DramaReels, developed by Kunlun Tech, achieved month-over-month download growth for the third consecutive month, with an impressive 64% MoM increase in November, climbing 3 positions to claim the #1 spot on this month’s download ranking.
Insightrackr has released the November 2025 Global Short Drama App Download and Revenue Rankings based on its monitoring data of the global mobile market.
These rankings are derived from Insightrackr's proprietary estimates of app download volume and gross revenue, listing the Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads and the Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenue. This report further deconstructs the user acquisition and ad creative strategies of selected standout apps from the past month.
This Month's Case Studies: DramaReels, ShortMax, DramaRush
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Downloads
Notably, we previously conducted in-depth analyses of DramaReels in our January (Click to Read) and September (Click to Read) rankings, examining the evolution of its advertising and creative strategies from aggressive launch-phase promotion to stable operations. The sustained growth this month further validates the long-term effectiveness of its business model and advertising approach.
Meanwhile, another Kunlun Tech title, DramaWave, recorded approximately 42% MoM download growth in November. We also featured it in our February analysis.
As the “twin stars” of the short-drama category — DramaReels focusing on a free, ad-supported model (IAA) and DramaWave emphasizing in-app purchases (IAP) — both apps have repeatedly secured top download positions, demonstrating Kunlun Tech’s dominant presence and strong product portfolio synergy in the global short-drama market.
Another standout performer is Jiuzhou Culture. Its flagship product ShortMax surged by over 180% MoM in downloads, leaping 12 places in a single month to reach 5th place — making it one of the fastest-growing titles on this list.
Even more remarkably, a new title under the same developer account, DramaRush, entered the download ranking at 13th place in only its second month after launch, signaling that Jiuzhou Culture is actively replicating breakout success and pursuing a matrix expansion strategy.
Top 15 Short Drama Apps by Revenues
Compared to the dynamic shifts on the download chart, the revenue ranking remained significantly more stable, with the top 7 positions identical to last month — reflecting the solid paying user base and monetization efficiency of leading titles.
DramaReels, which topped the download chart, also delivered strong revenue performance, achieving over 80% MoM revenue growth and breaking into the 8th position on the revenue list — a clear milestone of simultaneous growth in both volume and monetization.
Among other ranked apps, ByteDance-owned Melolo continued its strong momentum with approximately 40% MoM revenue growth in November. We provided detailed coverage in last month’s report, highlighting its highly effective content strategy of leveraging local short-video influencers and vlog-style creatives, which generated massive exposure in the Indonesian market (Click to Read).
Top Short Drama App UA Strategy Analysis
01 DramaReels
Insightrackr data shows that since late October, DramaReels’ daily active ad creatives have been steadily rising, peaking in early November at over 300 creatives per day, then stabilizing at around 200 creatives/day throughout the month — a consistently high level.
On the media side, Facebook remains the core placement channel. Compared to our September analysis — when AdMob and TikTok served as key traffic supplements — the latest data (excluding ad library data) reveals that AppLovin has now become the primary supplementary traffic source.
Notably, tool apps such as ZEDGE, Remini, and Vidmix are increasingly appearing in its exposure sub-sources, indicating a deliberate effort to penetrate broader user segments and expand audience reach.
Geographically, Southeast Asia and Latin America — regions with large populations and relatively low acquisition costs — continue to be the main targeting focus. Indonesia remains the top source country for both downloads and revenue, unchanged from September.
In our previous report, we examined Melolo’s Indonesia-specific strategy of featuring local influencers in vlog-style daily-life content. A similar approach has now emerged in DramaReels’ Indonesia-targeted ads.
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These creatives use real local actors in simulated street-interview formats to naturally highlight the “free” nature and user experience of the app, reducing user skepticism and enhancing authenticity — a highly transferable tactic for advertisers targeting Indonesia.
Another key observation: in November, the proportion of Western-origin dramas promoted increased significantly, while translated Chinese dramas declined relatively. However, many of these so-called “Western” titles are actually English-language series re-dubbed into Spanish or Portuguese and precisely targeted at Latin American markets.
A representative example is the heavily promoted Spanish-language series Carrera hacia Mi Corazón (original English title: Race to My Heart).
02 ShortMax
ShortMax, developed by Jiuzhou Culture, is one of the established leaders in the global short-drama category and completed large-scale commercial validation early on.
Insightrackr data indicates that ShortMax significantly ramped up advertising in November, with daily active ad creatives rising continuously from over 200 at the beginning of the month to over 700 by month-end — a clear escalation in investment.
Excluding ad library data, its primary traffic sources include Yandex, Pangle, and InMobi.
Geographically, while coverage spans major global markets, there is a slight tilt toward high-value regions such as the United States (5.82%), Canada (4.04%), and Germany (3.74%) — perfectly aligned with its predominantly pay-to-watch model supplemented by advertising revenue.
Nevertheless, Southeast Asia continues to contribute a substantial share of actual installs and revenue, once again confirming the region’s strategic importance in the short-drama category.
In terms of content, ShortMax promoted a balanced mix of Western-origin and translated Chinese dramas in November. Regardless of origin, nearly all titles are localized into multiple languages with dubbing or subtitles — demonstrating exceptional content production capacity and localization capability, ensuring a constant supply of “ammunition” during campaigns.
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The two high-frequency promoted series shown in the examples are both translated Chinese dramas:
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A male-oriented revenge/family redemption story 心死后，家人跪求我回家 (Spanish title: La venganza del hijo olvidado)
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少爷当腻了只想好好打工, released in multiple localized versions including Indonesian (Bos Muda Lelah Jadi Pewaris) and Turkish (Zenginlikten Yoruldum)
03 DramaRush
Insightrackr data shows that DramaRush, published under the developer account SHORTMAX LIMITED, launched on Google Play at the end of September and began advertising in late October. Daily active ad creatives then climbed steadily, peaking at nearly 120 per day.
As a new title, DramaRush currently relies primarily on Facebook as its core channel, supplemented by AdMob for additional scale.
Geographically, it is focusing more heavily on the Americas in the early stage, with the United States, Mexico, and Brazil together accounting for over 30% of ad creative volume. However, actual download and revenue growth continues to be driven predominantly by Southeast Asia and Latin America.
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Creatively, DramaRush initially adopted the classic IAA short-drama formula previously summarized by Insightrackr: fast-paced multi-episode montages combined with in-app footage, strongly emphasizing the “free” selling point.
In later creatives, visual design and interaction cues were significantly enhanced — for example, adding circular profile avatars and like buttons on the right side of the screen to mimic short-video platform interfaces, triggering instinctive user interaction and boosting click-through rates.
The showcased creative comes from the drama 命中注定缘归来 (English: Destined Reunion; Portuguese: Neto Falso? Não, Verdadeiro!), which has been localized into multiple versions and simultaneously promoted across several markets — one of DramaRush’s core push titles in November.
This concludes the analysis of November 2025 global short drama app downloads, revenue, and advertising activities.
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