The 3 phases of Tik Tok’s growth that made it China’s top short-video app

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Toutiao’s Tik Tok (aka Douyin) is an impressive product: developed in 200 days, got 100 million users in one year, and has 1 billion+ videos being viewed every day.

How did a team of eight achieve such results in 500 days? Let’s look into it.

What is Tik Tok?

It is a short-video app with powerful editing capabilities. It enables users to add music and effects to their videos in order to make them more interesting/creative.

Why do all of these effects matter? Creating interesting video or audio content is remarkably difficult, so providing tools to make the content richer and funnier is incredibly valuable.

Another game-changing aspect of the app is its interface: While competitors like Kuaishou require users to click on videos, Tik Tok has a more convenient and addictive “swipe” interface (similar to Musical.ly and Tinder).

Competitive landscape

The short videos market in China is nothing new (some of the entrants started as early as 2011). So, who did Tik Tok have to beat in order to make its way to the top?

• Kuaishou (快手)
• Miaopai (秒拍)
• Haokan Shepin (好看视频)

Kaishou is mostly present in the tier three and four cities in China. Its content consists mostly of users showing off wealth or “flirty” behavior.

This is quite different from Tik Tok’s positioning. Most of its users are in the tier one or two cities and are young (often below 24 years old). The app’s content is often fun and quirky, appealing to a more educated audience.

Miaopai appears as a weaker contender because it mostly relies on Weibo. Haokan Shepin is a new entrant, which still has to prove its capability.

The phases of Tik Tok’s growth

Phase 1

Conclusion