DramaWave Clone | White Label Short Drama Streaming App

DramaWave clone: launch your own white label short drama app

A DramaWave clone is a ready-built vertical drama streaming app that copies the business model of DramaWave, not its brand or its shows: one to two minute episodes on a phone-first player, a coin wallet that unlocks the next chapter, a weekly or monthly VIP pass, and a catalogue you can publish in many languages. Ours costs $14,000 one-time, comes with full source code included, and goes live in 15 days under your name, after a live demo you can click through before paying anything.

We built this white label DramaWave app for founders who see what Skywork AI did with DramaWave and want the same machine in their own market: a huge, fast-refreshing library, subtitles for every audience, and a paywall that turns a cliffhanger into revenue. It is DramaWave clone app development already finished, so your money goes into content and marketing instead of a year of engineering. If you have been searching for a way to launch an app like DramaWave for the US, the Gulf, or a language nobody serves well yet, this page lays out every screen, every revenue lever and the exact price.

Why a DramaWave clone is a smart business to own

DramaWave is young and already near the top of the charts. On 7 November 2026 we pulled Apple's public feeds: DramaWave sat at #26 among free iPhone apps in the United States and #12 in the United Arab Emirates, and at #46 and #24 on the top grossing lists of those two countries. Its US listing shows a 4.86 average from about 202,000 ratings, and the UAE listing has around 6,550. The DramaWave App Store listing also shows what people pay: a Weekly VIP Membership at $19.99 and a Monthly VIP at $36.99, in an app translated into 29 languages.

The growth curve is the part that should get a founder's attention. According to the Sensor Tower short drama report from July 2025, Skywork AI launched DramaWave internationally in September 2024, and by the end of April 2025 the app had reached 53 million downloads and $47 million in in-app revenue. The same report puts global short drama in-app revenue near $700 million for the first quarter of 2025 alone, with the US making up about half. Then the content side changed: on 7 September 2026, 36Kr reported that more than 90% of the new content launched on DramaWave in July 2026 was generated by AI. Cheaper production plus a proven paywall is exactly the gap a smaller, focused operator can use.

What actually makes the DramaWave model work

Four things, and each one is in our build. First, volume: the App Store description promises more than 30,000 dramas across 18 languages, with fresh originals every week, so there is always a next series waiting when a viewer finishes one. Second, the player is social and portable at once. Viewers can post on-screen comments that float over the video while others watch, and they can download episodes to watch offline on a flight or a metro ride. Third, discovery is a full-screen vertical feed driven by what each person finishes, skips and replays. Fourth, the money: early episodes are free, then a lock appears right after a cliffhanger, and the viewer either spends coins or buys a VIP pass. Volume keeps people coming back, the feed decides what they see next, and the paywall turns curiosity into cash.

Who this DramaWave clone is for

It fits four kinds of founders well. A US media entrepreneur who wants a romance or thriller channel in English and Spanish. A Dubai or Riyadh team building an Arabic first drama service for the Gulf, where DramaWave already ranks high but local stories are thin. A production studio, or an AI video team, that has a pipeline of vertical episodes and needs its own storefront rather than a revenue share. And a regional publisher in South Asia, Africa or Latin America with an audience and no app. If your plan centres on a creator marketplace with brand deals, our DramaBox clone is shaped for that, and if you want a lean single-studio catalogue, compare the PineDrama clone. Every option sits together on our micro drama apps hub.

What you get with the white label DramaWave app

You receive one connected platform with three working sides plus the plumbing underneath, all under your brand and all yours after handover.

Hosting setup, store submission on your developer accounts, documentation and a handover session for your team come with it.

All the DramaWave clone features, by side

These are the features that ship on day one. Anything else you want, we scope during the demo.

Viewer side: features for your audience

• Full-screen vertical feed that autoplays trailers and first episodes, tuned by watch time, completion and replays.
• Series pages with an episode grid, lock icons, a synopsis and a follow button for new chapters.
• On-screen comments that scroll across the video, with a one-tap switch for people who prefer a clean screen.
• Offline downloads of unlocked episodes, with storage limits you control.
• Language and subtitle picker per series, plus an app interface in as many languages as you add.
• Coin wallet with top up packs, a balance history, and coins earned from daily check in and tasks.
• VIP pass on weekly or monthly plans through Apple and Google billing, with web checkout where allowed.
• Continue watching, favourites and history synced across phone and web.
• Push alerts when a followed series drops a new episode or a coin offer starts.

Studio side: features for content teams and partner studios

• Bulk series upload that splits a long master file into numbered episodes at the cut points you mark.
• Lock point editor to choose which episode becomes paid and how many coins each one costs.
• Subtitle manager for SRT and VTT files, with a machine translation draft step your editors approve per language.
• Audio track slots so a series can carry more than one voice track if you license or produce dubs.
• AI content label field so AI-made titles are marked clearly, as stores and some regulators expect.
• Release scheduler for daily or weekly drops in each region.
• Cover and trailer tools for posters, short trailers and feed thumbnails.
• Partner revenue reports showing views, unlocks and earnings per title for outside studios.

Admin side: features for you, the operator

• Pricing control for coin packs, per-episode costs, VIP plans, trials and regional price tiers.
• Catalogue curation with home rails, genres, banners and per-country availability.
• Comment moderation with keyword filters, reports, mutes and bans.
• Rights windows that switch a title on or off by territory and date, matching your licences.
• Campaign tools for first-purchase offers, check in rewards and push campaigns.
• Refund and wallet tools for support agents to fix coin balances safely.
• Analytics on drop-off per episode, unlock rate, VIP conversion, revenue per title and retention.
• Roles and permissions for editors, moderators, finance and support.

How a DramaWave clone makes money

Short drama earns where attention peaks. You set every rate below from the admin panel and can test them by country.

Because a single series can run eighty episodes, a viewer who gets hooked early can unlock dozens of chapters, which is why the lock position and coin price matter more than any other setting.

Tech stack for the DramaWave clone

The stack is chosen for cheap video at scale and quick changes after launch.

• Apps: React Native for iOS and Android from one codebase, with a native video layer for smooth swipes.
• Web player and admin: Next.js, so the web catalogue can also be indexed by search engines.
• Backend: Node.js services for accounts, the coin ledger, entitlements and recommendations.
• Data: PostgreSQL for money and entitlements, Redis for feeds, sessions and comment streams.
• Video: HLS transcoding with adaptive bitrates up to 1080p, served through a CDN, with DRM as an option.
• Payments: Apple and Google in-app billing, plus Stripe or regional gateways for web.
• Messaging: Firebase push and email, all containerised with Docker for scaling.

Fully customized and truly white label

Nothing in the product says Make An App Like or DramaWave once we hand it over. Your name, logo, colours, fonts, store listings and domain go on every screen. We set your launch languages, right to left layout for Arabic, currencies, coin pack sizes, VIP plans and the countries you open first. Want a horror only service, a faith and family catalogue, or Bollywood style romance? The genre rails and home layout change to suit. With the source code in your hands, your own developers can keep building after the support period ends.

Pricing for the DramaWave clone

One number, paid once. The complete white label DramaWave app is $14,000 one-time, with full source code included, deployment under your brand, store submission and 3 months of free support and maintenance. There is no licence fee per month and no cut of your revenue.

Your running costs are separate and depend on traffic: cloud hosting, video storage and CDN bandwidth, store fees on in-app purchases, and whatever you spend licensing or producing series.

DramaWave clone vs building from scratch

A custom build of this scope takes roughly 2,500 to 4,000 hours across mobile, web, backend, video and QA. Our hour model ($50 an hour, plus 20% for testing and 20% for project management) puts that at about $180,000 to $288,000 before any content exists. Try your own feature list in our app development cost calculator to compare.

Why founders buy their DramaWave clone from us

We have built short drama, streaming and creator platforms before, and this product comes from that work rather than from a template marketplace. You test it before paying. The coin ledger and VIP entitlements are built the way app store reviewers expect, which saves painful rejections. You own the code outright, and we stay on for three months after launch to fix what real users find. When you ask how to price coin packs for Riyadh versus Ohio, you get an answer from people who have thought about it, not a sales script.

How the build and launch works

1. Demo and scope: you try the live build, and we agree your brand, languages, genres, prices and launch countries.
2. Branding and setup: we apply your identity, load your first series, connect billing and set lock points.
3. Testing and store submission: we test on real devices and submit to the App Store and Google Play on your accounts.
4. Launch and support: you go live in about 15 days, with 3 months of free fixes and guidance.

The honest part: we ship the app, you bring the stories

We will not pretend the software is the hard bit. An app like DramaWave lives or dies on its catalogue and its marketing. You need licensed or original series, written contracts with any studio you use, and clear rights for every territory you open. AI-made episodes still need human editing, honest labelling and a check that no real person's face or voice is used without consent. You also run the community (comment moderation, age ratings, support), the payments and any identity checks your gateways ask for, and the ad budget that brings the first viewers in. We help you plan all of it on the demo call. DramaWave is a trademark of its owner; our product is an independent white label build and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SKYWORK AI or DramaWave. For other ready-made products, browse our white label app catalogue, or ask us for the DramaWave clone script walkthrough.

Written by the Make An App Like build team. We build short drama and streaming apps, and we show you this one working before you pay.