In November of 2017, Bytedance acquired Musical.ly for $1 billion. In August of 2018, Bytedance officially rebranded Musical.ly and TikTok into one app. Shortly after, ByteDance raised $3 billion and was valued at ~$75 billion. Analysts estimate its 2019 revenue was anywhere from
Agree that TikTok’s editing tools are leaps and bounds ahead of any video app I’ve seen, it’s so easy to be creative there. The top YouTubers pay serious $ for top-tier editors, some of which have built their own brands from doing this (eg TeaWap has 750k subs). Excited to see more product investments here, especially in longer form video. Quibi has no chance to compete with them imo, even with a Hollywood budget.
Re: education, I’ve done a bit of digging into their investments here. They’re experimenting with 1:1 (GoGoKid as mentioned), small class size (mzreading.com) and large class size (daliketang.com). They each have their challenges: 1:1 hasn’t been very profitable, large class size doesn’t scale well for student experience, and small class size has pain points around teacher hiring/training at scale. Curious to learn what they do next here.
Its interesting they've put so many resources into education initiatives. There's lots of opportunity, especially outside of developed markets. I didn't know about mzreading or daliketang - good finds!
TikTok has shown that by building a recommendation system that surfaces the best content globally rather than within your local graph, they can 1. entertain users for longer than anyone else and 2. help (good/new) creators get unmatched distribution.
By deprioritizing the social graph though, the views, likes, and other traditional metrics for creators are much higher variance - what do you think are the implications of this on creator monetization? E.g., influencer marketing is not going to work on TikTok the same way it does on IG
HiTurner, thanks for the deep analysis! It is so great to finally see an article on TikTok and Toutiao from more well-rounded perspectives. What's your opinion on the similarities and differences between Mark Zuckerberg and Zhang Yiming? The Chinese media compares them quite often but I have not yet seen the Western media describes it that way.
Welcome to Bloom Infinity, where passion meets purpose! I am an avid explorer of life's kaleidoscope, driven by curiosity and fueled by creativity. A harmonious blend of resilience and optimism, I navigate challenges with a spirit that seeks growth and embraces change. As an enthusiast of innovation, I weave ideas into narratives, fostering a landscape where imagination blossoms into reality. Join me on this journey of endless possibilities, where every moment is a canvas waiting to be painted with the vibrant hues of passion, purpose, and boundless potential. Together, let's cultivate a garden of dreams in the vast expanse of Bloom Infinity.
Love this deep dive - learned a lot.
Agree that TikTok’s editing tools are leaps and bounds ahead of any video app I’ve seen, it’s so easy to be creative there. The top YouTubers pay serious $ for top-tier editors, some of which have built their own brands from doing this (eg TeaWap has 750k subs). Excited to see more product investments here, especially in longer form video. Quibi has no chance to compete with them imo, even with a Hollywood budget.
Re: education, I’ve done a bit of digging into their investments here. They’re experimenting with 1:1 (GoGoKid as mentioned), small class size (mzreading.com) and large class size (daliketang.com). They each have their challenges: 1:1 hasn’t been very profitable, large class size doesn’t scale well for student experience, and small class size has pain points around teacher hiring/training at scale. Curious to learn what they do next here.
Its interesting they've put so many resources into education initiatives. There's lots of opportunity, especially outside of developed markets. I didn't know about mzreading or daliketang - good finds!
Would love to be education sector.. its my dream..waiting to see such 1:1 products
1 billion MAU, NOT DAU, please double check it~
The source I linked to says 1 billion DAU's
lol
Awesome summary Turner!
TikTok has shown that by building a recommendation system that surfaces the best content globally rather than within your local graph, they can 1. entertain users for longer than anyone else and 2. help (good/new) creators get unmatched distribution.
By deprioritizing the social graph though, the views, likes, and other traditional metrics for creators are much higher variance - what do you think are the implications of this on creator monetization? E.g., influencer marketing is not going to work on TikTok the same way it does on IG
Thanks Neal!
Can we trust the numbers of DAU given by tiktok, or is it another scam like Luckin coffee!
Its possible!
HiTurner, thanks for the deep analysis! It is so great to finally see an article on TikTok and Toutiao from more well-rounded perspectives. What's your opinion on the similarities and differences between Mark Zuckerberg and Zhang Yiming? The Chinese media compares them quite often but I have not yet seen the Western media describes it that way.
this is such a good piece of writing. thank you!
Awesome deep dive about Tik Tok! The research you've done is really impressive!!!
One of the best TikTok deep dives I have read. Great writing and analysis. Thank you.
Super nice info.
Thank you for putting this together.
You're welcome Niel!
Amazing Deep Dive! Thank you!
Thanks Simon!
This is great analysis... well researched and presented... could be an oped any day
Thank you Udit!
This is awesome - thank you for writing and posting!
Thanks for reading!
Welcome to Bloom Infinity, where passion meets purpose! I am an avid explorer of life's kaleidoscope, driven by curiosity and fueled by creativity. A harmonious blend of resilience and optimism, I navigate challenges with a spirit that seeks growth and embraces change. As an enthusiast of innovation, I weave ideas into narratives, fostering a landscape where imagination blossoms into reality. Join me on this journey of endless possibilities, where every moment is a canvas waiting to be painted with the vibrant hues of passion, purpose, and boundless potential. Together, let's cultivate a garden of dreams in the vast expanse of Bloom Infinity.
https://bloominfinityinc.com/
nice work
https://binarychemist.com/
nice work
https://binarychemist.com/