After the ban on the Chinese app, many options jumped and many big people in the house grabbed a part of the market. People with deep pockets and videos and more experience with social media were likely to win. Even some unicorns emerged. But success in downloading and earning instead of users will decide the real winners.
Last year, this time India banned the Chinese short-form video app TikTok following a summer of cross-border tensions between the two countries. Overnight, the user appears to set short-form video sets to find viral pieces of music or audio in the market. But practically the very next day, a flurry of TikTok options emerged-Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, MX TakaTak, Josh, Moj, Roposo, Mitron, Trell, Chingri, and many others. The growth of these new apps created twice the problem- one, former Tiktok stars and their audiences were divided between many apps, and two, the new apps have not yet matched the technology.
How has the situation changed since then?
Slow, unexpected ways to make a recovery
According to data from research firm PGA Labs, short-video apps had 210,000,000 monthly active users in India on the eve of Tiktok’s ban. By March this year, the industry was able to reach 205,000,00 monthly active users, the firm said in a report.
But the top four or five apps rapidly capitalized on the swine left by TikTok. Before the ban, TikTok had taken 85%-90% of the total monthly time spent by Indians on short-form content in June 2020. Research firm Raider had said in a report that the Chinese app lost nearly 40% of its share after restricting Indian players. Compared to the 4%-6% share in June, home-grown apps like Josh, MX Takatak, Roposo, Moz, Mitron, Trail, and Chingri expanded their share in total by about 5,500 minutes (91 hours) by October 2020.
A market that made new fortunes
A year ago it was difficult to predict who would come out on top among the new short-video apps that launched or revived themselves for the Indian market. People with deep pockets and videos and more experience with social media were likely to win. We wrote last year why Instagram was in the best position to become a reels leader which was once ticking.
The bottom line
In the first post-TikTok year for India, according to App Annie’s data, the Chinese app is still one of the largest, most downloaded, most used apps, and most prominent markets worldwide. The US is its largest user base, with more than 65 million monthly active users.
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