Indian short-video apps tap 97% of TikTok user base

BENGALURU: Indian short-video making apps like Josh, Moj, MX Takatak and Roposo have brought back 97 per cent of TikTok user base in the country onto their platforms, largely from small cities and towns, a new report showed on Thursday.

Indian short-form apps have also successfully retained 67 per cent of the TikTok era users and have onboarded around 30-35 per cent new users over the past year. This has been a result of increased supplier push and aggressive marketing by platforms, according to the latest report by Bengaluru-based RedSeer Consulting.

"Daily active users (DAUs) increased upto 97 per cent of June 2020 levels as a result of aggressive marketing and user acquisition by platforms. However, the time spent on the other hand has gradually increased, reaching 55 per cent of June 2020 levels," the report mentioned.

Josh leads both on influencer and user-end driven by strong performance in the Hindi belt and Tier-2+ cities. Moj, has been a strong gainer across consumer and business metrics, when compared to the last quarter.

"On the other hand, Roposo has shown strong performance in Tier-1 cities compared to the smaller ones," said the report. MX Takatak lead in the net promoter score (NPS) in the metro cities. The platform has held challenges and hashtag events similar to TikTok, to gain market share.

Overall, 60-62 per cent of the shortform users are from tier 2+ cities. While Indian platforms have come a long way in the last few months, they have more scope to improve their content quality and product experience. The study shows that 75 per cent current short-form video users will likely stick to these domestic apps and are unlikely to switch back to Chinese apps even if the ban was lifted. "In less than one year post-Tik Tok ban, Indian platforms have shown a strong V-shaped recovery, bouncing back to 100 per cent of pre ban daily user base," said Ujjwal Chadhury, associate partner at RedSeer Consulting.

But the job is far from done. "The players still have to reach the global and cross sector benchmarks on engagement and retention- which will further grow the monetisation potential for the entire ecosystem," Chadhury added. (IANS)

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