Chinese startup ByteDance, world's largest unicorn company with a valuation of 84 trillion won

Leap to a global platform capturing the MZ generation

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 1

IT trends are accelerating as fast as recent fashion trends.

In these days when platform companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook are sweeping the global business, these companies have been growing rapidly, pushing aside traditional companies that have dominated the market capitalization for the past decades.

Their technology is based on digital and networks to connect producers and consumers, with platform business being their main business model. Their platform businesses are leading the 21st-century cutting-edge industries and are waging a borderless war.

Among the platform companies waging a borderless war, China's startup ByteDance stands out. ByteDance offers TikTok, which has the function of creating and sharing 15-second short videos.

TikTok is a social networking service (SNS) app provided by the Chinese company ByteDance, offering the function of creating and sharing 15-second short videos. It is especially popular among the younger generation, aged 10-20, who are more accustomed to video communication than text. The short length of the videos allows for quick engagement through dance, song, or fun and entertaining content. It offers an editing function that allows for easy video creation using various music, background images, and emoticons, and registration or distribution is simpler compared to similar video-sharing apps like YouTube.

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 2 — Source ByteDance website

TikTok, first introduced in September 2016, expanded its market to North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East after acquiring the American lip-sync app Musical.ly in 2017, and by late 2018, it was the most downloaded app in the United States.

By 2019, it had been downloaded more than one billion times outside of China, gaining worldwide popularity. The operating company ByteDance was valued at 75 billion dollars (approximately 84.8 trillion won) in 2018, surpassing US Uber to become the world's largest unicorn company.

TikTok captures the MZ generation

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 3 — Source TikTok

Chinese platform companies are emerging as global players beyond the continent. TikTok, a short video app introduced by ByteDance, is often mentioned, and The New York Times reported that "the digital iron curtain is being lifted by TikTok," and "Americans are living in a world influenced by a Chinese SNS platform for the first time."

The success of TikTok was due to a strategy that specifically targeted the MZ generation, the main consumers of digital content.

The MZ generation refers to the Millennials born in the early 1980s to early 2000s and Generation Z born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s. They are familiar with the digital environment and are known for seeking the latest trends and unique experiences different from others.

Particularly, TikTok is highly praised because it has succeeded in entering foreign markets, a challenge even for large IT corporations like Alibaba and Tencent. Above all, it is recognized for pioneering a new market with the 15-second short video format, which did not exist before.

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 4 — Source ByteDance website

Easy to use, attractive PR

Even a self-proclaimed digital illiterate reporter only took 2 minutes to download the TikTok app and upload a video. First, download the TikTok app on your smartphone, sign up, and then upload the video.

Signing up is possible with a phone number or email, KakaoTalk, Google, or Facebook. TikTok allows up to 60 seconds of video recording and includes various special effects and music. Existing videos can also be uploaded and edited.

It is relatively easy to use, so anyone can quickly learn how to use it by just installing the app. The videos created can be shared through the share function to other platforms. It is similar to YouTube but features easier and more convenient editing functions.

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 5 — Source TikTok

For this reason, recently, individuals or companies have been using short promotional videos or challenges, utilizing appropriate hashtags for each brand for PR purposes.

Unlike other platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, TikTok uses a feature that automatically selects and recommends content just for you, so if you like the recommended content, you can press the heart, comment, share, and other actions, and the AI continuously recommends similar videos. Even if you're not following someone, you can enjoy a large number of interesting snack videos.

By swiping up on the screen, you can enjoy numerous similar contents that you have viewed.

An industry insider said, "Since the videos on TikTok are short, there are many content focused on fun, and various content such as simple cooking, dance, and music are being shared widely. 'TikTokers' within TikTok are currently producing a vast amount of content."

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 6 — Source ByteDance website

Furthermore, “TikTok is continuously evolving, allowing TikTokers to generate revenue from live-streaming videos, thus preparing to leap as a business platform,” was added.

National Vlog revolutionized by TikTok and Bilibili

The short-form video platform Bilibili, gaining popularity in China like TikTok. Bilibili is gathering popularity among Generation Z to the extent that it's called 'China's YouTube'.

Bilibili is globally influential as a Chinese video platform, being listed on the US NASDAQ. Last April, the Japanese electronics company Sony announced a strategic investment of $400 million, marking it as a highly discussed topic within the global financial industry for its promising potential.

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 7

Bilibili, which was not initially noticed after its launch in June 2009, started gaining attention from 2016 due to the success of its video streaming business. It differentiated itself by focusing on content around non-mainstream cultures such as animation, comics, games, and novels.

Year	2018	2019	First half of 2020
Monthly Active Users	731 million	823 million	852 million

Monthly Active Users of China's Short Clip from 2018-2020 (Data from QuestMobile)

Since then, Bilibili has been popular in the industry, successfully going public on NASDAQ in March 2018 and has continued to see an increase in revenue every year. The number of subscribers is also growing significantly.

As of the first half of last year, the number of mobile monthly active users (MAU) increased by 55% year-over-year to 172 million, and it is expected to surpass 200 million in the third quarter. The number of average monthly paying users also skyrocketed by 105% year-over-year to 12.9 million.

Through short-form platforms like TikTok and Bilibili, vlogging has become a nationwide phenomenon in China. A Vlog (Video Blog) refers to producing videos of one's daily life instead of text or images and uploading them to SNS or platforms, focusing less on specific topics.

Year	2018	2019	First half of 2020
Number of Users	126 million	249 million	488 million

Size of China's Vlog Market (Data from iiMedia Research)

According to the China Internet Development Situation Statistical Report published by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) on August 30, 2020, among the total internet users of 900 million in the first half of 2020 in China, the highest user rate was for short clips, such as Vlogs.

The short-clip market has rapidly grown since 2018 and has entered a stabilization phase, with monthly active users reaching about 850 million as of the first half of this year.

The size of China's Vlog market was about 249 million users in 2019, nearly doubling compared to the previous year. The projected market size for 2020 is about 488 million users, nearly twice as much as in 2019.

According to a survey conducted by DT Finance, a commercial big data analysis subsidiary founded by Alibaba and First Financial, among users aged 16 to 35, about 83% have experienced shooting videos in their daily lives, and the age distribution is also even.

In April 2020, TikTok launched the '1 Billion Vlog Support Program', encouraging the creation and support of excellent Vlog works and creators, thus leading to the continuous emergence of various Vlog videos.

Short videos overtake US Uber with #TikTok | 8 — Source ByteDance website

The support from related platforms, the increased demand for viewing due to the effects of COVID-19, and other reasons have led to a continuous increase in users who professionally upload Vlogs. The increase in uploaders and viewers naturally leads to a higher demand for video quality, and accordingly, the demand for video recording products, especially those offering higher resolution and stabilization, is also increasing.