Heena Sharma Blog

  Short video platform TikTok emerged as the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for September 2021 with more than 59 million installs. According to Sensor Tower, the countries with the largest number installs were from Douyin in China at 16 per cent, followed by the US at 12 per cent. Facebook was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with more than 51 million installs. The countries with the largest number of Facebook installs were from India at 29 per cent, followed by Indonesia at 7 per cent. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger rounded out the top five most installed non-gaming apps worldwide for the month. Meanwhile, PUBG Mobile from Tencent was the top grossing mobile game worldwide for August 2021 with approximately $270 million in player spending, which represented 4.7 per cent growth from August 2020. About 61.4 per cent of PUBG Mobile's revenue was from China, where it has been localized as Game For Peace, followed by 9 per cent from...

  India’s one of the oldest and largest music labels Tips Music on Thursday announced a music licensing deal with Google for the latter’s newly introduced short-video platform YouTube “Shorts”. As part of this deal, Tips will license its large catalogue to YouTube platform allowing the huge Indian diaspora across the world to create content inspired its ever popular and superhit music library in diverse Indian languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Marathi, Gujarati, amongst many others. “The deal will allow our community of fans to create fresh new content alongside their favourite music from Tips music library. This partnership will open possibilities for creators and users to explore their creativity which may give us our next future star. What better way to celebrate our new generation of talent,” said Kumar Taurani, founder, Tips Music. YouTube Shorts is a short-video service offering by Google which allows users, creators and artists to create short video c...

  Leading video streaming platform Netflix has launched a TikTok-rival called Fast Laughs that gives mobile users an instant, full-screen feed of funny clips from its huge comedy catalog. Fast Laughs, currently only available for iOS device owners in select countries, looks and feels like TikTok or Instagram Reels. "Different short clips -- taken from shows like Big Mouth or stand-up specials from comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Ali Wong -- play directly within the Netflix app. If one of the shows, films, or specials sparks interest, people can add said title to their saved list to watch later," Netflix said in a statement late on Wednesday. Fast Laughs offers a full-screen feed from films (like Murder Mystery), series (Big Mouth), sitcoms (The Crew) and stand-up from comedians like Kevin Hart and Ali Wong. Read More

  Popular social media app Snapchat that launched in-app Spotlight in November last year to take on Chinese short-video making app Tiktok , has seen the platform growing to over 100 million monthly active users in January. Spotlight is a dedicated place within Snapchat where users can watch short, entertaining videos backed by music in a vertically scroll, TikTok-like feed. "We are seeing over 175,000 video submissions per day on average, in part, due to our incentive program for creators, where we distribute over $1 million per day to the top performing videos," Snap CEO Spiegel. "Our product and ranking teams have been able to quickly improve our ability to match Spotlight viewers with the right content and we are now working on a broader rollout of Spotlight to our entire community," he said on a call with investors on Thursday. Spotlight combines a simple submission flow that allows people to submit their best Snaps in just one tap with a rigorous revie...

  Facebook-owned Instagram is now working on new vertical feed for Stories, the way TikTok first used and Reels on Instagram has already cloned the feature. According to a TechCrunch report, navigating with vertical swipes up and down would make Stories experience more like Reels, recently launched by Facebook to compete with the Chinese short-video making app. Vertical swiping feels more natural than taps and horizontal flicks, the way we do on smartphones and other apps. The "Vertical Stories" feature on Instagram was spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi who shared the discovery on his Twitter account. "Now you can swipe up and down to browse stories". The feature is not live yet. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday that the feature is being developed but is not available for the public at the moment. Read More

  China's ByteDance has decided to reduce the size of its India team and is unsure when the company will make a comeback in India, it said in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday. India has decided to retain its ban on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps after reviewing responses from the companies on issues such as compliance and privacy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.   The apps were banned amid rising tensions between India and China following a border clash between the two nations last year. "We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived ... we find that has not been the case," ByteDance wrote in an internal memo to staff, seen by Reuters. Read More

  A month after federal regulators ordered it to disclose how its practices affect children and teenagers, TikTok is tightening its privacy practices for the under-18 crowd. Starting on Wednesday, default privacy setting for accounts with users aged 13 to 15 will be private. That means only someone the user approves as a follower can view their videos, which was not the case previously. But teens can still change this setting to public if they want. Older teenagers won't see this default setting change. For users aged 16 or 17, the default setting to let people download the videos they created will now be off," rather than on." TikTok is also blocking users' ability to download videos created by those 15 or younger. This age group will also see direct messaging restricted and won't be able to host live streams. TikTok is wildly popular with teenagers and younger kids. A feature called TikTok for Younger Users offers pre-selected, age appropriate" video...

  China's ByteDance is in talks to buy into mobile games publisher CMGE Technology Group Ltd, four people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the owner of short video app TikTok moves to strengthen its next pillar of growth. The deal would come as the gaming industry continues to benefit from COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures which have forced people to stay at home, boosting game downloads. ByteDance plans to buy part or all of the 27.6% CMGE stake held by Fairview Ridge Investment Ltd, controlled by CMGE chairman Xiao Jian and vice chairman Sin Hendrick, said two of the people. ByteDance is looking to offer HK$4 to HK$5 ($0.52 to $0.64) per share to purchase the stake, said another person. The range represents a premium of 30% to 62% above the stock's Monday close of HK$3.08. Read More  

  Social network firm Reddit said   https://redditblog.com/2020/12/13/reddit-welcomes-video-platform-dubsmash-to-team on Sunday it would buy short-video platform Dubsmash, becoming the latest company to expand in a space dominated by Chinese-owned TikTok. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a spokeswoman for Reddit said the acquisition was based on a combination of cash and stock. The success of ByteDance's TikTok has prompted many social media companies to add short-video services to their platforms, with Snapchat Inc rolling out "Spotlight" in November and Facebook Inc launching "Instagram Reels" earlier this year. Reddit said in a blog post that the deal would give its users, who can already upload and stream videos, access to Dubsmash's editing and short-video creation tools. Read More

  Chinese short-video making platform TikTok is reportedly planning to allow its users longer, three-minute videos in an apparent bid to take on YouTube. First spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra who tweeted a screenshot of the update, the feature is in early access stages. TikTok currently allows creators to upload videos up to a minute in length. Three-minute TikTok videos on TikTok feel like a miniature replica of YouTube, back when YouTube videos were shorter than 10 minutes, reports The Verge. Its rival Instagram Reels has doubled the length of the videos you can upload, taking it from 15 seconds to 30 seconds. YouTube Shorts is a short-form video service that lets user create and upload a video of 15 seconds or less on YouTube. Read More

  Snap Inc on Monday rolled out a feature, " Spotlight ", that would allow users to share short-form videos publicly in its Snapchat app, adding a service that would compete with ByteDance-owned TikTok and Instagram Reels. Users, who could previously share snaps or stories with friends, can now share them directly to Spotlight and garner more followers, Snap said in a blog post https://press.snap.com/introducing-spotlight. The company said it would give about $1 million every day throughout the remainder of 2020 to users whose snaps make it to the top of the platform, in a bid to boost engagement with the feature. Facebook Inc earlier this year launched Instagram Reels - the company's version of TikTok wherein users can record short mobile-friendly videos, then add special effects and soundtracks pulled from a music library. Read More      

  Chinese short-video making app TikTok has expanded a privacy feature where parents will have more options over what their children can see and restrict comments on their content. Parents will now be able to restrict who can comment on their kids' videos, who can view their account and who can see what videos they've liked. Parents will also be able to stop their kids from searching for videos, users, hashtags or sounds. TikTok already offers the ability for parents to turn off or limit direct messages, reports The Verge. The new options are all part of TikTok's Family Pairing feature. The update is a big step from TikTok. In February 2019, the company paid $5.7 million to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged violations of a children's privacy law. Read More  

  Chinese short-video making app TikTok has announced a new licensing agreement with Sony Music Entertainment (SME). As part of the deal whose financial details were not disclosed, TikTok will continue to offer songs from Sony Music artists for use by creators on its platform. "With this deal, the TikTok creator community will have access to sound clips from Sony Music's massive catalog of current hits, cutting edge new releases, emerging favourites, iconic classics and deep cuts from every genre of music for use in their TikTok content," the company said in a statement late on Monday. TikTok and Sony Music will work together to support greater levels of TikTok user personalisation and creativity on the platform, and drive new and forward-looking opportunities for fan engagement with SME's artists and music. Read More

  Instagram Reels is getting new features, including extended recording time limit of up to 30 seconds, ability to extend the timer to 10 seconds while recording, and an option to trim and delete clip from the timeline. Launched in India in July this year, Reels is a short-video service from Instagram that lets user create and share short-videos with their followers on their Instagram Feed. How to create Instagram Reels Tap on Reels icon available at the bottom of the Instagram app to get into camera recording and editing mode. There is a variety of creative editing tools available to process the recorded video before publishing. Here are some of the features and tools available: Audio: Search for a song from the Instagram music library for your reel. You can also use your own original audio by simply recording a reel with it. AR Effects: Select one of the many effects in our AR library, created by both Instagram, and creators all over the world, to record multiple clips...

  Made-in-India short-video sharing platform, Chingari , has announced that it has crossed more than 30 million downloads. The social app said in a statement it achieved the feat in a matter of three months, with content creators making a beeline to join it. Chingari said it has also added AR (augmented reality) filters on its platform to give content creators more advanced front and rear camera tools to work with. The “highest percentage” of Chingari users are in the 18-35 years category, it said. In addition to English and Spanish, the Chingari content is available in Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Odia, and Telugu, the statement said. Apart from India, the Chingari app is steadily increasing its user base in the UAE, the United States, Kuwait, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, it added. Read More  

  YouTube has announced its own short-form video service named YouTube Shorts . Currently in beta, the early version of the service is available in India for users with Android smartphones. The current version includes just the camera interface, and the editing tools will roll out in graded manner over the course of the next few weeks. Here are five things to know about YouTube short-form video service. What is YouTube Shorts Shorts is a short-form video service that lets user create and upload a video of 15 seconds or less on YouTube. Currently available in early beta in India, the service is part of YouTube app for Android. It features a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the option to record with music from a library of songs, speed controls, and a timer and countdown to keep you notified. Read More  

Facebook-owned Instagram said on Wednesday it would begin testing in India its Reels feature as it seeks to replace TikTok, the wildly popular short video service the government banned more than a week ago along with 58 other Chinese apps. Reels, which comes to India after being tested in Brazil, Germany and France, offers a new way to create and share short videos on Instagram. Users can record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects and new creative tools on Reels. They can share the videos with their followers on their Instagram Feed and if they have a public account, make their 'reels' available to the wider Instagram community through the platform's Explore feature. Reels will start rolling out to users in India from 7:30 pm on Wednesday and will have content from a diverse set of public figures and creators, such as Ammy Virk, Gippy Grewal, Komal Pandey, Arjun Kanungo, Jahnavi Dasetty aka Mahathalli, Indrani Biswas aka Wondermunna, Kusha Kapil...

Days after India banned 59 apps including TikTok and UC Browser, the United States on Tuesday said that it was also 'looking' at banning Chinese social media apps. “I don’t want to get out in front of the President (Donald Trump), but it’s something we’re looking at,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News, as reported by Reuters. TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese apps, including Tencent Holdings LTD’s WeChat and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s UC Browser, were banned in India last week following a border clash with China. India had banned apps for engaging in "activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". Read More

Social app Chingari , a desi alternative to Chinese TikTok, on Friday said it has crossed 10 million downloads on Google Play Store and content creators are making a beeline to join the app. It is now among the top two free apps on Play Store for more than a week now. "Our retention numbers and the app's daily engagement time are also witnessing a solid increase. Our team is working round the clock to provide all our customers with a seamless experience," said Biswatma Nayak, Co-founder. Earlier, the app reached three million downloads in just 10 days and garnered about 500,000 downloads in just about 72 hours. Read More

Apple's App Store has removed Chinese video app Zynn, a clone of the hugely popular video app TikTok , following accusations of plagiarism. The app was taken down from Googles Play Store last week. A spokesperson for Zynn told The Verge that its issues with plagiarism were minor, and that the company was "in communication with both Google and Apple to ensure compliance with their guidelines and regulations." Zynn arrived on iOS and Android in early May and quickly reached the top of the download charts. By the end of May, the app had become the most downloaded free iOS app and a top 10 download in the Google Play Store. Read More