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The Mystery: One Suspect, Two Names

Searching for „short tv“ in an app store returns a swarm of look-alike apps, the press history of a Chinese studio and, buried somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. This tangle is the case this file attempts to untangle. The working hypothesis is simple: the app now sold as ShortMax and the ShortTV brand announced by a Chinese producer https://www.reelshorts.org/where-to-watch/bride-of-the-goblin-lord/ for the US, Canada and Australia are one and the same. The theory is strong, but it is not proven, because no official rename announcement has appeared. So instead of taking anyone’s word for it, we will go through the public records one clue at a time. Each piece of evidence is small on its own, and the weight comes from how neatly they line up. By the finish you should be able to judge the claim yourself and, more usefully, avoid installing the wrong short tv drama app.

First Clue: The Android Package Name

Any Android app comes with a package name, a fixed internal ID that rarely changes even when the storefront title does. The package live.shorttv.apps is the one ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses. It is an unusual choice for a brand called ShortMax, unless the app started life under another name. Right at the start, before marketing settles on a final title, developers usually pick the package ID. So a package spelling out „shorttv“ is precisely the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. Because the ID also shows up in the web address of the Play listing, this clue can be confirmed by anyone in seconds. A package name, on its own, does not document any history; it only suggests one.

Clue Two: The Legal Entity Behind It

The fine print of both app stores holds the second clue. In the App Store, ShortMax’s seller is SHORTTV LIMITED. Google Play shows the developer as SHORTMAX LIMITED, but the legal entity behind it is once more SHORTTV LIMITED, listing an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Hong Kong law also governs the company’s terms of service. Renaming a consumer product while keeping the original company name is a common pattern in app publishing. It puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax, though it does not prove the brands are the same.

Clue Three: The Month of Launch

The third thread concerns timing. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 by Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. In the same month, ShortMax arrived: Google Play gives September 3, 2023 and the App Store lists September 11, 2023. The simpler explanation of the overlap is a single product that launched once and later traded under a new name. Two unrelated brands with near-identical names debuting within the same few weeks would be a remarkable coincidence. A few months after that launch, in January 2024, China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV. Even so, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly alongside the other clues.

Clue Four: The Redirect Between Domains

Since it happens in your browser, the fourth clue is the easiest to check. As of September 2026, anyone visiting shortmax.com gets sent to shorttv.live through a permanent 301 redirect. The same dramas the app streams can be browsed on the destination site on the web. No part of a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Because companies normally point a domain only at property they control, the redirect connects both names to one operator. Although nobody has written it down in a press release, this is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

Fifth Clue: The Copyright Notice

The last piece of evidence is a footer. Copyright notices tend to name the entity that actually owns the content and the site. The line „© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED“ shows up on a ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site. The pattern is hard to read any other way once this is taken together with the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect. The rename should still be treated by careful readers as likely but unconfirmed. The company may describe its brands differently in the future, and an official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax could not be found.

Who Is Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

The company behind the ShortTV name is Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer. Jiuzhou launched two overseas apps, per a January 2024 report in China Daily: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. The same report said Jiuzhou had produced more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. Of those, about 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, while the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. According to the company’s figures, the cost of a 70-episode short series ran $100,000 to $150,000. Both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals appear in the catalog, and that mix explains it. Today, ShortMax’s own listing claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, but that company figure has not been independently audited. Treat those numbers as a snapshot rather than a current tally, since they date from early 2024. This studio is linked to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today through the ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED.

The Trouble With Look-Alike Apps

Here the case gets messier, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. None of the several unrelated developers who publish apps with nearly identical titles is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. Any one of these can easily get installed instead by someone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team. Only the developer field, which most people never read, shows the differences. Developer names as recorded in the store listings are listed in the table as of September 2026. The real ID is the developer name, not the icon or title.

How Much It Costs

Pricing follows the ShortMax listing, because ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product. In the US App Store as of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro is listed at about $19.99 per week, and a cheaper tier comes in at about $9.99. Single purchases range from about $3.49 to $24.99, and prices vary by country, platform and promotion. We could not verify monthly or yearly plans, as the US store shows only weekly passes. The terms state passes renew automatically 24 hours before they expire, and refunds are refused unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. App Store reviewers also complain about episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. The developer’s own responses on Google Play admit that its „free trial“ wording confused some users. Deleting the app does not stop the billing; cancellation happens in the App Store or Google Play subscription settings.

Before Installing: A Quick Checklist

In less than a minute, a few checks head off most mix-ups. You want to confirm that you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike. It also helps you spot the pricing traps before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish. A site that offers modded versions or „unlimited coins“ is offering something unofficial and risky, so stay away from it. Only the store page itself is needed; none of these steps requires special tools. Before you tap install, run through the list below.

1. Verify the developer or seller shows SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Check that the Google Play install count shows 100M+.
3. To see current weekly pass prices in your country, check the in-app purchase list.
4. Keep in mind that passes keep renewing automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. However similar the title, skip any app whose developer name matches none of the above.