TikTok’s monthly active users (MAU) grew nearly 2X from 85
million in June 2018 to 167 million in June 2020 while its daily active users
were 75 million before the ban.
Chinese short video app TikTok, which had a share of 85-90
per cent of total monthly time spent by Indians on short-form content in June 2020
but was banned on June 29 along with other 58 Chinese apps, has lost around 40
per cent share to Indian short-form apps in October 2020. From 4-6 per cent
share of around 165 billion minutes (275 hours) spent by Indians on short-form
apps in June 2020, Indian apps such as Josh by Dailyhunt, MX TakaTak, Roposo,
Moj Mitron, Trell, and Chingari expanded their share to around 67 per cent,
roughly translating to 55 billion minutes (91 hours), in October, according to
a recent RedSeer report. Importantly, overall time spent post-TikTok ban was
reduced by more than 50 per cent from 165 billion minutes to around 80 billion
minutes (133 hours) indicating many users are not willing to shift from TikTok
to other short-form apps.
Lack of quality content, lesser number of posts, lesser
tools for content creation were among the reasons for users to switch, as per
the report launched earlier this month. TikTok’s monthly active users (MAU)
grew nearly 2X from 85 million in June 2018 to 167 million in June 2020 while its
daily active users were 75 million. The short-form content apps saw a decline
in monthly time spent by users to just 37 billion minutes in July 2020.
However, it has bottomed out since then and has scaled back to 95 billion
minutes till early December. Among Indian apps, based on a survey of 8,071
respondents, Josh, MX TakaTak, and Roposo had over 25 per cent awareness among
users, RedSeer added. Awareness included top of the mind recall, aided and
unaided awareness.
“As Indian players innovate to offer fresh quality content
every day, short-form engagement is expected to resurge back to Jan and grow
more than 4X in next 5 yrs. However, the questions still remain on the
monetization front for the players and potential change in dynamics if the ban
on TikTok is lifted,” said Anil Kumar, Founder and CEO, RedSeer.
The short-form content penetration currently is around 45
per cent of around 600 million internet users in India, translating into around
275 million users accessing short-form content on the back of shorter attention
spans of millennials and GenZ, increased visibility for creators, need for
entertainment, and vast vernacular libraries, according to the report. The
current retention rate of the segment is around 65 per cent with around 180
million MAUs. The user base is likely to increase to 580 million users and
around 430 million MAUs by FY25.
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