Short-video platform Tik Tok tests longer-form content as rivalry with Tencent-backed apps heats up
- Operated by ByteDance, Tik Tok has enabled the creation of lengthier video clips through an upgrade that is available to Android smartphone users in China
Tik Tok, the popular short-video platform known as Douyin in mainland China, has started testing longer-form content of more than two minutes among domestic users, as it faces increased competition from apps backed by internet giant Tencent Holdings.
The new feature to create longer videos, compared with the typical 15-second clips carried on the platform, has been made available on the app’s latest upgrade for Android smartphone users on the mainland, according to a report from Chinese tech news site 36Kr.com.
A representative of Tik Tok confirmed the local testing on Friday, but did not elaborate on the maximum length of a video created with the latest upgrade.
Before that software update, a number of Tik Tok users with exemplary content have been given the privilege of uploading online video clips of up to 59 seconds long, while most users are confined to the 15-second format.
The tests being conducted by Tik Tok, which is operated by Beijing-based ByteDance, have come amid rising competition from a series of new video apps released this year by Hong Kong-listed Tencent, operator of the ubiquitous mobile messaging, social media, gaming and payments platform WeChat.
Those new video apps, with names such as Weishi and Yoo, were released by Tencent in a bid to catch up with Tik Tok in the booming short video market, in which the “stickiness” of apps with consumers is all-important. Tencent is also the backer of short video and live-streaming app Kuaishou, known as Kwai outside China.