Short video app Douyin has launched a campaign on Thursday to promote vlogging, increasing the video time limit for all users to one minute from 15 seconds to support the program.
Guidelines for the program, which bears a name that translates into “One-Billion-Views Vlog Support Program,” says that any users who post original video blogs of longer than 30 seconds can participate in the first season of the program themed, “#vlog travel,” by using the hashtag. The program will have three more seasons, but further details are not yet available.
The first season of the vlog campaign will last from April 25 to May 8 and up to 60 winners will be announced on May 13. Prizes include boosts that give content creators more traffic, special “vlogger” certifications, and priority access to ad partnerships.
Douyin will grant the platform boosts to winners in two stages in the form of “traffic packages” of 1 million to 2.5 million views, awarding a total of one billion views. The first stage is open to all Douyin users and rewards up to 240 content creators during the four seasons of the program with a total of 500 million views. The second stage rewards first stage winners that continue producing high-quality, high view-count vlogs four weeks after each season is over with the remaining 500 million views.
Content creators who don’t qualify for the prizes can also receive traffic rewards if they are identified as high-quality vloggers within six months of the campaign conclusion.
The program also features tutorials from established vloggers on Douyin. One such tutorial is posted by a travel vlogger who goes by the handle “itsRae” and has more than 9.5 million followers. A recent graduate from New York University, she posts vlogs about her travel around the globe. “First, you should choose a theme for the destination of your trip. For Iceland, the theme could be ‘seeking beauty at the edge of the world’, and for Tibet, it could be something that’s related to challenging yourself,” she advises.
Prior to the campaign, only users with more than 1,000 followers on Douyin could upload videos that exceed 15 seconds and last up to one minute. The platform also enabled some users with large followings to post videos of up to three minutes last month.
Vlogs, or video blogs, are a developed medium outside of China on platforms such as YouTube, though it is still in its early stages of development in China. Platforms such as anime-theme video website BiliBili has been testing programs to support vlogs for a while, and Baidu’s short video platform “Haokan Video” recently announced a pivot to vlogs, according to reports from media outlet Jiemian.