Beijing-based ByteDance CEO Zhang Nan said Thursday that Douyin Search's monthly active users exceeded 550 million, the first time ByteDance announced the number of active users on the short-video app's search business.
ByteDance's annual report released earlier this year showed that Douyin's (Chinese version of TikTok) average daily video search volume had exceeded 400 million.
"In the past few years, the whole society resorts to videos for expression and creation. Search, the most direct way to access information, is also becoming video-based." Zhang said.
This user scale means that Douyin may have become the largest video search engine in China.
Video search is another business focus for Douyin, DoNews quoted a source close to Douyin as saying, adding, "Search is the act of users actively acquiring information, and good search can provide users with information in a more efficient way that complements video recommendations."
"On the other hand search is naturally more suitable for distributing long-lasting content, which also helps Douyin's content ecology construction," the source said.
But compared to traditional graphic search, video search is more difficult, Zhang also said.
More than $77 billion worth of goods traded through Douyin in 2020
(Source: Unsplash)
