Short video platform Kuaishou recently resumed overseas expansion efforts with its international version, “Kwai,” quickly seeing results with daily active users in Brazil jumping to more than three million, media outlet Jiemian reported.
Why it matters: As the domestic short video landscape becomes increasingly saturated, both Bytedance and Kuaishou are looking to grow in markets where there is less competition.
- So far, Bytedance has a distinct upper hand with the viral popularity of TikTok, the overseas version of Douyin, in several overseas markets including the US and India.
Details: Kuaishou recently started mass hiring for Kwai, posting large numbers of openings for technical, design, product, and content-reviewing personnel.
- Kwai was the most downloaded app on Google Play’s free app chart in Brazil from September 4 to 7, according to data analytics website Baijing Chuhai.
- The company recently held an internal celebratory event for reaching a record high DAU in Brazil, where the globalization team was commended for their effort.
- A personal familiar with the matter said that Kuaishou chose Brazil because competition there is less fierce than the TikTok-dominated Southeast Asian market, where the cost of user acquisition has more than tripled in the past two or three years, Jiemian reported.
TikTok narrows focus to US, Japan, and India as key growth markets
Kuaishou declined to comment to a TechNode reporter on Thursday.
Context: Following the resignation of globalization leader Liu Xinhua, Kuaishou’s overseas business started losing key personnel and soon the company stopped promoting Kwai in a number of markets such as Southeast Asia and India, according to the Jiemian report.
- Kuaishou previously told Jiemian that overseas markets could provide the short video industry with an additional three billion users, adding that expanding outside China is strategically important to the company.
- In response to the growth Kuaishou achieved in Brazil, Bytedance recently gave the Brazilian market a higher ranking in terms of average revenue per user and strategic importance.
- The ranking of the country was increased from the lowest “B” to the second-highest “A” in Bytedance’s internal ranking system.