ReelShort x Liftoff Success Story: Scaling Short Drama User Acquisition Across 10+ Markets

 

ReelShort launched in 2022 as one of the first vertical short drama platforms to take the format overseas, and it now reaches more than 75 million monthly active users, with the U.S. as its largest market. In 2024 it was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies, and it currently leads the short drama category globally.

Short drama is a young category, and the advertising playbook for it is younger still. The monetization model is unfamiliar to most DSP algorithms, user behavior shifts sharply from one market to the next, and ReelShort launches thousands of creative variations a day. In this video, [Speaker name], [Title] at ReelShort, shares how the team worked with Liftoff to predict paying users from early in-app behavior, shift budget toward winning creative automatically, and extend campaigns from a single iOS test in the U.S. to full coverage across North America, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia.

Transcript

Vera Liu

ReelShort is a vertical short drama platform that launched in 2022. We were one of the first companies to bring short drama to overseas markets. Our content is primarily designed for female audiences, with the U.S. as our largest market. Today, ReelShort has more than 75 million monthly active users. In 2024, we were named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies, and we’re currently the global leader in the short drama category.

To be honest, user acquisition for short drama apps comes with some unique challenges. First, achieving our ROAS targets wasn’t easy. The monetization model for short dramas is still relatively new, and many DSP algorithms haven’t fully adapted to this category. Second, we’re running campaigns across more than ten markets, and user behavior varies significantly from region to region. A single strategy simply doesn’t work everywhere. Finally, creative scale is a huge challenge. We launch thousands of creative variations every day, and manually allocating budget and choosing which creatives to scale was too inefficient.

We started working with Liftoff in Q3 2025, initially testing campaigns on iOS in the U.S. market. We’ve been working together for almost a year now, and over that time our partnership has grown stronger.

Liftoff’s AI engine, Cortex™, uses early in-app behavior to predict which users are likely to make a purchase within seven days and which are likely to churn, which allows budget to be allocated much more efficiently. One thing we’ve noticed is that the model keeps improving over time. The predictions become increasingly accurate.

Previously, our ad optimization had to be handled manually. Now Cortex™ automatically shifts spend toward the best-performing creatives. That allows our team to spend more time on strategy and expanding into new markets instead of day-to-day bid management. Overall, we’ve seen roughly a 50% improvement in operational efficiency.

Liftoff has played a significant role in supporting our global growth. Today we’re able to reach users across virtually all of our key markets, including North America, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia. The strongest performance has come from the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, where Liftoff’s traffic quality and optimization capabilities have consistently exceeded our expectations. Compared with the other DSPs we work with, Liftoff consistently delivers around 20% higher D7 ROAS relative to our internal payback benchmark.

We were able to achieve true global coverage, from major markets like the U.S. to smaller Tier 3 markets with less common languages. That reinforced Liftoff’s position as one of our most important growth partners.

If you’re running a short drama or entertainment app, I think Liftoff is worth serious consideration. The two things that impressed us most were the algorithm’s ability to predict high-value paying users, and how professional and responsive the team is. Short drama is a unique category, so we need a partner that genuinely understands the economics of our business. Liftoff has demonstrated that understanding throughout our partnership.

Recorded in Mandarin. English subtitles available.