Possibly a scarcity of AI characters is what Quibi bought improper. At the least, that’s what one startup seems to consider.
My Drama is a brand new brief sequence app with greater than 30 exhibits, with a majority of them following a cleaning soap opera format in an effort 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 corporations like Character.AI, the a16z-backed chatbot startup.
The brief drama app was developed by Holywater, a Ukraine-based media tech startup based by Bogdan Nesvit (CEO) and Anatolii Kasianov (CTO). The mum or dad firm additionally operates a studying app referred to 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 robust monitor document with its merchandise, producing $90 million in annual recurring income (ARR) throughout all its choices.
Consider it or not, the brief drama app market has taken off, a lot to Quibi’s dismay. Latest app retailer knowledge exhibits that throughout the first quarter of 2024, 66 brief drama apps (ReelShort, DramaBox, and extra) achieved document income of $146 million in international client spending, per app intelligence agency Appfigures.
Holywater believes My Drama stands out among the many more and more crowded market resulting from its sturdy library of IP. Because of My Ardour’s 1000’s of books already revealed on the studying app, My Drama has a wealth of content material to adapt into movies. Plus, My Ardour has a longtime fanbase that can probably be desperate to see their favourite characters come to life.
By the tip of the 12 months, My Drama plans to launch 100 titles.
The corporate’s subsequent guess 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 sequence, the viewer is prompted to speak with the character. They’ll additionally ask the characters to ship pictures. (My Drama doesn’t permit NSFW content material.)
Throughout a demo shared with TechCrunch, Nesvit and Kasianov walked us via 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 any case). He’ll quiz you on the occasions within the sequence, 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 by way of a standalone app referred to as My Creativeness, which is presently 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 impression on the trade, it’s attention-grabbing that two actors are keen to present an organization permission to make use of their likeness to be an AI companion. Nevertheless, it’s considerably reassuring to know that they’re being pretty compensated for it. In accordance with 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 elements of scriptwriting, localization and voice performing. 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 technology. My Drama makes use of a number of AI fashions, together with ElevenLabs, Steady Diffusion, OpenAI and Meta’s Llama 3.
As many media corporations declare, Holywater emphasizes the time and prices saved via 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 could have price with out it. The usage of AI allows My Drama to supply 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,” mentioned Nesvit.
Moreover, the corporate plans to additional iterate on the AI chatbot function, 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 sequence.
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 offered on the net and on iOS and Android units. Whereas a number of episodes are free to observe, the app places nearly all of the episodes behind a paywall. Customers need to buy considered one of 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.
