One firm tracks a short-drama app; another tracks the category

The figure or the record

On 11 March 2026, Appfigures — a second app-intelligence firm — published Locked at the Top, its monthly chart of the most-downloaded and highest-earning apps for February 2026. The post states that FreeReels, described as 'a short-drama app from Singapore-based SKYWORK AI', entered the combined downloads chart at position eight with 21 million downloads that month, almost entirely from Google Play, with India and Indonesia responsible for more than half of them. Appfigures did not publish a separate, category-wide short-drama total alongside this app-level figure.

What the documents establish

Appfigures states its own basis for figures in this series: 'unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee' — a net-of-commission definition. That differs from Sensor Tower's State of Short Drama Apps 2026 report, which publishes an annual, category-wide download and IAP total across the whole short-drama field rather than tracking named apps inside a general chart. Appfigures' own Insights index, as retrieved on 16 September 2026, lists no dedicated short-drama category report to set alongside the rival firm's. The two firms answer different questions: one whether a specific app is growing, the other how large the whole category is.

Scope and caveats

The 21 million download figure covers one app, one month, and one metric (downloads, not revenue); the post states plainly that Appfigures did not have revenue figures for FreeReels to report. Because Appfigures does not publish a standing short-drama category, there is no equivalent series from this firm against which to check Sensor Tower's category total; the comparison this record can make is limited to one named app confirming the same regional pattern — South and Southeast Asian markets outpacing the US — that the category-wide report also describes.

What to watch

Editorially, the useful question is whether Appfigures eventually launches its own named short-drama category, the way it already tracks other verticals; until it does, a reader wanting a category total has one usable source, not two independent ones to cross-check.

• Does an app-intelligence firm publish a standing category, or only individual app appearances inside a general chart?
• Is a quoted revenue figure stated as net of store commission, gross, or unspecified?
• Does a single named app's growth stand in for a category total, or is it presented as one data point among many?

A category exists, analytically, only where a firm defines and measures it; Appfigures' figures for this sector currently live inside general charts, not a dedicated short-drama report, which is itself a fact worth recording about the state of coverage.