🏎️ Holywater Raises $22M to Win the Microdrama Race

The Battle to Win Microdrama Audiences in the US and beyond | Streaming in Short – W03

Yann Colleter

Jan 16, 2026

⏱️ This week’s streaming media news in 5 minutes.

🎬 Holywater Raises $22M to Scale Microdramas

👉 Holywater has secured the new funding as competition heats up between microdrama apps in the U.S. and beyond.

📍 Holywater operates My Drama (micro-drama), My Passion (genre books), and My Muse (AI-generated stories). The round was led by Horizon Capital and follows a recent strategic investment from Fox Entertainment.

💡 The competition is now about who can scale fastest and become the default app for microdrama.

🎬 Tunisian Filmmaker Wins $1M AI Film Award with Lily

👉 Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi has won the $1 million AI Film Award for his short film Lily, selected from more than 3,500 submissions worldwide.

📍 The award was presented during the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai, in partnership with Google Gemini. Lily was chosen as the winner after jury review and public voting, alongside four other finalist films.

💡 This shows how AI tools are lowering barriers and giving new voices real visibility and scale.

🎙️ Netflix Moves Deeper Into Podcasts

What happened?

👉 Netflix announced a new push into original podcasts, launching exclusive video shows hosted by well-known talent.

Key details:

Pete Davidson will host The Pete Davidson Show, a weekly video podcast starting January 30, filmed in a casual, at-home setting.
Michael Irvin will host The White House with Michael Irvin, a twice-weekly sports talk podcast starting January 19.

Why it matters?

🎯 By creating original, talent-led shows, Netflix is testing podcasts as a new content pillar, designed to keep users coming back between big series releases.

⚽️ SPORTS: SRMG Launches G.O.A.T, a New AI-Driven Sports App

Saudi Research and Media Group has launched G.O.A.T, a new mobile-first sports app built to deliver fast, trusted, and data-driven coverage.

The app focuses first on football and the Saudi Pro League, combining live updates, breaking news, video highlights, and match insights in one place.

📊 MARKET: MENA Media & Entertainment Hits $48B in 2026

The MENA media and entertainment market is expected to reach $48.4 billion in 2026, up from $44.1 billion in 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence.

Growth is driven by streaming, gaming, and digital ads, with more investment in local Arabic content and a clear shift toward on-demand and Connected TV models.

📱 VERTICAL: TikTok Enters Microdramas

TikTok has launched a new “Minis” section that lets users watch microdramas directly inside the app, without downloading a separate service.

The feature includes vertical series using a freemium model. TikTok is also testing discounts, ad-revenue sharing, and even licensing deals to keep viewing and payments inside its ecosystem.

🤝 BUNDLE: Prime Video Adds Free Local TV in France and Spain

Amazon Prime Video has signed new deals in Europe to offer major local TV content at no extra cost for Prime members.

In France, Prime Video now includes M6+. In Spain, Prime members can watch live channels from national broadcaster RTVE.

🎮 GAMING: Peaky Blinders Comes to PUBG Mobile

PUBG Mobile has launched an in-game collaboration with the TV series Peaky Blinders, following a licensing deal with Banijay Rights.

The event adds themed missions, story elements, character skins, emotes, and even the show’s iconic music into the game until February 5, 2026.

What’s the next media and entertainment event you’re planning to attend? Just reply to this email and tell me!

🛡️ A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, from George R.R. Martin and Ira Parker (OSN+, 6 eps): A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros: a young, naive but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits await these improbable and incomparable friends.

🐉 14 years ago, Game of Thrones premiered on HBO. Created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the series pulled viewers into a brutal fantasy world of power, loyalty, and betrayal. Game of Thrones became a global phenomenon, redefining event television and showing how big-budget series could drive culture, conversation, and subscriptions worldwide.