The format is proven
Vertical micro-drama went from nothing to a market measured in billions, led by mobile apps like ReelShort and DramaBox. Tens of millions of people will binge an 80-episode story told a minute at a time — that argument is over.
Pre-launch — working app on Roku
Vertical short drama, on the biggest screen in the house.
Series told in one-to-three-minute episodes, with a cliffhanger in every one. KAVODA TV takes the format that conquered phones and rebuilds it for living-room television — free with ads, lean-back, made for a remote.
- FormatVertical 9:16
- Episodes1–3 minutes
- ModelFree + Ad‑Free tier
- PlatformRoku first · US & UK
Why now
The fastest-growing format in entertainment hasn’t reached the living room.
Short drama — serialised stories shot vertically, told a minute or three at a time — built an industry on phones in under three years. The television screen is still wide open.
The living room is open
Every major short-drama app is built for a phone held at arm’s length. Nobody owns the format on television — the screen where evening binge-watching actually happens. That is the gap KAVODA TV is built to take.
A fairer deal than coins
On mobile, the format is monetised with per-episode coins — a single series can cost more than a month of a major streamer. KAVODA TV is free with ads, with one simple ad-free upgrade: a model TV viewers already trust.
- 9:16shot vertical, full-height on screen
- 1–3 minper episode, paced for momentum
- 40–100episodes per series
- Every epends on a cliffhanger
What we’ve built
Not a mockup — a working app.
The KAVODA TV app for Roku is built end-to-end and running today: discovery, playback, accounts, entitlements and ads, tested against a catalogue-scale feed. Here is what it does.
A lean-back vertical player
The episode runs full-height in the centre of the screen while KAVODA Ambient fills the rest of the panel with a dim, blurred wash of the episode’s own colours. Leave the remote alone and the chrome fades away.
Browse without stopping
A Discover column sits beside the player: rest on a series and it starts previewing in place; press OK and you are watching episode one. Discovery and playback are one screen, designed for a remote instead of a thumb.
Built to binge
Episodes advance on their own, and a finished series hands straight into the next one. Continue Watching, My List and resume work the way television viewers already expect them to.
Free first, account second
Every series starts playing free with no sign-in. The free run ends at an account gate, not a paywall — signing up costs nothing and returns you to the exact second that triggered it.
Monetisation wired in
Ad breaks between episodes, skipped for subscribers; a KAVODA Ad‑Free upgrade sold through Roku Pay; and engagement events on every play — starts, completion milestones, skips and drop-off points.
Runs on the cheapest TVs
Built and tested for Express-class Roku devices: baked artwork instead of shaders, screens created lazily, deep links into any series or episode. If it runs well there, it runs well everywhere.
Paper Hearts
Midnight Heir
Burn the SkyThe shelf we’re building
Stories people finish.
Revenge, contract marriages, hidden identities, second chances — short drama runs on big emotions and relentless pacing. The catalogue is being assembled now with short-drama licensors and aggregators.
Original artwork, created by KAVODA. These are AI-generated stills we made to show the kind of programming the service is built around. They are not licensed titles, not frames from anyone else’s shows, and not an announced line-up.
Business model
Three steps, all of them built.
The mobile short-drama apps proved people will pay for this format — then priced them per episode. We run the model television viewers already understand, and every step of it is implemented in the app today.
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Watch — free, instantly
Open the app and a story is already playing. No account, no card, no coins. Ad breaks between episodes carry the free tier.
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Join — a free account
Each series runs free for its opening episodes; finishing it takes a free account. That is an audience we can reach directly — not a paywall.
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Upgrade — KAVODA Ad‑Free
One flat monthly subscription through Roku Pay removes every break. No coins, no per-episode pricing, nothing to top up.
For content partners
Your catalogue, on a screen it has never reached.
If you hold short-drama rights — as a studio, a platform or an aggregator — KAVODA TV is incremental distribution on televisions, in territories and on a screen your apps do not serve. No content agreements are signed yet; the line-up is genuinely open.
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Non-exclusive, territory-scoped
Non-exclusive windows for the territories we operate in, with durations and terms that fit how you already license. Nothing asks you to pull a title back from anywhere else.
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Your free window, carried over
Free-episode counts are set per series, so the freemium strategy you run on your own app carries over exactly. Nothing gets re-gated or given away without agreement.
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Reporting you can reconcile
Per-title, per-episode engagement as it is: plays, completion milestones, skip points and drop-off, in a format your team can check against its own numbers.
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Integration measured in days
The app is already built — a catalogue drops into working services. A JSON feed and HLS streams are enough to start, and you will be talking to the person who wrote the player.
How a conversation usually starts
- Intro call. What you hold, which territories, and how your free windows run.
- Terms and delivery spec. Rights, territories, tier scope, reporting and free-run handling agreed in writing.
- Integration and launch. Feed ingest, QA on device, and a slot in the launch line-up.
About
KAVODA LTD
KAVODA TV is operated by KAVODA LTD, a private company registered in England and Wales. The service is in development and has not launched.
The company was founded by Kuda Thomas, a developer who has spent his career shipping and maintaining streaming apps on connected TV — the certification requirements, the device quirks, the performance budgets and the ad-serving realities that decide whether a streaming app is actually usable on a five-year-old television.
KAVODA TV is deliberately narrow: one format, one job. Rather than another everything-app, it is built to be the place vertical drama lives on the television — and to do that properly before doing anything else.
Platform experience
- Apple
- Android
- Sky
Track record
Roku and CTV work our team has delivered
Certified Roku channels our people have built and maintained for other businesses — the reason integrating a catalogue here is a short technical conversation rather than a first attempt.
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STV Player
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Paramount+
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Channel 4
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ITVX
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Accenture
Worked on by KAVODA team members as developers — in employment or on contract, including for STV Group plc and via REDspace and Accenture. They are not KAVODA TV partners, channels or content agreements, and no affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement is implied.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
What is KAVODA TV?
A streaming service that brings vertical short drama to television — series of 40–100 episodes, each one to three minutes long, playing full-height on the TV screen. Free with ads, with an optional ad-free subscription. It is operated by KAVODA LTD, a company registered in England and Wales, and is being built for Roku first.
What exactly is “short drama”?
Serialised fiction shot for vertical screens and cut into one-to-three-minute episodes, each ending on a hook — romance, revenge, hidden identities, second chances. The format grew into a market measured in billions on mobile apps; KAVODA TV is building its home on the television.
Has it launched? Can I watch it now?
Not yet. The Roku app is built and running in testing, but the service has not launched and there is nothing public to watch today. Join the launch list below and you will get one email the day it goes live.
Is it really free?
Yes. Watching is free with ads and needs no account to start. Each series has a free opening run; continuing past it takes a free account. The only thing that costs money is the optional KAVODA Ad‑Free subscription, which removes ad breaks. There are no coins and no per-episode charges.
Where will it be available?
The United States and the United Kingdom at launch, on Roku first. Further platforms — Fire TV, Samsung, LG — and territories follow after that.
What will I be able to watch?
Licensed short drama from studios and aggregators working in the format. No content agreements are signed yet, so we are not naming titles — anything we listed today would be a guess. Every image on this page is original illustrative artwork we created ourselves, not a real title. The line-up will be announced when it is real.
I own or represent short-drama content. How do we start?
Email partnerships@kavoda.tv with your catalogue overview, territories and preferred deal structure. You will get a straight answer from the person building the platform.
How do I get in touch about something else?
General enquiries go to hello@kavoda.tv, viewer support to support@kavoda.tv, and anything else to contact@kavoda.tv.
Launch updates
Know the day we go live.
One email when KAVODA TV launches on Roku, and the occasional short note if something genuinely worth reading happens before then. No tracking on this site, no sharing your address, unsubscribe in one click.