趣头条推出短视频应用“球球视频” – Late Post
What happened: Qutoutiao has launched a short video app named “Qiuqiu Video,” which appears to be available for Android devices, media outlet Late Post reported. The team for the short video project was formed late last year and rolled out the first version of the app around Spring Festival in early February. According to the report, the app currently has “several million” daily active users. This is the second officially launched product for Qutoutiao, which has attracted funding from Tencent as well as a recent $171 million investment from Alibaba in late March.
Why it’s important: Qutoutiao revenues and monthly active users (MAU) skyrocketed in 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, but sales and marketing expenses surged alongside. The foray into the short video market could be an effort to monetize and offset mounting losses. However, the short video landscape is already dominated by Douyin and Kuaishou, each vying for a larger share of the market. Most recently, Kuaishou’s two co-founders announced their goal of reaching 300 million daily active users (DAU) before the Spring Festival holiday in late January next year. The DAU goal prompted a shift in working hours to 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the company, according to the Late Post.