(Yicai) Nov. 14 -- Shares of COL Digital Publishing Group have more than doubled this month as the Chinese online publisher's overseas app ReelShort has become increasingly popular in the United States.

COL [SHE: 300364] closed up 9.4 percent at CNY30.30 (USD4.15) today. The stock has soared 115 percent since the beginning of November, hitting the highest since January 2016 yesterday.

ReelShort ranked below 400th in the free app list for iPhones on the US version of Apple's App Store on Nov. 1, according to data from analytics platform Qimai. As of today, ReelShort ranks third in the most popular free apps and games list, second in the most popular free apps list, and first in the most popular entertainment apps list for iPhones on the US App Store.

In July, ReelShort was downloaded 1.9 million times on Google Play and App Store, data from Sensor Tower showed.

Launched in August last year, ReelShort is a high-definition short-play platform developed and operated by COL's overseas unit Crazy Maple Studio. Fated To My Forbidden Alpha and Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress, two hit short plays introduced on ReelShort this year, were the most popular content on the app, driving ReelShort's downloads.

ReelShort streams short plays characterized by short running time, low production costs, many episodes, and filming periods of less than a week. All these features enable a short business verification period and high return efficiency.

A short play series generally comprises 80 to 100 episodes, each one to two minutes long. To attract viewers, these series are usually very dramatic and feature many plot twists and powerful climaxes.

Crazy Maple covered almost all three categories of intellectual property tie-ins -- short play, online novel, and interactive fiction -- with the products it has rolled out so far, COL said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Nov. 6. With the help market channels and user profiles COL accumulated over the years, Crazy Maple managed to promote new contents in a targeted manner, the parent firm added.

COL began to explore the medium and long play categories in 2020, launching various product forms, including membership series which profits are shared between streaming platforms and producers, mini-program short series, and interactive short series

COL's revenue from paid mini-program short series exceeded CNY300 million (USD41.1 million) last year.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione