Earn ₱5 watching short dramas: FeelsTV gained 70k installs in a day, then was overtaken by newer packages
What it is An Android short-drama app where you watch dramas, complete tasks to earn coins, and withdraw coins to your mobile wallet. Aimed at the Philippines, South Africa, and Southeast Asia, it earns from ads.
Why it took off In these countries there's a crowd that hunts Facebook groups and TikTok for the "next new app that pays out." New packages hand out lots of coins early on, with withdrawals starting at ₱5. Users post their referral codes as they go, and it spread in a wave.
CHow you could follow it Don't build the twelfth short-drama clone. Take the cold-start playbook (a dedicated referral page + withdrawals for a few pesos + sharing payout screenshots + seeding with review accounts) and apply it to a content vertical or country where nobody is doing it yet.
- Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-08-12 · 11-07 installs 509,558
Android · Total installs worldwide Data 2026-10-30 → 2026-11-07 (9 days, 4 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
A small Hong Kong studio's Android short-drama app launched Aug 12, hit 70k installs on day 5, and reached 510k cumulative installs by early November. It has no new product idea: users watch dramas to earn coins, the coins can be cashed out, and people pull in friends with invite codes shared on Facebook. Apps built on this "watch dramas, earn money" model already number a dozen or so across Southeast Asia and South Africa, and FeelsTV sits in the mid-to-lower tier. It's worth studying for its cold-start playbook, and for why new versions of this business keep showing up.
A South African post with 21 likes
2026 Aug 17, Monday noon 12:17, a South African user named Mandisa Mbutho posted on Facebook:
New app alert. This is called FEELS TV. Where you get paid to: Watch 10 or more episodes every day. Do daily tasks everyday.
The first comment was her own personal referral link sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/4128455. The post got only 21 reactions and 19 comments. Some people replied "thanks," some asked "do you need referrals?", and some said "I'll try it."
That same day, FeelsTV's cumulative installs on Google Play jumped from 2,621 to 72,771, up 70,150 in one day. One post with 21 likes can't bring in 70k people. A more likely explanation is that on the same day, many "Mandisas" in South Africa and the Philippines were posting the same thing, each with their own code (inference). Other posts found at the time included a Xhosa one, "Nantsi link…", and a Malay one, "Tengok drama sambil kumpul duit… bukan scam" (watch dramas while earning money… not a scam).
What it is
The FeelsTV store page is "clean": the description reads "high-quality short-drama aggregation platform, large library of licensed content, continuously updated," with no mention of earning money. The developer is HONG KONG CHANYOU TECHNOLOGY LIMITED, which in October also released a merge puzzle game, Puppy Merge (176k installs).
The app is a different story: watch dramas, complete daily tasks, watch rewarded video ads for coins, and withdraw coins to mobile wallets like GCash. Each user has their own referral link, which opens a landing page titled "Watch Short Dramas for Free / Watch dramas, get rewards," with a scrolling feed of "Chca withdrew ₱5.00", "Raga withdrew ₱200.00", "Mi**or withdrew ₱500.00". The minimum withdrawal is ₱5, roughly ¥6 in RMB.
There are no in-app purchases; Google Play lists it as containing ads. Revenue comes from ads users watch, minus the coins paid out and referral bonuses. The spread is the profit. Referral codes turn every new user into a recruiter, and the platform covers acquisition cost by paying out in coins.
Where users come from
| Channel | What we saw | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Referral codes posted on personal Facebook profiles and in groups | South Africa 8-17 "New app alert"; Philippines Maribank group 8-27 a Tagalog post: "Already cashed out five times, just watching dramas, better than Melolo and FreeReels"; another says "Same as FreeReels and Melolo, but more coins" | Main channel |
| TikTok "new earning app" review accounts | @xero_earnings posted 3 #FeelsTv videos on the day after launch (8-13), getting 4.8k–19k views. The account also promotes other earning apps. | Small |
| YouTube "is it real or a scam" reviews | "FEELSTV Review 2026: Can You REALLY Make Money Watching Dramas?" with about 2,200 views; there's also an Indonesian-language "Is FeelsTV Legit or a Scam?" | Small |
| Meta paid acquisition | No paid ads found (not finding them doesn't mean there were none). An app relying only on ad revenue struggles to pay back large-scale paid acquisition. | Inferred: not the main driver |
Users didn't find it through ads; they went looking. In these countries, a group of people actively asks Facebook groups and TikTok "which app pays out next?" When a new package launches, it offers the most coins and the lowest withdrawal threshold, so this crowd piles in and shares referral codes as they use it. FeelsTV rode this new-package wave.
Rises fast, falls fast
| Timeline | Total installs | Daily new installs |
|---|---|---|
| 8-16 | 2,621 | About 200 |
| 8-17 | 72,771 | +70,150 |
| 8-25 | 186,460 | About 15,000 |
| 9-03 | 272,227 | 6,000–15,000 |
| October | 380k→490k | About 3,000, occasionally spiking above 10k |
| 11-01~06 | 505k→510k | 600–3,900 |
Data from Google Play installs and AppstoreSpy estimates, as of 11-06. Over 80% of the volume came in the first three weeks after launch. The version is still 1.0.3, the last update was Aug 14, and it hasn't shipped a release since two days after launch. 11-06 It now only sits at #199 on the Vietnam Entertainment Top Free chart.
Every withdrawal record on the landing page is stamped "2044–2050 hours ago," meaning 85 days ago, during the first few days after launch. It could be a fixed set of display samples, or the page may never have refreshed. How many people are actually withdrawing now can't be seen from the outside.
Who it's competing with
Other apps with the same model, per 11-06's Google Play data:
| Product | Launched | Total installs | Last 7 days | Compared with FeelsTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coin Drama | 2026-03 | 17.9M | +1.18M | 5 months earlier, 35× bigger, charted in 16 countries |
| BonusTV / Pro / Lite | From ¥2025-03 | About 34.6M combined | Pro and Lite each +200k+ | One company runs three packages; Pro has 44 ads running on Meta |
| Lucky Drama | 2026-07 | 2.24M | +238k | A month earlier |
| CoinReel | 2026-09-20 | 1.32M | +620k | Launched 5 weeks later and already 2.6 times its size |
| NiceReels | 2026-09-20 | 725k | +287k | Another new package launched the same day |
| CashDrama | 2026-08-19 | 502k | +165k | A week later, total matched, growth rate 9 times faster |
| FeelsTV | 2026-08-12 | 510k | +18k |
Next up are the big-company free short-drama apps: FreeReels with 246M installs, ByteDance's Melolo with 147M. They also run check-in coins, but cash withdrawals aren't their selling point. In the Philippines, the only comparison users make between FeelsTV and them is one thing: how many coins you get.
This table shows two things. First, FeelsTV has no moat. The content is aggregated licensed short dramas, and coins, tasks, withdrawals and referrals are industry standard. Cut the payouts and users move to the next new app. Second, the "new app bonus" isn't one-time: CoinReel and NiceReels, both launched in Sep 20, are still adding hundreds of thousands a week. The business model is to keep launching new apps, each one riding a wave, and the best operators run several apps at once.
Nobody knows it, but this niche isn't short on players
You won't find a single X post about FeelsTV, no media coverage, and no public revenue. Only people in the Southeast Asian and South African "earn money apps" circles know it. But "few people know it" isn't an opening here: a dozen-plus apps already run this model, and they're run by teams with content supply, ad monetization experience, and the ability to launch several apps at once.
If it were you
C. You can learn a valuable cold-start playbook, but copying a "watch dramas, earn money" app isn't worth it for indie devs and small teams.
Who it's for: teams that have already run rewarded-video monetization in emerging markets, have short-drama content supply, and can work out the ad revenue and withdrawal cost per user. Ideally they can run several apps at once.
Who it's not for: anyone without ad monetization experience; anyone who can't get licensed short-drama content; anyone unwilling to face Google Play's review risk for money-earning apps, withdrawal cash-flow advances, and install fraud; anyone hoping to win on product differentiation, since users in this category only compare coins.
How to do it: if you do pursue it, don't build the fifteenth short-drama clone. Carry the playbook over to content nobody has saturated yet, like mini-games, novels, or local-language audio, or pick a country and wallet that aren't yet flooded (inference). The playbook itself: write store copy about the content, not the earnings; give each user a personal invite landing page whose first screen scrolls real small withdrawal records; set the minimum withdrawal to a few local-currency units so the first cash-out happens on day one; raise the threshold gradually later.
How to acquire users: no paid ads, rely on "earn money app" review accounts and Facebook groups. Before launch, find TikTok and YouTube accounts that test new earn-money apps, and have them post invite codes to the first users on launch day. Post withdrawal screenshots in groups every day.
Deadline: no clear cutoff. This business rides one new-app bonus after another, each window lasting about three weeks. FeelsTV got over 80% of its installs inside those three weeks.
Signs you got it wrong: (1) FeelsTV resumes updates and daily installs climb back to 10K+, showing it's building long-term retention rather than riding one wave; (2) CoinReel and NiceReels, September launches, also fall to a few thousand a day within a month, like FeelsTV did, showing the new-app bonus is shrinking and the niche is tightening; (3) Google Play delists a batch of these apps, which devalues even the playbook.
Data and sources: Google Play store pages and daily installs/charts (as of 2026-11-06; early install counts are AppstoreSpy estimates); FeelsTV invite landing page sp.thefeelstv.com (opened 11-06); Facebook posts (South Africa Mandisa Mbutho 8-17, Philippines Maribank Philippines group 8-27, Malaysia personal post); TikTok @xero_earnings 8-13 three videos; YouTube reviews; Meta Ad Library.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one Coin Drama Android 2026-03-17 17.9M installs, +1.18M in 7 days Same model, 5 months earlier, 35x the scale, charting in 16 stores BonusTV / Pro / Lite Android 2025-03 / 2026-06 20.4M + 9.17M + 5.07M Same model, using a multi-app matrix plus Meta paid ads (Pro running 44 ads) CashDrama(Guicheng) Android 2026-08-19 502k, +165k in 7 days Launched one week later, total already caught up, growing 9x as fast CoinReel - Watch & Earn Android 2026-09-20 1.32M, 7 days +620k 5 weeks later, already 2.6x its size NiceReels - Reel & Earn Android 2026-09-20 725k, +287k in 7 days New apps from the same period, growing far faster Lucky Drama - Shorts & Rewards Android 2026-07-07 2.24M, 7 days +238k Same model, one month earlier, charting in 14 stores Melolo Android 2024-11-15 147M, +2.9M in 7 days ByteDance free short dramas, far bigger in content and scale; FeelsTV competes for earners by offering "more coins" FreeReels Android 2024-11-28 246M, +3.64M in 7 days Big-company free short dramas, not selling cash withdrawals DramaBox / ReelShort Android 2023 / 2022 each 300M+ Top paid-unlock short-drama app, relies on in-app purchases and large-scale paid ads - Where users come from
- Verified Facebook personal posts and invite-code referrals in groups: in South Africa, "New app alert… FEELS TV" with sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/4128455 2026-08-17, same-day installs +70k; in the Philippines, Maribank group 08-27 "withdrew five times, better than Melolo and FreeReels"; Malay post "bukan scam"
- Verified In-app invite links + low-threshold withdrawals as social proof: invite landing page sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/<code> scrolls ₱5–₱500 withdrawal records; GCash withdrawal screenshots
- Verified TikTok "new earn-money app" review account: @xero_earnings posted 3 videos tagged #FeelsTv, 4.8k–19k views, 2026-08-13; same account also promotes Ocean Merge and others
- Verified YouTube "legit or scam" reviews: FEELSTV Review 2026 about 2.2k views; Indonesian-language review vB7z2PmJhpc
- Inferred Meta paid acquisition: the metaads library shows no FeelsTV advertiser or landing domain (the library only covers a watchlist)
FeelsTV (com.feelstv.in) research report
In short: a small team listed under Hong Kong's CHANYOU that makes a "watch short dramas, earn cash" app. Launched 2026-08-12; on day 5 it hit 70k installs in one day, driven by invite-code posts from "earn money app" influencers on Facebook and TikTok in South Africa, the Philippines and elsewhere. It hasn't been updated since, and growth has declined steadily. It sits in a crowded watch-and-earn short-drama niche, in the mid-to-lower tier.
0. Basic data (googleplay library, 2026-11-06)
- Launched 2026-08-12, developer HONG KONG CHANYOU TECHNOLOGY LIMITED. The same developer also has Puppy Merge (launched 2026-10-02, 176k installs, +35k in 7 days). AppBrain says this developer has been active for 2023 years, with 3 apps in total.
- 509,558,7 days of cumulative global installs +18,347. The rating count is blank in the database.
- Version still 1.0.3, last updated 2026-08-14, no new version in the two days after launch. ad_supported = True, offers_iap = False: no in-app purchases, monetized by ads only.
- Charts: only charted in the Vietnam and Indonesia Entertainment Top Free lists, at ranks 165–199. 11-06 only Vietnam 199. Of the 30 stores we track, the Philippines and South Africa are included, but it never charted in either.
Install curve (app_day_ext, AppstoreSpy estimates + our own collection)
| Timeline | Total installs | Average daily new installs |
|---|---|---|
| 08-14 | 2,197 | ~110 |
| 08-16 | 2,621 | ~200 |
| 08-17 | 72,771 | +70,150 (single day) |
| 08-19 | 118,684 | ~23,000 |
| 08-25 | 186,460 | ~15,000 |
| 09-03 | 272,227 | ~6,000–15,000 |
| Mid-to-late September | 335k–371k | ~3,000–6,500 |
| October | 384k→491k | ~3,000 (with spikes of 1–16k at times, e.g. 10-03/04, 10-08) |
| 11-01~06 | 505k→510k | ~600–3,900 |
Takeaway: over 80% of installs came in the three weeks after launch (270k by 9-03). After that comes a long tail with occasional spikes. The growth is typical: a push drives it, then nobody maintains it.
1. Competitors: this is an already crowded niche
"Watch short dramas + coin/cash withdrawals + invite codes" is a mature category on Android in emerging markets for 2025–2026 years. Filtering the googleplay database by description and title turns up dozens (data from 2026-11-06 app_profile):
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs | 7-day gain | How it differs from FeelsTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coin Drama | Tera Link | 2026-03-17 | 17.9M | +1.18M | Same model, 35x the scale, charting in 16 stores |
| BonusTV / Pro / Lite | DramaAccess INC | 2025-03 / 2026-06 | 20.4M + 9.17M + 5.07M | Pro +210k, Lite +220k | Same model, using a multi-app matrix to scale |
| CashDrama | Guicheng Limited | 2026-08-19 | 502k | +165k | Launched one week later, total already caught up, growing 9x as fast as FeelsTV |
| CoinReel - Watch & Earn | ByteMind Studio | 2026-09-20 | 1.32M | +620k | Launched 5 weeks later and already 2.6 times its size |
| NiceReels - Reel & Earn | Enter Trading | 2026-09-20 | 725k | +287k | New apps from the same period, growing far faster than it |
| Lucky Drama - Shorts & Rewards | Digitnesia | 2026-07-07 | 2.24M | +238k | One month earlier, charting in 14 stores |
| LuckyDramas – Watch & Earn | AID Japan | 2025-06-27 | 14.2M | +73k | Established competitor |
| HotDrama / HotReels | Two shell companies in Hong Kong/Lisbon | 2026-04 | 2.14M / 1.33M | +250k / +270k | Same model |
| Spark Dramas, ReelEarn, Reel Drama, FlickJoy, DR Dramas, OlaDrama and others | Assorted shell companies | 2025-09~2026-09 | Tens of thousands to a few million | — | Same-model long tail |
| Melolo (ByteDance) | POLIGON | 2024-11-15 | 147M | +2.9M | Big-company free short dramas (ad-unlock), also with check-in coins |
| FreeReels | SKYWORK AI | 2024-11-28 | 246M | +3.64M | Big-company free short dramas |
| DramaBox / ReelShort | STORYMATRIX / NewLeaf | 2023 / 2022 | each 300M+ | Each +2.9M / +5.5M | Top paid-unlock short-drama app |
Summary: what FeelsTV does, others are doing too. It isn't first, isn't the biggest, and ranks last in growth among new apps from the same period. From Philippine user posts, its direct comparison with FreeReels and Melolo comes down to "who gives more coins", see below.
2. Where users came from (growth tactics)
- Earn-money app influencers and ordinary users post invite codes on Facebook (confirmed, main channel)
- Each user in the app gets a personal invite link
sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/<7-digit invite code>. The landing page tagline reads "Watch Short Dramas for Free / Watch dramas, get rewards", with a scrolling feed of "someone withdrew ₱5 / ₱60 / ₱200 / ₱500" records (read via r.jina.ai from sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/4006785). Withdrawals are in Philippine pesos, so the focus is the Philippines. - South Africa: on 2026-08-17, someone posted on Facebook "New app alert, This is called FEELS TV, Where you get paid to watch 10 or more episodes every day / do daily tasks", with the invite link 4128455 (facebook.com/100075193571499/posts/…1059301763252933). There's also a Xhosa post "Nantsi link…" (facebook.com/zimasa.mgweshe/videos/…). This day was the same day as the +70k single-day install spike.
- Philippines: 2026-08-27 In the Facebook group "Maribank Philippines," someone posted "Already withdrew five times, only watching dramas, better than Melolo and FreeReels." Another said "Same as FreeReels and Melolo, but more coins." There are also GCash auto-withdrawal screenshot posts.
- Malaysia, Indonesia: There's a Malay post "Tengok drama sambil kumpul duit… bukan scam" (facebook.com/felicia.edward1/…), and an Indonesian YouTube video "Is FeelsTV Legit or a Scam?" (youtube.com/watch?v=vB7z2PmJhpc).
- Each user in the app gets a personal invite link
- TikTok "new earning app" account (confirmed, small reach): @xero_earnings posted 3 #FeelsTv #FeelsTvtrick videos on 2026-08-13 (the day after launch), with 4.8k–19k views (homepage posts pulled via TikHub). This account also promotes Ocean Merge (COOLYA), WaterGo and other earning apps. It's a dedicated new-earning-app testing account, not an official one. Whether it earns commissions is unverified.
- YouTube "is it legit" reviews (confirmed, small reach): "FEELSTV Review 2026: Can You REALLY Make Money Watching Dramas?" has 2,198 views and was posted about 2 months ago. There's also "FeelsTV App Withdraw & Review" and others. These videos are just picking up long-tail traffic on the side.
- Paid acquisition (not found): The metaads library has no FeelsTV advertiser or landing domain. The library only tracks a fixed list of products, so not finding it doesn't mean it isn't running ads. Among peers, BonusTV Pro (PassionPro-Short page) runs 44 ads; FeelsTV isn't in that set. Since it only earns ad revenue and has no in-app purchases, large-scale paid acquisition wouldn't pay back, so the judgment is that growth is mainly referral-driven.
- Store search, ASO: Neither the name nor the description includes "earn" or "cash" keywords. The description only says "licensed short drama aggregation," which looks deliberately chosen to avoid Google Play's review for earning apps. Store search doesn't look like the main source.
How the money comes back
No in-app purchases, ad-supported. The model: users watch dramas, complete daily tasks, and watch rewarded video ads to earn coins, which can be withdrawn (via GCash and others, with a very low threshold, ₱5 listed on the landing page). Ad revenue minus withdrawal payouts and invite rewards is the profit. Invite codes turn every new user into a promoter, and the platform covers acquisition cost with coins. This is essentially "ad arbitrage + referral rebates." A YouTube review notes "withdrawals are locked until you finish certain tasks," meaning withdrawals have thresholds that rise over time.
3. Why it can break out
- The category itself is hot: Over the past 2026 years, "earn money watching short dramas" has been a proven category in Southeast Asia, South Africa and elsewhere, with plenty of users actively looking for the next app they can withdraw from. Users ask in Facebook groups and on TikTok, "what's the next app that pays out?" New apps give the most coins and the easiest withdrawals early on, so a "new app window" naturally opens. FeelsTV is riding that wave.
- Invite-code referrals + low-threshold withdrawals as social proof: Withdrawals from ₱5, a scrolling withdrawal feed on the landing page, and users bragging in groups about "withdrew successfully 5 times" are most persuasive in low-income markets. 08-17 +70k in a single day lines up with a South African FB "New app alert" post on the same day, so the evidence is fairly direct.
- Cluster of small countries: Traffic in the Philippines, South Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia is cheap, and mobile wallets like GCash make small withdrawals smooth.
4. Differentiation
Almost none. The content is aggregated licensed short dramas, and cover images come from the static.stepstrack.com content CDN, which looks like off-the-shelf content supply. The features are industry-standard coins, tasks, withdrawals and invites. The only difference users mention is "more coins than FreeReels / Melolo," which reflects early subsidy levels, not product differentiation. It grew on the new-app subsidy window plus referrals, not differentiation. CashDrama, which launched the same month, and CoinReel and NiceReels, which followed a month later, have already surpassed it across the board.
5. Visibility and copycats
- Visibility: Few people know about it yet. X corpus (x-radar, 90 days) has 0 posts, with no media coverage and no public revenue figures. What's visible is a small circle of "earning app" communities in emerging markets, plus a few YouTube "legit or scam" videos with a few thousand views each.
- Copycats: The model is already crowded (a dozen-plus peers in the table above), but no one has been seen copying FeelsTV specifically. It is itself one of the copycats.
6. What to borrow
- A cold-start playbook for "incentive content apps" in emerging markets: a unique invite landing page for each user, low-threshold small withdrawals (₱5), a scrolling withdrawal feed on the landing page, and review accounts and group admins spreading it organically.
- Store copy stays "clean" (only describes licensed short-drama aggregation), with "earning" pushed to off-store promotion to avoid review.
- Run several categories (short dramas, merge mini-games) under one shell company and test the same incentive-referral model across them.
7. Uncertain
- Withdrawal records on the landing page are all marked "2044–2050 hours ago," about 85 days ago, right around launch. They may be fixed display samples, or the page may not refresh. Real withdrawal rates and payouts are unverified.
- Whether there's paid acquisition or creator commissions is unverified (the Meta ad library only tracks its list).
- There's no first-party data on country mix. Similarweb shows rankings in South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia; this comes from the note at retrieval time and wasn't rechecked this time.
- Revenue scale is unknown. With no in-app purchases, the ad eCPM and withdrawal costs are also unknown.
- No updates for over two months, with growth fading. It may already be in its harvest or maintenance-stop phase.
Sources
- googleplay library: app_profile / app_snap / app_day_ext / chart_rank (2026-10-30 ~ 11-06; app_day_ext is an AppstoreSpy estimate)
- metaads library app_link / ad (FeelsTV search returned no results)
- sp.thefeelstv.com/v1/4006785 (invite landing page); www.thefeelstv.com/
- www.facebook.com/100075193571499/posts/-new-app-alert-this-i… (South Africa, 2026-08-17)
- www.facebook.com/groups/757165667126372/posts/10348569326905… (Philippines, 2026-08-27)
- www.facebook.com/felicia.edward1/posts/…28999189556348932/ (Malaysia)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qho3TgbLK4, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB7z2PmJhpc, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoKysWJK15g
- TikTok @xero_earnings homepage posts (TikHub, 2026-08-13 videos)
- www.appbrain.com/dev/HONG+KONG+CHANYOU+TECHNOLOGY+LIMITED/ (search snippet)