In 2016, Cisco predicted that short videos would account for 80 to 90 percent of global Internet traffic by 2018. Cisco, a major provider of network equipment, said that it should be looking at the growth in the field through global equipment operations and combined with the actual situation of video development, and eventually made some forward-looking prejudgments. China’s short videos are in the accelerated stage of development, and the short video trend has been around for a long time.
Snapchat, the application that introduced burn-after-reading style posts, has been a phenomenal company over the past few years, and it’s now the biggest opportunity to focus on using short videos to revive the company. This is the same as Instagram, where images such as photos or video can be smoothly uploaded. Other large companies, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are also entering the field of short video, but they operate in different ways and have different directions and features.
Some companies have worked hard on the content and bring in professional teams to make short videos, and some companies have paid more attention to the functionality of short videos, which aim to stimulate the creativity and talent hidden in the trillions of Internet users by providing the functions that meet the needs of the users. This is consistent with Snapchat’s burn-after-reading idea of getting a large number of users to get through the chain of supply and demand. It’s not possible for the content of professional short videos to achieve the same level of content as those that are made through a mass production kind of style. Short videos made through this user-generated content method are definitely the way to go as their functionality is a key contributor towards their development.
LIKE was made by BIGO Technology Pte. Ltd., and is a short video application available for the global market. It has just been released in the past four months and has achieved 20 million downloads in 187 countries. In the recent Google Play Awards 2017, LIKE has been awarded with three awards which are ‘the most popular application’, ‘the best social application’ and ‘the best entertainment application’ at the end of the year. The Wall Street journal and other overseas media outlets have carried out reports stating that it was the spotlight at that moment.
In Google Play’s regional list, LIKE is the most popular application and best entertainment application in India and Indonesia, and the best social application in Mexico, Brazil, and Latin America overall. Google Play is the headquarters of the Android application market. The market will be based on user downloads and other indicators to generate a list and as soon as LIKE was released, it was at the top of the list for several countries. As the application goes overseas, LIKE was able to become a favorite application of users in different countries in such a short time; this was no accident.
There is a big difference in the global market as it is made up of different regional markets, but there is also a commonality between them all, which is the passion and desire of young users to share and create their own content. Compared with the short video made through professional production, users prefer to make their own videos and share them in a simple and easy-to-use way to get attention. Whether this is in the Chinese market or the global market, this common point is obvious. This gives the short video operators a requirement to provide users with a simple and easy way to produce homemade videos, which will eventually be implemented by the functionality of short video services.
LIKE, which features video production functions, has the operational goal of enabling users to make their own short videos with a simple tool and in a very short time all while simplifying the operation procedure. Magical special effects are one of the core functions of LIKE, and users can transform the background through magical effects and create short videos with different backgrounds. Built-in magic and 3D effects, massive amounts of music, mixed filter effects, and other contents and functions such as automatic skin beautification, with hundreds of creative dialogues to act, play and so on, make the production of short videos easy, entertaining and interactive.
Behind the complex and detailed features of LIKE is a wall of powerful technical support. LIKE is simple and easy to use and the video quality and the effects are really great. This is because we brought in Hollywood special effects producers to form the industry’s leading video special effects production team in order to provide users with blockbuster level special effects, magical 3D effects, mixed effects, automatic skin beautification effects, and many other magical effects. It’s rare to see traditional special effects technology combined with the Internet and is exported to a large number of users through network technology, but this is reflected in LIKE.
Other than meeting common needs, LIKE also won’t forget the individualized demand of the regional market, and localized operations in the regional markets such as India and Indonesia, the two larger population bases, which have achieved a very good result. Lip syncing is very popular in Chinese society, but in the Indian market and the Indonesian market, they have different social and cultural trends, so they can provide different dialogue materials. In terms of stickers, emojis, music and other materials, different markets also have different needs, and also need to learn more about their respective social and cultural phenomena and then offer different content to the users.
LIKE is being refined in the global market so far, and the functionality, entertainment and interactivity of the short video services are shown to be taking the lead. Their next step is to have localized operations in major markets, especially in India and Indonesia. LIKE has invested in main localization operations, its mature technical experience and rich and diversified interactive experience have been resonating with users, which is deeply appreciated by young people and the industry. With a combined population of nearly 1.6 billion, India and Indonesia, the world’s second and fourth largest populations, are likely to become the largest market for Internet services in China’s overseas market.
In the current era where fragmented consumption and gradually moving technology to more and more portable platforms is the norm, short videos have unquestionably become something with unprecedented demand, and it is crucial to see how operators meet this demand evenly across their consumer base. Globally, normal videos have developed into a mature business model, while the commercial value for short videos still needs to be gradually developed. Now, the most important task must be to satisfy users’ entertainment needs through technological breakthroughs and innovation, and bring a more convenient and interesting short video service to global users, accelerate the acquisition of users, develop user habits, and prepare for the future commercial realities. So far, it’s all looking good for LIKE’s journey to global stardom.
