ByteDance’s short-video app Douyin (marketed as TikTok overseas), has reported over 400 million daily active users (DAUs) in China as of January, marking a 60% year-on-year growth, according to a report released by the company on Monday.
Douyin has managed to capture 80 million additional active users during the six month period comprehended from July 2019, when reported 320 million DAUs, to January 2020. The app experienced an even more vertiginous rise in the year, going from 250 million DAUs in January 2018 to over 400 million now.
“Achieving a DAU mark of 400 million is a new start,” said Douyin’s CEO Zhang Nan. “Douyin will continue to be used as a documenting and sharing platform, like a video version of Wikipedia”, Zhang added.
Bytedance also revealed additional data about users’ behaviors. About 460,000 users have recorded moments of family gatherings on Douyin, and over 3 million parents-and-kids videos are uploaded every day. Post-00’s users shoot and predilect videos that are mostly ACG-centric (Anime, Comics, and Games), while post-90’s users enjoy scenery and lifestyle videos, and post-60’s mainly appreciate dancing and wedding videos.
In 2019, over 14.89 million educational videos were uploaded into the platform, including cooking tutorials, language learning, and vocational training, among others. Every clip reached nearly 100,000 users on average, said the firm.
Besides, 460,000 families record moments of family gatherings on Douyin and more than 3,080,000 parent-and-kid videos are uploaded every day.
On the other hand, Douyin’s arch-rival in the short-video sector, Kuaishou, is spending big on marketing to reach a 300 million DAU goal, up from the current 200 million DAUs, by the first semester of 2020. The firm forged an exclusive partnership deal with China Central Television (CCTV) over the latter’s iconic annual Spring Festival Gala, and is planning to dole out a record-high RMB 1 billion (USD 143 million) via digital “red packets,” to its users, KrASIA reported.
In 2018, Douyin and Kuaishou both booked annual revenues of over RMB 20 billion, mainly from in-feed ads and live-streaming, respectively. According to a Jiemian report, in 2019, Douyin’s targeted revenue was RMB 50 billion while Kuaishou, backed by Tencent, aimed RMB 35 billion.
Per research firm Analysys, as of November, monthly active users (MAUs) of short video apps in China had surpassed 878 million. Top player Douyin reported 530 million MAUs, followed by Kuaishou with 425 million MAUs. ByteDance’s Xigua Video and Huoshan Video each claimed over 400 million MAUs.
A 36Kr report showed that, as of May 2019, Douyin and Kuaishou have 46.5% of their users overlapped, compared with 18.7% in 2018.
Douyin’s parent company ByteDance was valued at around USD 75 billion in 2018, and the company is reportedly planning an initial public offering in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2020.