AI helps popularize China's mini music video app overseas
ByteDance, parent firm of Toutiao and Douyin (Tik Tok), said 20 percent of total users are coming from overseas markets, Shanghai Daily learned Friday.
The booming overseas market is fueled by the company’s overseas expansion and advanced technologies like AI, or artificial intelligence, Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of ByteDance said.
Tech unicorn firm ByteDance, one of the most valuable digital media platforms in China, has expanded into 150 counties and regions since 2015. Now the overseas user base accounts for 20 percent of its total.
Tik Tok alone has more than 100 million overseas users, the company said. The mini-music-video social network was the most downloaded iOS application globally in the first quarter of 2018.
Its applications, including Tik Tok, musical.ly and News Republic, attract overseas users through AI technologies, Zhang said.
Tik Tok was temporarily banned in Indonesia at the beginning of this month because of “improper content." Regulators have since lifted the ban following discussions with the app's creators.
The company today also denied a report saying that it’s seeking an initial pubic offering in Hong Kong, calling that speculation nothing more than “rumors."
In China the short-video industry, with top players Kuaishou and Douyin, has so far attracted 202 million users nationwide, a figure that will likely hit 512 million by 2020, according to researcher China Insights.
Tik Tok is used in a wedding ceremony.
