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Tencent merges video platforms to sharpen competition with TikTok owner ByteDance
- Long-form video platform Tencent Video and short video service Weishi will be combined into a new operation
- The new online video operation will form part of Tencent’s platform and content group
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Internet giant Tencent Holdings is merging its two video platforms in a major reorganisation to buttress its efforts against ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Tencent Video, the company’s long-form video platform, and short video service Weishi are being combined into a new online video operation under the Hong Kong-listed firm’s platform and content group (PCG), one of its six business units.
Shenzhen-based Tencent, which runs the world’s largest video games business and China’s biggest social media app WeChat, confirmed the restructuring on Thursday. The merger was initially reported by Chinese technology media LatePost earlier in the day.
The new online video unit, which carries professionally produced content such as television dramas, will coexist with the WeChat Channels service, a short video feature on super app WeChat that is quickly gaining users. Allen Zhang Xiaolong, who runs the WeChat group, had earlier said the number of WeChat Channels users reached 200 million in the six months after it was launched.
Under the reorganisation, Tencent vice-president Sun Zhonghuai was named as chief executive of the new video unit. He is in charge of content, operations and memberships. Another company vice-president, Lin Songtao, will serve as the unit’s president for product and technology. The two executives will report to Tencent chief operating officer Mark Ren Yuxin.
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