Analysis of Douyin short video competitors in 2019!

In this article, the author will analyze and compare Douyin and its competitor Yoo Video from the modules of market analysis, user analysis, functional analysis comparison, and operational means analysis comparison, and then put forward optimization suggestions for the corresponding functional sections and operational sections.

The article was written last year. At that time, Tik Tok, as the first-tier "predecessor" of short videos, was booming, and Yoo Video was also making efforts, which led to the creation of this article. Currently, Yoo Video has been renamed "Hotpot Video", so this article is for reference only, and you are welcome to criticize and communicate with us.

1. Background & Purpose

1.1 Research Background

Since 2016, China's short video market has entered a period of rapid development. The most representative product is the [Douyin] app. It was launched in September 2016. As of December 2018, the number of daily active users of Douyin in China exceeded 250 million, and the number of monthly active users in China exceeded 500 million. This shows that [Douyin] is highly sought after by users.

At the Tencent Partner Conference on November 1, 2018, [yoo video] was officially released. As an important move by Tencent in the short video market, [yoo video] is directly competing with its "predecessor" [tiktok] based on the huge advantages of its parent company Tencent. At this time, as the product manager of Tencent [yoo video], in order to break into the short video market faster and more accurately, it is particularly important to deeply analyze and understand the current short video market situation and [tiktok] app.

(PS: The relevant data of [TikTok] in this paragraph comes from the 36Kr article "Frontline | TikTok's daily active users exceed 150 million, and monthly active users exceed 300 million")

1.2 Research Purpose

1. Understand the short video market: If you want to do a good job in [yoo video] and confirm the market space of [yoo video], you need to understand and analyze the current overall market size and trends of short videos, and you need to have a deep understanding of the industry map, industry map and the operating logic of the short video industry.
2. Analyze [TikTok]: Understand the industrial business model and product function structure of [TikTok], analyze its iteration route and key operations, observe its product performance, combine user feedback and the similarities and differences between [TikTok] and [yoo video], and find out the advantages and highlights that [yoo video] can learn from.

2. Short Video Market Analysis

2.1 Market size

Figure 2-1

According to industry data from iResearch Consulting (as shown in Figure 2-1 above): short videos have emerged since 2016, and the growth rate of the short video market has slowed down so far, but the overall scale continues to grow, and is expected to exceed 21 billion yuan in 2019. Moreover, with the implementation of emerging technologies such as 5G, the short video industry will undergo major changes and enter the next stage of rapid development. The scale of the industry will also have room to continue to grow.

2.2 Users

2.2.1 User scale

Figure 2-2

According to Figure 2-2 above, the 2018 short video user scale data from iResearch Qianfan shows that: After the first quarter of 2017, the domestic short video user scale has grown strongly. From the first half of 2018 to June, there was a slight fluctuation in user growth, but the user scale remained at 470 million, with a penetration rate of nearly 50% across the entire network. Compared with the 1 billion users on the entire Internet, short videos still have a lot of room for growth and expansion.

2.2.2 User stickiness

Figure 2-3

According to the data on the number of daily launches and usage time of domestic short video apps in Figure 2-3 above, it can be seen that although the average daily launch times and usage time of short video apps by users fluctuate, the data are at a high level. This means that short video content conforms to users' fragmented usage habits, making users more dependent on short video content. Therefore, compared with other traditional video platforms, short videos have better user acquisition and retention capabilities.

At the same time, based on users' dependence on short video content and the fluctuations in the short video consumption market and the average daily launch times per person, there is still room for innovation and development in the content of short video platforms. User content needs and preferences can also be further explored and developed to better leverage the commercial value of short videos.

2.3 Industry Chain & Industry Map

2.3.1 China’s short video industry chain in 2018

Figure 2-4

As shown in Figure 2-4: Short video participants, industry chain information flow classification and flow period monetization model are as follows:

1) Short video industry participants

User: The consumer of short video content, and on some platforms, also the producer of short video content.

• User scale: Currently, the number of short video users is about 470 million. Compared with the more than 1 billion potential users of mobile Internet, it is still in the user dividend period.
• User stickiness: Usage frequency, online time and interactivity data are at a high level, user stickiness is high and retention is good.

Content producer:

The main content production modes: UGC, PUGC, and PGC.

• UGC: Ordinary User Content & Producers - Ordinary users, low production cost, no threshold, strong social attributes. With subsequent value development, some UGC can be converted into PUGC. The corresponding producers are ordinary users, who have a large group base, strong user creation willingness, and a high overlap with the content consumer population, which is conducive to the formation of a healthy ecosystem in the short video industry.
• PUGC: Professional User Content & Producer - professional users, popular internet celebrities, etc., is a content production model that combines UGC+PGC. In the form of UGC, the professional content produced is relatively close to PGC, with lower costs, and requires compilation and production by professional users who have a certain popularity base. The content produced has commercial value and has social, commercial, and media attributes. There are a large number of such producers in the fields of internet celebrities, e-commerce, etc.
• PGC: Professional Content & Producers - Expert users, producers or content sharers have a certain knowledge background and work experience in the field of shared content, high cost, high technical requirements, high commercial value, pure profit purpose, strong media and commercial attributes, mainly advertisers and new media organizations.

Platform:

Short video platforms mainly include information, community, tool and traditional video website distribution platforms.

The features and main products of each platform are as follows:

• Features of tool platforms : They are easy to generate high traffic in the short term, but lose users quickly, and need to turn to community-based platforms to maintain user stickiness and retain users, such as Tiantian Ptu and Meipai;
• Characteristics of information platforms : generally rely on high-traffic platforms, horizontally integrate with social platforms, and integrate content, such as Xigua Video, Miaopai, and Tudou Video;
• Characteristics of community platforms : They generally have the characteristics of tool platforms, but with higher user stickiness, such as Kuaishou and Douyin.
• Characteristics of traditional video distribution platforms : They generally rely on the platform's existing stable traffic to integrate and recommend self-made videos or hot content on their own websites, fill the needs of users for fragmented use on traditional video websites, and further increase user stickiness and retention.

Content Distributor:

Due to the large number of short video producers, there is a huge amount of short video content in the market, many of which are scattered. At this point, it is quite difficult for short video platforms to directly connect to the massive amount of existing content, so many content producers do not have stable distribution platforms and are still groping for their business models. This also prompted the rapid development of multi-channel network products MCN.

MCN connects content producers, short video platforms and marketing platforms/e-commerce.

• MCN >> Content providers: collect and integrate resources, develop the commercial value of content, and provide business opportunities for producers.
• MCN >> Platform: Provide content distribution channels, organize and sort video content, optimize resources, and deliver them to various platforms.
• MCN >> Marketing platform/e-commerce: Business cooperation to increase the scale of advertising and the effect of advertising diversion.

2) Classification and direction of information flow in the industrial chain

Content flow : content production >> content distribution >> content consumption

Fund Flow :

• User product consumption>> User product consumption>> E-commerce/offline>> Brands & new media/self-media and other marketing platforms>> Content producers
• User paid rewards>> Short video platform/content distribution platform>> Content producers

3) Monetization model

• Content producers: monetize content creation, including rewarding paid viewing, third-party advertising content placement, online store promotion monetization, copyright, content derivatives, etc.;
• Short video platforms: traffic monetization, including information flow advertising, patch advertising, user payment (subscription, reward), etc.;
• Distribution platform: revenue sharing.

2.3.2 China’s Short Video Industry Map in 2018

Figure 2-5

As shown in Figure 2-4: At present, there are many leading players in all links of the domestic short video industry, such as Papi Jiang, Ergeng and other content producers; short video platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xigua Video; WeChat, Weibo, Toutiao and other major content distribution platforms. Therefore, if you want to continue to delve into the short video market at this time, no matter which of the above links you enter from, you need to deeply analyze the core business of the existing players in that link and understand their growth path, so as to subsequently play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, better allocate your own resources and give full play to the core advantages of your products.

3. Competitive Product Analysis

3.1 Comparison of basic product information

Figure 3-1

Table 3-1

3.2 Product Business Form Analysis

In terms of product business forms, the processes of [TikTok] and [yoo video] are similar, and both conform to the classic business forms of short video products, as shown in Figure 3-2:

Figure 3-2

From the above picture, we can see that whether it is [Tik Tok] or [Yoo Video], its main user roles are classified as follows: creators, viewers and operators.

• Creators : This includes both ordinary users and celebrities who have their own traffic, such as self-media, internet celebrities, and stars. They enter the platform to publish high-quality videos, which not only attracts traffic to the platform, but also increases personal and brand influence and realizes their own value with the help of the platform.
• Audience : Watch videos to satisfy personal curiosity and kill time, and interact on the platform through likes, comments, favorites, follows, and shares according to their own preferences.
• Operation staff : They are the official account maintainers of their respective short video platforms and the content managers of their respective platforms. They are responsible for initiating and organizing in-product operation activities such as video content review and video topics, as well as cooperating with external short video content and organizing related offline operation activities;

3.3 User Characteristics Analysis

After understanding the main user role classifications of [TikTok] and [Yoo Video], in order to better understand [TikTok], we will analyze its user characteristics from the aspects of gender, age, region, etc.

3.3.1 Gender ratio of users

Figure 3-3

According to the above figure, the male to female ratio of TikTok users is close to 1:1, and the genders are relatively balanced, which shows that TikTok has achieved good results in guiding its overall users.

3.3.2 Age ratio of users

Figure 3-4

Based on Figure 3-4, in terms of user age, the users of [TikTok] are mainly under the age of 36, among which the 25-30 year old group accounts for the highest proportion. This age group corresponds to the post-80s and post-90s groups and is the main force in the production of short video content.

At the same time, it also shows that as the official [Tik Tok] claims, [Tik Tok] covers almost all age groups of young user groups and is a veritable "short video community for young people."

3.3.3 Regional Proportion of Users

Figure 3-5

As can be seen from Figures 3-5, TikTok users are widely distributed, mainly in the eastern region of my country, among which a large number of users are distributed in the populous eastern coastal provinces, such as Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu and other places. At the same time, except for slightly remote areas such as Tibet and Qinghai, the proportion of other regions is relatively low.

This means that from the perspective of geographical distribution, as a short video app comparable to TikTok, Yoo Video still has room to expand its user base in first- and second-tier cities and even third- and fourth-tier cities.

3.4 Product Function Structure Comparison

3.4.1 Functional structure

Douyin product function structure diagram:

Figure 3-6

According to Figure 3-6:

[Tik Tok] has five main functional modules: Home, Friends, Shooting, Messages, and Me: Although there are more modules than [Yoo Video], its overall functional operation logic is simple and the operation paths are relatively shallow, making it easy for users to develop habits.

Yoo video product functional structure diagram:

Figure 3-7

According to the above picture: [Yoo Video]: There are three main functional modules, discovery, shooting, and yoo track .

It is not difficult to see from the product function structure diagram that although there are not many modules, the overall video function setting is much heavier than that of Douyin. The usage paths of the "shooting" and "yoo track" parts are relatively deep, and there are more competition rules, which means that users who have been accustomed to using lightweight products such as [Tik Tok] in the short video market cannot get started directly when using [Yoo Video], and need a certain period of learning and adaptation.

Of course, [Yoo Video] is definitely aware of this, so it highlights the "video template" function of the "shooting" module, giving users another relatively simple and convenient option. The competition part also invites some traffic leaders to divert users.

3.5 Core Function Comparison

The core functions similar to [TikTok] and [Yoo Video] are "Home" and "Shooting". The specific comparison of the home page is shown in Figure 3-8, and the shooting function process is shown in Figure 3-8:

3.5.1 Home Page

Figure 3-8

[Tik Tok] : Based on its core technical points, as shown in Figure 3-7, [Tik Tok] insists on high-quality videos and accurate video distribution on the homepage, and the recommended videos can be automatically played to users as soon as they enter Tik Tok. Independent full-screen videos with interesting music accompaniment, the little anticipation and occasional surprises brought by each scroll down of the video, all help users to develop an immersive viewing and usage dependence on Douyin.

【Yoo Video】 ：

Based on Figures 3-7, it is not difficult to find that in the Yoo video "Discover" interface, the home page videos are not automatically played by default, but only a video list is provided for users to filter by themselves. This is not friendly to "lazy" users who have been trained by the convenience of the short video market. Moreover, the overall page has a black background, which subconsciously brings a slight sense of heaviness and dullness, which may cause psychological interference to users who come for entertainment purposes.

In addition, perhaps because it has just been launched, clickbait videos are rampant. Although it is easy to "attract" users to click and watch (interfering with users' self-selection), it is not beneficial to user experience and user retention. The above factors may cause [Yoo Video] to fail to capture users in the first place and cause the loss of existing users.

3.5.2 Shooting

Figure 3-8

【Tik Tok】 :

From Figures 3-8 above, we can see that the skill-based shooting + casual shooting provided to photographers - the skill-based shooting with high-quality technical support on [TikTok] has lowered the threshold for many young people to independently "shoot MVs", and has gradually derived shooting guides, coupled with operational topics and event content guidance, allowing [TikTok] to stand out among a number of short video products at the time.

Of course, with the development of [Tik Tok], in order to further lower the threshold for users, [Tik Tok] has further simplified the shooting function based on the existing stable skill-based shooting function and launched the "Snap Shot" function. Entrances have been added to the main core function pages (Home/Friends/Follow/Me), and you can also set it to enter the "Snap Shot" by shaking your phone on any interface of [Tik Tok]. This makes shooting easier for ordinary users.

At the same time, the new version of Douyin also launched the "DOU+ Quick Push" function, starting a new type of profit-making attempt. Opening the recommendation entrance to the public has both advantages and disadvantages - on the one hand, it is more conducive to attracting photographers, allowing them to better control the traffic of their own videos; on the other hand, it may also cause good videos to have a lower exposure rate due to the interference of artificial recommendations. However, these are all speculations, and the specific effects will be followed up after subsequent market feedback.

【Yoo Video】 ：

From Figure 3-8, we can see that the current shooting function of [Yoo Video] that corresponds to the skill-based shooting function and props of [Tik Tok] is the "Video Template". Compared with the relatively rich props and shooting methods of [Tik Tok], [Yoo Video] has launched hundreds of video shooting templates to compete with it. It combines music and special effects and names and classifies them into different tracks, making it easier for users to choose the template they want. After that, users can add videos to the corresponding template effects to finally synthesize the effect video.

However, there is a difference between this and TikTok. TikTok will not prompt you that there are videos to be edited unless it crashes or is forced to exit while editing. The concept of the draft box is not emphasized. [Yoo Video] combines video templates and highlights the backup function of the draft box, which is relatively friendly to ordinary video editing users.

3.5.3 Overall Function Comparison

Figure 3-10

As shown in the above figure, apart from the core function flow, the overall experience shows that compared with [Tik Tok], [Yoo Video] still has some points to be improved - in terms of shooting function, the [Tik Tok] process is still simpler than [Yoo Video], and it already has a set of function systems based on video social networking. The functions are basically shallow in the direct user usage path, but the viewing path for videos shot by [Yoo Video] itself, shot by Yoo friends, and liked is deeper; in addition, the message push path is also deeper, which will have some impact on the direct interaction between users.

In these aspects, [Tik Tok], as the first-tier short video product, has performed relatively well. The impact of its interface design and function settings on the usage habits of users in the market cannot be ignored, and it can be used as a reference in the future.

3.6 [TikTok] Product iteration route and key operations

After comparing the product structure and core functions of [TikTok] and [Yoo Video] as a whole, we will then understand [TikTok]'s product life cycle, function iterations, and operational events so that [Yoo Video], which is in the "exploration period", can find referenceable operational and functional improvement directions based on this.

3.6.1 [TikTok] Product Iteration Route & Operation Events & Product Life Cycle & Product Performance

Figure 3-11

Figure 3-12

From Figures 3-9 and 3-10, we can see that according to the changing trend of user download volume, the product life cycle of [Tik Tok] short videos can be divided into three stages: exploration, growth, and maturity, and Tik Tok is currently in the maturity stage.

The specific analysis is as follows:

1) Exploration period (September 2016~April 2017)

• Build basic product functions, continuously polish core modules, and connect to QQ, Weibo, Meipai and other platforms for traffic diversion.
• This stage focuses on attracting new customers and promoting activation.
• The "Yue Yunpeng Weibo repost incident" was an important turning point from this stage to the growth stage. While the funny and amusing Rubik's Cube video became popular on Weibo, it also allowed [Tik Tok] to gradually attract a large number of users to download. Soon after, Tik Tok attracted a large number of users with its high-quality special effects and amusing video effects, and began to enter the growth stage.

2) Growth period (May 2017~January 2018)

• Key operational events in this phase: cooperation with multiple popular variety shows such as "The Rap of China" and "High Energy Youth League", and appearance on Hunan Satellite TV's popular programs "Day Day Up" and "Happy Camp"; introducing a large number of original musicians and celebrities; carrying out multiple offline activities and launching popular challenge topics such as "Against the Sky Makeup";
• Enhanced core product functions: music brush, AR camera, Tik Tok stories, etc.
• Launch live broadcast function;
• Focus on user retention;
• Operational activities are frequent, and the million-dollar welfare special event launched near the end of the year has also attracted many new users.

3) Mature stage (February 2018 to present)

• In the early stage of this phase, due to the launch of the Douyin community, the sponsorship of the Spring Festival Gala, and a series of external cooperative videos, the operation efficiency was relatively high, so that although the user growth fluctuated slightly, it remained basically stable;
• In the middle period, i.e. the middle of 2018, due to the entry of various leading companies (such as Tencent's "revival" of Weishi, Tudou's transformation into short videos, and the booming development of Taobao's short videos, etc.), user growth fluctuated greatly, and the corresponding overall operations became more frequent;
• The product functions were basically finalized in the later period, mainly focusing on optimizing the experience and fixing bugs, and the operation events also began to have more social significance (such as poverty alleviation and the Sunflower Project);
• In addition to user activation and retention, we have begun to focus on the expansion of business models and launched the "DOU Quick Push" function.

4) Problems encountered during the overall development stage

From the entire development cycle of [TikTok], we can see that: apart from the natural fluctuations of market competition, TikTok's user growth has experienced large fluctuations regardless of whether it is in the growth stage or the mature stage.

The following aspects are also worth considering:

• [Tik Tok] The platform's review and supervision were not strong enough, and the quality of content was not strictly controlled : short videos contained vulgar and bad information, broke the bottom line of social morality, and violated the mainstream values ​​of society, which once led to the spread of indecent videos, the so-called "gate incident."
• [Tik Tok] later began to pay attention to the problems of teenagers : Because short videos have strong visuals, intuitive presentations, and are extremely interesting and easy to operate, short video platforms such as [Tik Tok] have also attracted many young users. This not only causes problems with content quality, but will also indirectly affect children's daily routines and value development. (Later, [TikTok] paid attention to this issue, and gradually its operational activities began to focus on social and educational significance)
• Exploited by unqualified merchants : Major e-commerce companies have entered the market, and [Tik Tok] has become another powerful tool for e-commerce to convert paying users. The high degree of integration of short video content and e-commerce will become an important direction for e-commerce platforms to conduct marketing, but there are many fraudulent merchants who mislead users through videos.

IV. Conclusion

Based on the current short video market situation and the structured analysis of [TikTok], combined with the comparison between [Yoo Video] and [TikTok], the specific suggestions for [Yoo Video] are as follows:

4.1 Avoid the following pitfalls that Tik Tok has encountered

Currently, [Yoo Video] has just started. It is recommended that the platform start planning and learning from the explosively growing massive content in the future and gradually establish an audit and supervision system (covering everything from title to content review, etc.).

[Yoo Video] also targets the young people’s market, so it is recommended that attention should also be paid to the usage issues of teenagers in the future, especially if there are related payment operations in the future, such as rewards, sending gifts, etc., the user’s personal authentication needs to be considered.

[Yoo Video] E-commerce has not yet been introduced. If there are related plans in the future, it is recommended to add user prompts before jumping to the product page in the early stage. On the other hand, if it is expanded in the future, it is recommended to add merchant certification.

4.2 Learn from the good aspects of [TikTok]

4.2.1 Functional design related

1) It is recommended to move the [My] entrance from the upper left corner to the lower right corner of the bottom navigation bar

Reason: The [My] function interface in the upper left corner of [Yoo Video] not only displays the user’s personal information, but also their own works, liked works, and message push notifications.

In addition, the message push also includes message interaction entrances such as "Follow" me, "Like" me, "@me" and "Comment" me. For a short video platform with social purposes and its visiting users, the usage paths of these function entrances (Homepage >> My >> Message Push >> Related Functions >> Function Interface Operations) are very deep, which is not conducive to user usage and the subsequent expansion and improvement of related function architecture.

2) Add sharing function export

It can be connected with sister platforms such as [Weishi] and [Tencent Video] to divert traffic to each other, or it can be forwarded within the platform or linked to platforms such as Meipai. In addition, it can also enable local download or video caching functions, add synthetic dynamic wallpapers, etc., in order to better meet users' needs for sharing and saving after watching videos.

3) Add "Not Interested" function

Currently, the recommended distribution of [Yoo Video] videos can be said to be one-way. Although there is a video reporting function, users do not like such videos, which does not mean that users need to report them. Therefore, it is recommended to add a "not interested" function to allow users to better reject certain types of videos they do not like.

4) Improve core functions and iterate more gameplay

At present, compared with [Tik Tok], [Yoo Video] does not have many special features in shooting. In the future, new features can be added or continuously iterated in terms of shooting speed, shooting special effects, shooting props, etc., drawing on the features of [Tik Tok] that have been accepted and used by the majority of users.

4.2.2 Video content related

1) Pin [Yoo Video] The platform already has self-made programs

For example, some micro variety shows and short dramas as well as some "exclusive" videos are the differences between platforms such as [Yoo Video] and [Tik Tok]. It is recommended to recommend these distinctive exclusive videos at the top of the "Recommendation" module on the homepage to highlight their own characteristics, rather than "clickbait" and videos that have a serious overlap with other platforms.

2) Pay attention to the promotion of video templates

Although the video template function is a major feature that distinguishes [Yoo Video] from [Tik Tok], it has not yet achieved the effect of [Tik Tok] where everyone follows suit and consciously promotes the new props every time they are launched.

Therefore, it is recommended to learn from the promotion method of [Tik Tok] to launch new props, and combine the platform's existing traffic celebrities to produce relevant preview promotional videos and usage effect preview videos. This can help new and old users locate their favorite video templates more quickly and accurately, and is also beneficial to the platform's activation and retention.

3) Pay attention to the traffic hotspot effect of audio

Everyone can see the contribution of [TikTok]'s divine songs to the rise of [TikTok]. Compared with [TikTok], [Yoo Video] is fully connected to QQ Music's audio library (the copyrights of many music have been bought out by QQ Music). This means that in terms of hot audio, [Yoo Video] has more potential to explore and create than [TikTok].

4.2.3 Operational direction

You can cooperate with popular variety shows, take advantage of the wide range of users on the variety show platform, promote yourself more efficiently, and let more people know about it (attract a large number of free user flows).

Invite celebrities and KOLs in related fields to join, while cultivating top users of their own platform, and then combine the hot topics launched to attract more feedback from ordinary users.

Because of the introduction of video template content, it is inevitable that there will be a high degree of content overlap with the same [Tik Tok] props. On the one hand, this part can be achieved by operating the innovation of video content topics and the review of existing user video recommendations to divert users' attention and reduce the chance of duplication; on the other hand, it can also cooperate with MCN to ensure the quality of video content.

Related reading:

1. Douyin operation methodology: 500,000 followers increased in 2 months!

2.2019 Tik Tok promotion and operation strategy!

3. Douyin promotion method: 6 types of content that Douyin limits traffic!

4. Tik Tok promotion skills: 3 steps and 7 key points!

5.What are the essential factors for Douyin promotion?

6. Sharing of practical tips on Douyin promotion and operation!

7. Douyin operation and promotion: How to use hot products to improve retention?

8. Douyin promotion method: 6 types of content that Douyin limits traffic!

Author: Melinda

source: Melinda