Panic over the US TikTok ban elevated utilization and downloads of a slew of other social media apps, together with Texas-based Clapper, Chinese language-owned RedNote, and Likee, a little-known platform out of Singapore with an AI-powered video feed just like TikTok’s, in accordance with new market analysis.
Individuals within the US could not access TikTok for about 14 hours on late Saturday into Sunday after a federal regulation geared toward curbing China’s alleged affect over the app went into impact and triggered an unprecedented incident of web censorship in a rustic that prizes free expression. About 63 % of US teenagers and a 3rd of US adults use TikTok, in accordance with Pew Research Center.
Among the many locations a few of them took refuge was Likee, a TikTok clone launched by the worthwhile Singaporean tech firm Joyy in 2017. Likee had about 33.9 million month-to-month customers as of November, most of whom had been outdoors the US. However on Saturday, Likee drew 143 % extra downloads and 37 % extra utilization within the US than yesterday, in accordance with Sensor Tower, which estimates figures by gathering knowledge from a pattern of units. The development continued into Sunday, when Likee utilization ticked up 11 % from a day earlier.
Estimates from Apptopia, one other firm that research the app business, present that for months, Likee recorded lower than 10,000 downloads per day within the US earlier than leaping to almost 167,000 on Sunday and about 286,000 on Monday. Apptopia additionally estimated related bumps for TikTok opponents Clapper and Flip.
On Tuesday, shares of Likee’s dad or mum firm, Joyy, closed up about 3 %, outpacing the typical achieve amongst its Nasdaq friends. Joyy does not get away Likee’s financials, however it and a few of its different sibling apps collectively generated about $73 million in gross sales throughout final yr’s third quarter from promoting and consumer purchases. Likee didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Different less-frequented apps, together with Clapper and Snap’s Snapchat, drew elevated curiosity over the weekend to the tune of double-digit beneficial properties in consumer exercise. TikTok’s greatest rivals, Meta’s Instagram and Fb, noticed extra modest single-digit boosts. YouTube and X, in the meantime, skilled little change in utilization.
RedNote, one other Chinese language app that Individuals had flocked to in protest through the days earlier than the ban, added 80 % extra customers Sunday than the day earlier than, in accordance with Sensor Tower. Within the first two days of the frenzy earlier within the week, over 700,000 new customers joined RedNote, Reuters reported. Often called Xiaohongshu in Chinese language, it ranked in latest days because the most-downloaded free app on the Google and Apple app shops within the US.
TikTok came back online within the US on Sunday after president-elect Donald Trump promised to offer a short lived reprieve of the brand new regulation when he took energy the next day. The statute, signed by former President Biden final yr, successfully bans TikTok by threatening to superb internet hosting suppliers and app shops that work with its dad or mum firm, Chinese language tech big ByteDance, until it divests its possession in TikTok. Customers got here again to TikTok in droves on Sunday, with each day lively customers up 17 % over Saturday, the Sensor Tower knowledge present.
On Monday, Trump issued an executive order offering for 75 extra days to kind out the dilemma over TikTok. However the legality of his decree stays in query, and TikTok continues to be unavailable in US app shops. However when customers seek for TikTok, they’re greeted by an inventory of alternate options—Likee, Clapper, and others amongst them.
tiktok,china,apps,app retailer,apple,social media,startups
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