ByteDance has had its fair share of ups and downs. Douyin, the Chinese version of his TikTok, has rapidly evolved from a viral short-video app to become a powerful e-commerce platform catering to domestic and international luxury and beauty brands. Despite its market dominance and success, ByteDance faces several challenges, such as the growth of its largest product, his Douyin, reaching its limits and the lack of momentum in its Metaverse plans.
Moreover, the company is not immune to the general industry slowdown – it announced dismissal Earlier this year. ByteDance now appears to be looking to invest in new e-commerce initiatives and AI technology to boost its revenue. Let’s take a closer look.
growth ceiling
Fully integrated with Douyin’s payment and promotional services, Douyin Mall gives brands the ability to create unique experiences for their users. Douyin’s live streaming capabilities generated $232 billion (1.5 trillion RMB) is particularly strong in 2021 deal value and leveraged by brands like Louis Vuitton and estee lauderDespite fierce competition from other tech giants such as Kuaishou and Taobao, Douyin still holds a leading position in the social commerce arena. The platform is growing very quickly and the question is what is next.
When Douyin last released official user growth data September 2020the company had 600 million daily active users at the time it was announced. Analyst It currently has an estimated 747 million daily active users. This equates to an average growth rate of 3% month-over-month. Clearly, 747 million is not a trivial number. It’s a sign of success. But market dominance comes with its own set of challenges.
Engaging non-users will be difficult. If they haven’t joined Douyin so far, will they join in the future? Besides, ByteDance Insider The company said last December that for the first time since 2013, domestic ad revenue growth had nearly stopped.
In 2022, the company’s earnings fell short of expectations. ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo emphasized the importance of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Following tech layoffs across the industry, ByteDance will lay off 10% of its staff this year as part of Rubo’s plans.
Metaverse slowdown
ByteDance’s plans for the metaverse haven’t stopped, but they appear to be slowing down. In August 2021, the company acquired his VR startup Pico. The move is interpreted by many as a way to join his global Web3 race. The metaverse momentum continues, and in January 2022, ByteDance launched Party Island, the first metaverse social app.
Party Island looked like Mark Zuckerberg’s Vision of the virtual world. The app consisted of an online virtual world where people could hang out and connect via avatars.Yet the app shutter Last October, less than a year after its release. ByteDance published a series of “small layoffsin pico.
ByteDance’s metaverse app Party Island will be shut down in October 2022. Photo: Weibo
That said, luxury is still moving forward in the metaverse. In 2021, LVMH will join forces with Prada and Cartier to become the world’s first global luxury blockchain Aura Blockchain consortium.And just last week, Decentraland announced The second installment of Metaverse Fashion Week, promoting designs by Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach and more.
Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 includes brands such as Coach, DKNY and Adidas.Photo: Decentraland
Turning to the platform side, amidst scandals like the cryptocurrency price crash and the collapse of the FTX exchange, Meta’s Metaverse vision and subsequent hype are more prescient than grounded in reality. It seems that it was
layoffs andtech winter2023 is unlikely to be the most lucrative year for capital-intensive bets such as the Metaverse. is in a great position to move forward.
Meanwhile, the company was newly launched doin supermarketand its food delivery But both fields are very competitive.
Paradigm shift?
ByteDance’s answer to Slack, Feishu, will generate $100 million in revenue in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 270%This growth is a significant achievement as Chinese companies tend to be cautious about paying for B2B software.
Additionally, the global frenzy around AI Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could be the paradigm shift the industry has been seeking. ChatGPT is restricted in China, but the government supports the underlying technology.
upon February 24th This year, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology announced that it would push for further integration of AI technology in the country, highlighting the potential that technologies like ChatGPT can offer. Baidu has announced plans to launch its own LLM platform. ernie bot, earlier this month. ByteDance Starts Research early this year About creating your own LLM.
In many ways, ByteDance is already the world’s largest AI-driven company. TikTok’s success would not have been possible without its spectacular machine learning capabilities and algorithms. By the end of the year, China’s AI landscape could look very different, given the speed of technological advancement and fierce competition in the market. ByteDance’s success stands firmly on the road ahead.
