Indian video platforms court Tik Tok users

After 59 Chinese apps were banned, frustrated Tik Tok addicts are now looking for Indian alternatives. Some of the relatively new Indian apps in the segment claim to have seen an unprecedented demand for downloads.

Tik Tok, the short video application created by Chinese ByteDance, had around 200 million users in India.

Chingari, a much-touted rival to TikTok, claims to have clocked 5 times growth in downloads. Within a few days, it says the total downloads have moved up from 5.5 lakh to 25 lakh. It further claims that it has seen one lakh downloads per hour after the ban on Chinese apps.

Roposo, which claims to have over 65 million downloads, said that many TikTok users have moved to its platform following the ban. Boxengage.com is another app that has seen a 10x surge in active-user mark within 24 hours after the ban to over one lakh.

According to Harish Bijoor, brand guru and founder of Harish Bijoor Consults, video literacy is the new literacy. “It beats literacy of the written and audio kind hollow. It needs no language and for this very reason, short format video sharing platforms such as Tik Tok are a hit,’ he said.

There are a few other contenders for the user base of Tik Tok. Bolo Indya with one lakh downloads has reportedly invited Tik Tok users to its platform. The app is available on Google Play Store but not on Apple App store.

Mitron app, which had gained considerable attention post-launch, had later courted some controversies. Reports said its source code, including its full set of features and the user interface, was bought from Pakistani software developer Qboxus. The company had however clarified this issue.

Though not a short form video platform, ShareChat too claims to have witnessed an "exponential growth" in the last two days.