Quick Take: Video App Douyin Rises to Top of Apple App Store

A Chinese short-video platform was the most downloaded non-game app on Apple’s App Store in the first quarter of this year, edging out big international names.

The app, known as Douyin in China and Tik Tok overseas, was downloaded 45.8 million times, according to market research company Sensor Tower, in a report released on May 1.

That means it beat other big-name apps such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WeChat and WhatsApp, which were also in the top 10.

Duoyin belongs to Beijing Bytedance Technology Co. Ltd., the company behind China’s news aggregation platform Jinri Toutiao and two other short-video apps, Huoshan and Xigua.

Duoyin allows users to creatively edit videos by adding music and special effects.

China’s video-streaming industry generated 5.7 billion yuan ($895.6 million) in revenue last year, and the figure is expected to rise to 36 billion yuan over the next three years, according to industry consultancy iResearch.

Sensor Tower also said Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., which owns WeChat, had the top two game apps for both for Android and iOS.

PUBG Mobile was the world’s most-installed title in the free-app category, while Honor of Kings led in the paid-app category, the report said.

Contact reporter Jason Tan ([email protected])