Perhaps an absence of AI characters is what Quibi acquired fallacious. No less than, that’s what one startup seems to imagine.
My Drama is a brand new quick collection app with greater than 30 reveals, with a majority of them following a cleaning soap opera format to be able to hook viewers. The app is now launching an AI-powered chatbot for viewers to get to know the characters in depth, bringing it in nearer competitors with firms like Character.AI, the a16z-backed chatbot startup.
The quick drama app was developed by Holywater, a Ukraine-based media tech startup based by Bogdan Nesvit (CEO) and Anatolii Kasianov (CTO). The guardian firm additionally operates a studying app known as My Ardour, primarily identified for its romance titles.
Since its launch in April, My Drama has quickly gained traction, boasting 1 million customers and $3 million in income. Holywater has a powerful observe file with its merchandise, producing $90 million in annual recurring income (ARR) throughout all its choices.
Imagine it or not, the quick drama app market has taken off, a lot to Quibi’s dismay. Latest app retailer information reveals that in the course of the first quarter of 2024, 66 quick drama apps (ReelShort, DramaBox, and extra) achieved file income of $146 million in world client spending, per app intelligence agency Appfigures.
Holywater believes My Drama stands out among the many more and more crowded market because of its strong library of IP. Due to My Ardour’s 1000’s of books already printed on the studying app, My Drama has a wealth of content material to adapt into movies. Plus, My Ardour has a longtime fanbase that may probably be wanting to see their favourite characters come to life.
By the top of the 12 months, My Drama plans to launch 100 titles.
The corporate’s subsequent wager will introduce AI characters that may work together with viewers, creating an immersive storytelling expertise.
Upon launch, My Drama customers may have the chance to interact with two fictional characters: Jaxon, the billionaire love curiosity from “The Shy Beauty and the Billionaire Beast,” and Hayden, the inheritor of a formidable mafia household in “Love Captive to a Mafia Boss.”
After watching a number of chapters of the collection, the viewer is prompted to speak with the character. They’ll additionally ask the characters to ship photographs. (My Drama doesn’t permit NSFW content material.)
Throughout a demo shared with TechCrunch, Nesvit and Kasianov walked us by means of what an interplay with Hayden would seem like. The app guides you to construct a relationship with him and earn his belief (he’s a scary mafia boss, in spite of everything). He’ll quiz you on the occasions within the collection, akin to inquiring concerning the rival gang he’s aiming to defeat.
On the high of the display screen is a meter measuring your rating on Hayden’s belief meter. The corporate explains this gamification tactic goals to extend engagement on the platform.
The AI companions will even be accessible through a standalone app known as My Creativeness, which is at present in beta. With the brand new app, customers can have extra personalised conversations with the characters. Additional down the road, they’ll even be capable to create their very own characters, which is Character.AI’s specialty.
It’s value noting that the characters Jaxon and Hayden are portrayed by actual human actors Nazar Grabar and Bodgan Ruban. At a time when actors are involved about AI’s affect on the trade, it’s attention-grabbing that two actors are prepared to present an organization permission to make use of their likeness to be an AI companion. Nonetheless, it’s considerably reassuring to know that they’re being pretty compensated for it. Based on Holywater, the compensation for being an AI companion can exceed their common actor wage.
Nesvit defined, “The payment system consists of a fixed rate plus additional royalties. Depending on the number of users and the time they spend in the chat, actors can now earn up to $10,000 per month. The more users they attract to the chat, the higher their royalty payment.”
The human writers and producers at My Drama leverage AI for some features of scriptwriting, localization and voice appearing. Notably, the corporate hires a whole bunch of actors to movie content material, all of whom have consented to the usage of their likenesses for voice sampling and video era. My Drama makes use of a number of AI fashions, together with ElevenLabs, Secure Diffusion, OpenAI and Meta’s Llama 3.
As many media firms declare, Holywater emphasizes the time and prices saved by means of the usage of AI. For instance, when filming a home fireplace, the corporate solely spent round $100 utilizing AI to create the video, in comparison with the roughly $8,000 it will have value with out it. The usage of AI allows My Drama to provide content material in only one week.
“Our goal by the end of the year is to drop the costs to at least 40% by using AI,” stated Nesvit.
Moreover, the corporate plans to additional iterate on the AI chatbot characteristic, including a functionality the place new scenes seem after customers work together with characters, which, in a approach, permits them to behave because the co-creator for the collection.
It’ll additionally launch video and voice chatting capabilities someday sooner or later. Character.AI just lately launched the flexibility for customers to voice chat with characters.
My Drama is out there on the net and on iOS and Android gadgets. Whereas a number of episodes are free to look at, the app places nearly all of the episodes behind a paywall. Customers should buy one in all its coin packs, which vary from $2.99 to $19.99 per week, to unlock premium titles, ad-free viewing and early entry to content material.
