peak in ad placements. Indonesia, Brazil, and the Philippines were the top three target markets.
DramaWave primarily promotes two types of content in its ad creatives: translated Chinese dramas and locally produced dramas. The creatives focus on localized subtitles while keeping the original audio intact.
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The translated Chinese drama Sampai Akhir Waktu (Chinese title: 与君白首此人间) is a family emotional and ethical drama centered on middle-aged and elderly characters. The ad creatives feature Indonesian subtitles while retaining the original Chinese dubbing.
The Western local drama El Hilo del Destino uses English dubbing with Spanish subtitles in its ad creatives. It primarily targets the South American market.
02 Kalos TV
Kalos TV is not highly recognized and its download volume didn’t make it to the Top 15, but it ranked in the Top 10 by revenue in both January and February, maintaining an 11.34% MoM growth rate.
Kalos TV was launched in September last year, primarily focusing on Southeast Asia and Europe/America markets. The largest source of downloads comes from the United States, accounting for 14.26%, followed by the Philippines and Thailand with 10% and 8.16%, respectively.
In terms of revenue, the U.S. market performed exceptionally well, contributing 49.91% of the income in February, followed by Thailand and Japan.
The short dramas featured on Kalos TV mainly consist of popular Chinese domestic dramas, with a small portion of original Western content. The themes of these dramas include popular genres such as family sagas, tragic romances, and suspense.
Kalos TV’s active ad material volume is relatively small, with around 500 to 600 ads being launched per day. The majority of the ads are targeted at the U.S., as well as Southeast Asian markets such as Malaysia and the Philippines.
In terms of ad creatives, Kalos TV typically uses plot clips from local original dramas and directly targets Southeast Asia.
For example, Drowning in Love, a typical Western original series, was launched with English subtitles and audio, and directly targeted non-English-speaking countries like Malaysia and the Philippines, where users generally have a good command of English.
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When targeting more conservative markets like Japan, Kalos TV tends to focus on localized Chinese-dubbed dramas to avoid alienating viewers who may not be receptive to non-Asian actors. The subtitles are also localized for better relevance. For example, 離婚後の元夫がよく絡んでくる (Chinese title: 离婚后前夫总想纠缠我) retains the Chinese audio while featuring Japanese subtitles in its ad creatives.
03 MeloShort
Newcomer MeloShort, an Android app launched in October last year, is developed by HALOFUN. Other products by HALOFUN also focus on short dramas and web novels.
According to Insightrackr's advertising data, MeloShort saw a sharp increase in active ad creatives in early February. The daily active creatives rose from around 50 in January to nearly 500 by the end of February, with a corresponding rise in the number of new creatives.
The majority of MeloShort's ad creatives were targeted in the United States, Mexico, and Argentina, with these top three markets accounting for nearly 50% of the total.
In February, MeloShort's downloads exceeded 1.7 million, with the top three download sources being Mexico, the United States, and Colombia, which accounted for 16.74%, 12.95%, and 11.94%, respectively. The download sources align with the ad targeting, with a focus on North American and Latin American markets.
In terms of revenue, MeloShort's income mainly comes from top-tier markets such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea, with the U.S. contributing 43.99% of the total revenue.
From the ad creatives, it is clear that MeloShort strategically targets key download and revenue regions. The ad creatives typically repurpose domestic voiceover videos, utilizing AI translation and AI voiceover to produce Portuguese and Japanese subtitle and voice versions. The localization of these materials is more refined and tailored to the target markets.
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As the global trend of short dramas shifts from top-tier (T1) countries like those in Europe and North America to emerging T2 and T3 markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America, localization has become a crucial consideration for developers
Despite the advancements in AI, which have made translation, voiceovers, and even face-swapping easier, we still observe that different products, based on factors such as target audience and monetization models, make distinct localization decisions. These decisions can be seen in aspects like actors, content, voiceovers, and subtitles.
That's the overview of the download, revenue, and advertising of global short drama apps in February 2025.
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