TikTok or Tick, Tock? China’s short video craze may be on the wane

TikTok

Remember when TikTok’s Chinese sibling, Douyin, and other platforms like Kuaishou and WeChat dominated screens across China? Well, those days might be coming to an end. For the first time, the number of users on these short video platforms has dropped—and not just by a little. Between December 2023 and mid-2024, the user base fell from 1.35 billion to 1.05 billion, as per a report published on The South China Morning Post. That’s a staggering loss of 300 million users in just six months.

It’s a surprising twist, especially considering how short videos exploded in popularity over the past few years. From 2018 to 2023, platforms like Douyin saw their user numbers skyrocket from 648 million to over a billion. It wasn’t just about the numbers–these apps were minting money through ads, live streaming, and e-commerce. But as the user base grew, the pace slowed. Growth rates dropped from a brisk 19% annually to a mere 4%. Now, it seems the market has hit its limit.

Analyst Ma Shicong from Analysys has told The South China Morning Post that this slowdown was bound to happen. “We’ve reached a ceiling,” Ma said. “The industry needs to evolve to stay relevant.” And evolve it has. Platforms are now exploring niche areas like short dramas, AI-powered video creation, and group live streaming to keep users hooked.

And speaking of change, the audience is shifting too. Teenagers (ages 10 to 19) now make up 15.2% of users, up from 13.2% in 2021. Older users, those over 50, are also increasing, climbing from 27.4% to 29.8%. Meanwhile, the 20-to-49 crowd—once the core audience—is either stagnant or shrinking.