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This year, TikTok is really everywhere.
According to data from Cloudflare Inc., a cloud infrastructure company that tracks Internet traffic, this short video platform known for relying on algorithmic recommendations has become the most visited Internet website in the world in 2021, surpassing the one that has dominated the list for many years. Search engine Google.
Cloudflare stated that TikTok ranked first among the world’s most visited websites in February this year. It grew in popularity in August of this year and generally maintained its top spot throughout the rest of the year.
This continued popularity among users has also made TikTok’s commercialization strategy more radical.
In addition to starting to follow the path of Douyin in conducting live broadcasts and attempts at e-commerce stores, TikTok has also recently been exposed to start getting involved in game live broadcasts and even takeout business.
In terms of the growth rate of users, TikTok, as a latecomer, obviously still has great potential, but at the same time it is facing an international market with giants in everything from search to social advertising to e-commerce and live broadcasting. In the market, TikTok’s enemies on all sides seem to have brought a dangerous signal. Can the strategy of using short video platforms to sell “everything” really succeed?
Beyond the mobile terminal, TikTok wants to maintain growth by relying on game live broadcasts
In June this year, TikTok launched the PC version of Douyin first and then the TV large-screen version. Compared with the desktop version, TikTok Watching short videos with TV, "live broadcast" is actually the main function.
In fact, it is not difficult to imagine why TikTok does this. On the one hand, it needs to adapt to the behavioral habits of European and American users, and at the same time, it needs to find new growth points through multi-terminal coverage. On the other hand, commercialization is realized through live streaming. After all, if it is just user growth without a reasonable commercialization strategy, then the growing number of users will only become a sweet burden and continue to bring losses to ByteDance. .
For American users, in the earliest days, "online live broadcast" was almost equal to "game live broadcast".
Twitch is the earliest live broadcast platform in the United States, launched in 2011. Twitch has been positioned as a game live broadcast platform for a long time. After 2020**, JustChatting and other life-oriented live broadcast channels Only then did it begin to be more accepted by users.
Just Chatting ranks first in Twitch's March time list
However, unlike many domestic Internet users who are completely native to the mobile Internet, the viewing habits of European and American users still stay on the PC. According to data from Leftronic this year, only 35% of Twitch’s traffic sources in 2021 will come from mobile.
Therefore, if you want to continue to attract users' attention after the growth of the mobile terminal gradually enters a flat period, turning to the desktop and TV terminals is almost a must. Obviously TikTok not only wants to make the PC version an enlarged version of the APP, but recently, its exclusive game live streaming application has also revealed its true identity.
According to TechCrunch, TikTok is testing a new desktop streaming application called TikTok Live Studio, which allows users to live stream footage from games and other desktop applications. TikTok officials stated that the application is currently being tested among a small number of users in European and American markets.
If this platform is officially launched, TikTok Live Studio may mark an interesting change in TikTok’s live broadcast strategy-
It will no longer focus on locking users to mobile devices, but will TikTok Live's focus has expanded to live gaming, allowing it to compete with companies such as Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming that have taken market share.
Media person Zach Bussey shared a screenshot of TikTok Live Studio on Twitter. He said that the application is still in a fairly primitive state. The app supports horizontal and vertical live broadcast formats, and can obtain live broadcast images from games, personal applications, mobile devices and cameras.
ZachBussey shared a screenshot of TikTokLiveStudio on Twitter
In the past, some users would use third-party software, such as Streamlabs, to live broadcast from desktop devices to TikTok, but this feature has considerable limitations. , only available to live broadcast users who invite viewers to watch. There are also some tutorials that use third-party services such as Loola.tv as workarounds to connect TikTok with live streaming programs such as OBS, but these methods obviously compromise the user experience.
While it’s unclear when TikTok will expand its test of LiveStudio to more users, if it does see an official version, the tabletop game livestream could bring more variety to the platform’s live content catalog .
TikTok’s actions have indeed verified one thing. European and American users are becoming more and more “adapted” to live broadcasting, and are no longer limited to games. TikTok, which itself has no advantage at all in game live broadcasting, may also It can rely on more diversified content to expand its live broadcast business, especially the live broadcast e-commerce that is in full swing with the development of Douyin.
European and American users’ online shopping behavior mostly occurs on the website. Judging from TikTok’s vigorous deployment of content on the PC side, it will also be conducive to the subsequent penetration of e-commerce business. Not just game live broadcasts and e-commerce businesses, TikTok has even begun to involve food delivery business, and its implementation path is also through Internet celebrities on short videos.
The popularity of Internet celebrity recipes has made TikTok want to take out food
The rise of TikTok has also begun to gradually penetrate from online to offline life. European and American users use TikTok for far more than just interesting short videos—its recipes are particularly popular, and even so popular that TikTok decided to start its own takeout and complete food supply chain.
In fact, since last year, one simple and easy recipe after another has become popular on TikTok, and has attracted many users to check in the recipe. In response to this phenomenon, a CNN report titled "How TikTok Taught a Generation to Cook Food" pointed out that "TikTok's success in the food field has benefited from the continuous growth of food bloggers over the past 20 years, as well as the general public's , especially the booming interest and knowledge among the middle class who have expectations for food culture.”
In January this year, “Grilled Cheese Pasta” became popular on TikTok. According to data from Google Trends, between January and February, search interest in “feta cheese” and “grilled cheese pasta” reached a record high in the United States, and the search index was much higher than before.
“Feta Cheese” search index
This also means that the influence of food videos in TikTok is widespread and extensive. In fact, this is also due to the video content This form has a more direct and real effect on the presentation of food or recipes than pictures and texts.
In the Internet age, if you want to get a reference for "what to eat today", you can find content such as "food recommendations", "restaurant planting", and "recipe sharing" on various platforms.
TikTok is now making such an attempt, starting from popular recipe content to provide users with takeaway food that is consistent with the video content.
TikTok announced that it has cooperated with Virtual Dining Concepts, a virtual dining concept company, and Grubhub, an online takeout platform, to launch TikTok Kitchen, which only provides takeout services, across the United States starting in March next year.
The menu will be based on TikTok’s hottest dining trends, including “grilled cheese pasta” rated as the most searched by Google in 2021, as well as dishes such as SmashBurger.
In terms of food production, TikTok Kitchen’s takeaways will be produced by physical restaurants founded by Mariah Carey, YouTube celebrity MrBeast, Guy Fieri, etc. Other restaurants can also apply to cooperate with TikTok Kitchen, and Virtual Dining Concepts will provide employee training. Help with recipes, packaging, ingredients, and more.
In addition, Virtual Dining Concepts co-founder Robert Earl also revealed, “We plan to launch about 300 TikTok restaurants across the United States, and expect to have more than 1,000 stores by the end of 2022” and “the menu will change quarterly. Once upon a time, if a dish starts to become popular, it may be included in this menu”.
It is not difficult to see that from catering brand operations, menus and production to distribution, TikTok Kitchen has currently established a fairly complete supply chain.
In addition, TikTok also stated that it will use profits from TikTok Kitchen to content creators such as cooking recipes and support promising cooking talents on the platform. It's just that it's one thing to let users cook for themselves, but it's another thing to let them order food from a short video platform. It remains to be seen how effective it will be.
TikTok’s attack on all sides is not unrelated to the rapid expansion of its platform capabilities, and a trend worth noting is whether people turn to TikTok for daily search behaviors, just like they started using Amazon to search for what they want. The same items are purchased online. In other words, will the new generation of young users completely switch from Google’s search engine, which is widely regarded as a monopoly platform, to TikTok.
This is not just about game live streaming or takeout business, but may have a more profound impact on the advertising industry.
How far is it from the next super advertiser that TikTok wants?
According to a recent report from analytics company AppAnnie, “TikTok has subverted the streaming media and social ecosystem.
"Data shows that in the United States and the United Kingdom, the average time users spend on TikTok exceeds YouTube.
When a platform can gain such influence and occupy users' time, they certainly hope that they can sell to their users Anything that can generate commercial returns, whether it's short videos, live content, influencer takeaways or advertising with the highest profit margins
TikTok previously said that the number of companies advertising on its platform increased by 500 in 2020. %, is currently working with “thousands” of advertisers. The surge in brand activity has boosted TikTok’s sales significantly, with TikTok parent company ByteDance’s revenue growing by more than 1% in its most recent fiscal year, according to the Wall Street Journal. 100%, and profits soared by 93% to more than 19 billion US dollars.
TikTok brand advertising product system
On TikTok, brand advertising can be created in a variety of ways. Spread across the user's timeline, or pay extra to appear on the user's homepage. Brands can also sponsor tags and use various visual effects technology provided by TikTok. Many brands have their own accounts for product announcements and recruitment. employees, to amplify offline advertising effects, or just to provide interesting content. There are also many brands that directly cooperate with content creators. After all, creators are naturally good at combining entertainment content and consumer products.
TikTok is. Actively cultivate the community through the TikTok Creator Fund, paying subsidies to users who have at least 10,000 followers and more than 100,000 views in the previous month.
If TikTok is now more popular than Google or Facebook, then its potential. Advertising revenue will be unlimited. According to eMarketer, the two technology giants currently account for 53% of the global digital advertising market. For TikTok, nothing is more conducive to its revenue growth than occupying a lucrative advertising business.
A New York Times report earlier this month highlighted how brand marketers are using TikTok to attract younger generations. Of course, these brands’ advertising spending may still have a long way to go before they can truly achieve their goal. Improve conversion rates.
Brand tag challenges will become more popular on TikTok
The other side of the coin is that regulatory issues for TikTok still cannot be ignored.
According to According to a series of reports from the Wall Street Journal, inappropriate content for teenagers is still a major problem for TikTok, and geopolitical factors will continue to be considered. How US regulators will deal with a non-local super platform is still uncertain.
Once the government and consumers realize that TikTok has gradually become dominant in many fields, it is very likely that TikTok will face a competitive situation surrounded by more than just heroes, and this is likely to be in 2022 One of the most significant technological events.