I am fascinated by Indian users and their intrinsic need for short-video entertainment that they will download any new app that promises that. Apparently, some people are ”trending” an app called Profoundly. I have no idea about this app yet.

If you go down the rabbit hole, the last few weeks have been about finding local alternatives to TikTok. There's a serious push happening towards Roposo. Not so much from a product/UX or any other perspective, but just sticking it to China. Then, Mitron. And now, ”Chingari”.

The Chinese came in and created a massive market for short-video. Some folks will contend that it was always there, latent. But they came here, essentially trying to replicate behaviour in China, and it took off and became its own category. Now, I’m guessing it’s hard to stop.

I’m also guessing you will see at least one app a day attempt whats TikTok has done. There’s definitely a need, in a market starved for that sort of content/short videos. Now it’s about filling that need. But TikTok also grew on the back of creators, not merely product/UX/algo.

This is probably the gap that these Indian me-too companies need to identify and fill. Bring quirky creators on to their platform, and with that users will follow. Instagram is primed to gain from TikTok being blocked. Increasingly, an overlap of audience + potential to grow.

It would be interesting to see how these Indian apps mushrooming overnight or even the likes of ShareChat or Roposo (originally started as a social network for influencers, IIRC) cash in on this and become viable alternatives.

Also curious to see how they manage cost now. TikTok was burning tons of money (a few million dollars/month as per sources) to build that creator ecosystem and of course, drive app installs through ads on FB/Goog. Can the local apps spend big? Not sure.

But word of mouth seems to be working (at least in Roposo, Mitron and Chingari’s case), given that the online right-wing has propped it up as the local alternative to TikTok. Curious to see how these apps grow in the coming weeks and months.

But keep your eyes on Instagram, could take off big time. The direct beneficiary of TikTok not being around is Instagram. A lot of popular “TikTokers” have a wild following on Instagram (usually because of early contracts that demanded they cross post stuff on Instagram).

I would also not be surprised if Facebook unleashes its Lasso app in India in the coming weeks. Perfect time to acquire creators/influencers to that platform and grow from scratch, due to TT’s absence. FB (the blue app) is more or less ubiquitous.

Another day, another short video app. This time from the Zee5 stable. It’s called HiPi, apparently.

This is 100% coming soon to India. Probably a good bet for Instagram to take on the void left by TikTok and Likee. Either way, these creators have built a good following on Instagram over the last 2 years. Also, deeply-pocketed. Can also spend big on re-creating this ecosystem. https://twitter.com/wristf00l/status/1278245315502456838

Another app — BoxEngage it seems. It gets better, because this app claims to be AI-backed.

Good question to ask is, how are people discovering some of these apps? BoxEngage claims to use stand up comics, body builders, fitness types as influencers

Moj by ShareChat. The list of TikTok clones grows... https://entrackr.com/2020/07/sharechat-launches-short-video-app-moj/

Flipkart has an offering called 2GudSocial — "video commerce" offering primarily for Tier 3-4 and beyond (at least seemingly). Will likely compete with live-comm apps like SimSim & BulBul. Most items (new & refurbished) there are priced between ₹249 & ₹999 (except electronics)

Now the big question is, which among these apps onboards the really big TikTok creators and influencers on board? What was once a market consolidated by 2 big short-video players — TikTok and Likee, could be significantly fragmented. No one 200m users app but 5-6 30m user apps.

Which is where, as I said earlier in this , Instagram has the advantage of sorts. TikTok already did the job for them. Creators became popular in both platforms, brought their fans from TikTok to Instagram.