Insightrackr has released the March 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 March.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads
Among the Top 15 short drama apps by downloads in March, 12 saw a MoM increase.
Some apps experienced significant growth. Swift Drama jumped to No.10 with a staggering 875% MoM growth, marking its first appearance in the Top 15 download rankings.
FlickReels, developed by Singapore-based FARSUN, ranked 7th this month. It has been focusing on the U.S. market, and saw an impressive 415.31% MoM growth.
Other short drama apps, including NetShort, MeloShort, Melolo, and FunDrama, also recorded over 100% growth compared to February. Notably, Melolo (by ByteDance) and FunDrama (by POINTS CULTURE) made their debut in the Top 15 this month.
The Top 5 positions remained relatively stable. The No.1 and No.2 spots were once again taken by DramaBox(by DianZhong Tech) and DramaWave(by SKYWORK AI), but with a switch in order. In March, DramaBox reclaimed the top spot, overtaking DramaWave, which had ranked first in February.
In the previous ranking report, Insightrackr had provided a creative breakdown of DramaWave (click to read).
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues
The Top 15 revenue chart for March also saw a MoM increase for most titles.
Swift Drama stood out with a staggering 978.11% MoM revenue growth, surging 21 spots to land at No.15. It became the fastest-growing app in terms of both downloads and revenue this month.
Also entering the March revenue Top 15 were two new short drama apps: MeloShort from HALOFUN at No.12 and RapidTV from Kennedyy at No.14. Their monthly revenues grew by 261.06% and 148.86%, respectively.
After breaking into the download Top 15 in February, MeloShort continued to perform well in revenue. Its earnings were primarily driven by Tier 1 markets like the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. (Click here to revisit the case study on MeloShort.)
As for the Top 3, StardustTV by Shanhai Short Drama topped the chart this month. DramaBox dropped from No.1 to No.2, while NetShort, climbed to No.3 thanks to a 138.30% MoM revenue increase.
Meanwhile, ReelShort saw its revenue decline for the second consecutive month, down 5.67% from February. Though the drop narrowed, its ranking still fell to No.5 on the revenue chart.
Short Drama Advertising Case Analysis
01 StardustTV
StardustTV officially launched in July 2024. Since its release, downloads have grown steadily, with a breakout surge starting late last year.
In March, downloads dropped 12.91% compared to February, but revenue still grew by 8.06% MoM. According to Insightrackr data, StardustTV generated over $4 million in revenue in March alone.
In terms of download distribution, StardustTV mainly targets emerging markets. The top three countries by download share are:
- Brazil (16.01%)
- Turkey (14.07%)
- Vietnam (11.85%)
Backed by Shanhai Short Drama, StardustTV leverages its massive library of chinese hit dramas. By translating these popular titles and applying a low-cost strategy, the app has successfully penetrated new growth markets like Brazil and Turkey.
For ad placement, StardustTV maintained a stable volume in March, with around 300–400 active creatives per day.
Toward the end of the month, this number dropped to around 200 per day. Ads were mainly targeted at T1 markets like the U.S., Malaysia, and Australia, focusing on users with high purchasing power.
Creative-wise, StardustTV has recently increased exposure of its local original content, using visually appealing and emotionally charged scenes that resonate with female audiences. These clips are crafted to attract high-value users in Japan and Western markets.
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StardustTV recently launched a Japanese local drama titled 「月明かりに君は誓った」, which is relatively rare in the market. The ad creatives highlight themes of romance and emotional turmoil, catering to the preferences of female viewers.
Another featured title is a Western original drama, Please Don’t Lie. Alpha! I Can Heal You Every Night, which taps into the werewolf genre—a favorite among Western audiences. The creatives include magical visual effects, appealing to users who have higher expectations for production quality.
In terms of revenue distribution, the top three markets this month are:
- Japan (12.75%)
- South Korea (11.09%)
- Indonesia (10.38%)
StardustTV focuses on female-targeted dramas, a genre with strong appeal in culturally aligned markets like Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, contributing to its solid revenue performance in these regions.
02 Melolo
ByteDance’s overseas short drama app Melolo was first launched in the Southeast Asian market in November 2024. According to Insightrackr data, Melolo recorded over 2.3 million downloads in March.
In terms of regional distribution, over 70% of Melolo's users in March came from Indonesia, followed by the Philippines and Vietnam. These top three markets accounted for over 90% of the app’s total downloads. As a free-to-watch product, Melolo resonates particularly well with price-sensitive users in Southeast Asia.
On the advertising side, Melolo ramped up its activity in March, with daily active creatives exceeding 200, peaking at nearly 300. Most ad placements were targeted at Southeast Asian countries—Indonesia led with 48.19%, followed by the Philippines at 36.1%, and Thailand at 13.18%.
Melolo primarily relies on translated drama content in its creatives. At this stage, it focuses on fast production and iteration, while also incorporating a degree of localization—for example, the translated drama Kakakku Miliarder features Indonesian voiceovers and subtitles.
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However, another translated drama, Setelah Amnesia, Pria Idaman Menjadi Suamiku, does not feature Indonesian voiceover or the original audio in its material clips. Instead, it uses Indonesian subtitles to summarize the plot on screen, accompanied by instrumental background music (BGM). This format is more cost-effective and better suited for mass production.
In terms of revenue, Melolo is still in its user acquisition phase, and its current revenue scale is relatively small. As a free-to-watch short drama product, its income mainly comes from in-app ads (IAA). The revenue distribution aligns with the download data, with the top three countries being Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Indonesia leads at 52.72%, followed by Vietnam at 27.06% and the Philippines at 11.17%.
03 Swift Drama
This month, Swift Drama, which saw explosive growth in both downloads and revenue, is developed by IOPixel. It was launched on Google Play Store in January, while the iOS version was released in early April.
According to Insightrackr data, in March, Swift Drama surpassed 3.3 million downloads, with the vast majority coming from South American markets. Mexico had the highest download share at 57.86%, followed by Brazil at 12.27%, and Colombia in third place at 9.22%.
In terms of advertising, compared to fewer than 200 active creatives per day in late February, Swift Drama saw a rapid increase in active creatives in March, with daily ad materials peaking at over 700 towards the end of the month.
The primary advertising markets also focused on South America, with the largest amount of ads placed in Mexico (21.94%), followed by Brazil (12.51%) and Argentina (12.08%).
Analyzing the creative materials, Swift Drama localized a large amount of content from Chinese drama series, translating it into Spanish and Portuguese for the respective markets.
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In terms of creative formats, Swift Drama often combines clips from Chinese dramas with the app interface, using AI-generated Portuguese voiceovers and subtitles to highlight the product's free-to-use nature—emphasizing that there's no need to unlock episodes or subscribe to a membership. Additionally, the scrolling list of available dramas is used to showcase the extensive range of content. This approach closely mirrors the material format used by chinese short drama apps during their early stages.
Moreover, for South Korean users, who are generally more receptive to short dramas, Swift Drama adopts the same format. With the help of AI translation, the voiceover and subtitles are easily switched to Korean.
In terms of revenue, based on Insightrackr's monitoring, this free short drama app generates income mainly from IAA (in-app advertising). Regionally, Mexico contributed the most revenue, accounting for 49.13%. Brazil and South Korea followed, with 18.48% and 12.69%, respectively.
It is evident that the popularity of short dramas continues to grow in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Latin America (T2 and T3 markets).
In these regions, where the traffic benefits are relatively abundant, many developers choose to focus initially on a single regional market. They leverage the scale advantage of translated dramas, championing the "free model" and focusing on IAA (in-app advertising) monetization.
At the same time, some products opt to continue with a more refined approach, focusing on original local dramas and using high-quality materials to attract paying users. Regardless of the outbound strategy, although the creative formats of the materials may vary, localization—such as voiceovers and subtitles—remains the most crucial aspect.
That's the overview of the download, revenue, and advertising of global short drama apps in March 2025.
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