Indian Apps Capture 97% of TikTok User Base: RedSeer Consulting

As per a report by RedSeer Consulting, Indian apps have retained about 67% of the TikTok user base, and added 30-35% new users in the past year. Which implies that Indian short-form video apps have gained around 97% of TikTok's user base.

TikTok: A Thing of the Past?

The report is titled "Short-form Video - The Rise of Made in India Digital Content".

The following are the highlights from the report:

1. The daily active users (DAUs) increased up to 97% as of June 2020. This is a result of aggressive marketing and user acquisition by platforms.
2. Secondly, time spent has steadily increased as well, reaching 55% as of June 2020.
3. Third, the new users are largely from Tier 2 cities. The Indian apps pushed on regional language content, which resulted in the massive user acquisition. Overall, 60- 62% of the short-form users are from Tier 2+ cities.
4. Most importantly, the study shows that 75% current short-form video users will likely stick to these domestic apps. Moreover, these users are unlikely to switch back to Chinese apps even if the ban was lifted.

The report spells good news for Indian short-form apps, which populated the vacuum left behind by TikTok very swiftly.

A Big Dub for Indian Apps Ecosystem

Notably, the study covered major Indian short-form apps including Josh, Moj, MX Takatak and Roposo.

Ujjwal Chadhury, Associate Partner, RedSeer Consulting, noted the trajectory of Indian platforms. “In less than one year post TikTok ban, Indian platforms have shown a strong V-shaped recovery, bouncing back to 100% of pre ban daily user base".

"This shows how platforms were able to design the product, execute their plans and market it aggressively in a very short period of time. This is a strong indicator of how the Indian digital ecosystem has matured in the last few years", Chadhury said.

There were some intriguing trends in the report. First, MX Takatak leads in the net promoter score in the metro cities. In the same metric, Josh leads in the Tier 2+ cities. Moreover, Moj has been a strong gainer across consumer and business metrics, when compared to the last quarter, driving by regional language markets. Roposo showed strong performance in Tier-1 cities compared to the smaller ones.

Chadhury said that “the job is far from done. The players still have to reach the global and cross sector benchmarks on engagement and retention- which will further grow the monetization potential for the entire ecosystem".

Better Monetization Potential

RedSeer Consulting also reported better monetization potential. They divided the influencer tiers in the following brackets, in terms of their follower count and their monetization potential.

1. Elite influencers with followers in excess of 10 million have a monthly earning of around $20,000-40,000.
2. Influencers with 1 million followers can earn between $1000 and $2500.
3. Creators with less than 1 million followers can earn $40-200.