White Label Vertical Drama App Development

A vertical drama app is a mobile-first streaming platform that delivers short-form scripted drama in 9:16 vertical format. Each episode is 60-120 seconds. Series typically span 60-100 episodes organized into bingeable narrative arcs across romance, thriller, CEO, revenge, supernatural, and family-secret genres. The format originated in China around 2020 and went global through ReelShort and DramaBox between 2022-2024. The category generated over \$1 billion in global revenue in 2024.

Our white label vertical drama app clones range from \$17,000 to \$19,000 USD one-time, depending on the specific platform model. All six clones include full source code, native iOS + Android apps, web platform, admin dashboard, coin economy, paywall optimization, AI recommendation engine, DRM protection, and regional payment integrations. Custom development of the same platform from scratch costs \$140,000 to \$520,000 and takes 10-16 months.

Soft launch in 30 days from kickoff. Hard launch with App Store and Play Store approvals through follows 1-3 weeks after soft launch. The 30-day timeline is contractual — if we miss it by more than 48-72 hours due to our fault, the refund clause activates automatically. We have hit this timeline on the majority of vertical drama deployments shipped to date.

Match the clone to your operator edge and target market. ReelShort clone for US, UK, Canada, Australia premium markets. ShortMax clone for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, SEA Tier 1 with webtoon adaptation focus. GoodShort clone for emerging markets — Africa, LATAM, SEA Tier 2, MENA — with mobile money payment rails. NetShort clone for operators with broadcast/network programming DNA. DramaBox clone for global generalist operators. K-Drama clone for operators with K-drama licensing access.

Yes. Complete codebase transfers to your GitHub or GitLab repository on day 1-2 of the project. You own it forever with no royalties, no revenue share, and no SaaS lock-in. White-label commercial license means you can host, modify, customize, and sell to your end users. The only restriction is you cannot resell our codebase as a software-as-a-service product.

Standard across all clones: Stripe, Apple IAP, Google Play Billing. Regional rails depend on the clone — ShortMax includes LINE Pay, KakaoPay, Alipay, PayPay, GrabPay for Asian markets. GoodShort includes 30+ mobile money rails (M-Pesa, OPay, MTN MoMo, OXXO, Pago Fácil, Boleto, GCash, DANA, OVO, TrueMoney, Fawry, CashU). Additional rails can be added at \$1,200-\$3,500 each.

Yes. Widevine L1/L3 for Android, FairPlay for iOS, PlayReady for Windows and smart TV. The DRM layer downshifts gracefully on low-end devices that do not support L1 — you still serve content, just at a lower resolution ceiling. We provide a DRM technical documentation pack for your content licensors. Every major content licensor we have worked with has accepted the DRM implementation.

100% customizable. Edit anything yourself, hire any developer of your choice, or hire our team at \$35/hour. Most clients spend \$3,000 to \$15,000 on customization beyond the base codebase — typically on additional language packs, regional payment integrations, and custom genre templates. Branding application (logo, colors, typography) across iOS, Android, and web is included in the 30-day launch timeline.

The category runs five monetization layers, often stacked together. Coin economy with per-episode unlock is the foundation — typical US-market ARPU \$8-\$16, Asian markets \$3-\$8, emerging markets \$0.20-\$0.80. Subscription tiers (Free / Basic / Premium / Premium+) add recurring revenue. Network-style Primetime Pass for appointment-viewing content (NetShort model). Pre-roll, mid-roll, and end-card advertising for ad-supported tiers. Promotional coin drops tied to engagement. Most successful platforms run coin economy plus subscription as the core mix.

Multi-language subtitles are included in every clone — typically 8-13 languages by default depending on the clone. AI dubbing pipelines using ElevenLabs, Resemble, or similar voice-cloning APIs are included in the ShortMax and GoodShort clones, which target multi-language regional markets. AI dubbing costs \$0.30-\$1.20 per minute of dubbed audio at API rates. A 90-second drama episode dubbed into 5 languages costs roughly \$2-\$8 in API fees.