From Douyin to Kuaishou: A visual look at China’s hottest short video apps

China loves short video apps. And now there's another one for people to play with.

Tencent has launched a new app named Yoo Video, which is available to test right now on iOS and Android in China.

This isn’t Tencent’s first attempt to get a share of a fast-growing market that has some 600 million short video app users, according to the China Internet Report 2018. The company’s Weishi app was once popular in China. But in recent years, it’s been losing users to Kuaishou and Douyin (known as Tik Tok overseas). The two apps are dominant, but also quite different in their approaches.

Both Douyin and Kuaishou are more popular with women than men. Douyin users are generally younger, while Kuaishou users spend more time on the app. And interestingly, which app you prefer can depend on where you live. People in 1st and 2nd-tier Chinese cities (the big ones, like Beijing and Shanghai) prefer Douyin, while in the lower tier cities (like Urumqi or Zhuhai) they prefer Kuaishou.

Douyin is owned by Bytedance, the online content giant that owns news app giant Toutiao as well as two other short video apps: Vigo, also known as Huoshan (which means volcano in Chinese) and Xigua (which translates as watermelon).

Kuaishou’s backers include Tencent and Baidu.

The competition is tough. So how is Tencent’s Yoo trying to set itself apart? For starter, their videos are longer, ranging from 1.5 to 5 minutes. A channel called “Yoo Track” also lets users vote for their favorite posters in categories like singing and fashion style.