OFR – Chapter 213 Short Video

A glass of Johnnie Walker Diamond Jubilee for 160,000 RMB and another glass of Louis XIII Black Pearl Crystal for 280,000 RMB — together, they cost just over 400,000.

To Mu Bai, 400,000 RMB was nothing.

But he understood very clearly what those two glasses of liquor meant to ordinary people — it meant working hard for years, even over a decade, just to barely afford them.

Yes, that’s how huge the gap is between rich and poor in today’s society.

Not long ago, Mu Bai was just an ordinary young man at the bottom rung of Nanjing society. But now, he was living the life of a modern-day god of wealth, throwing money around like it was nothing.

In this world of extravagant luxury and materialism, it seemed there was no top-tier experience a man of wealth couldn’t enjoy.

“Alright, please wait just a moment.”

Mu Bai’s words made the lobby manager nod respectfully and quickly respond.

“Mm, alright. Go ahead, bring the drinks and food together.”

He spoke softly. After the lobby manager left the private room, Mu Bai picked up the phone beside him and opened QQ, glancing over the messages.

He found no messages from acquaintances — only a few official notifications from QQ.

The push notifications were mostly for QQ Live and Weishi (Tencent’s short video app).

Yes, in today’s booming era of livestreaming and short videos, the giant Penguin Empire (Tencent) was not one to sit on the sidelines. It had long extended its reach into both industries in hopes of securing significant profits.

QQ Live, Penguin Esports, and others were Tencent’s layout in the livestreaming industry.

Even leading livestream platforms like Douyu TV and Huya TV had Tencent’s investment behind them.

With its deep pockets and massive user base, Tencent was thriving in livestreaming, growing rapidly.

Thanks to significant investments and traffic redirection, both its investments like Douyu and Huya, and its own platforms like QQ Live and Penguin Esports, had secured major footholds in the livestreaming field.

However, while progress in livestreaming was reassuring for Tencent’s leadership, its short video ventures were not going so well.

Despite pouring in massive capital and trying hard to create a breakout app like Kuaishou, Huoshan, or Douyin (TikTok), Tencent hadn’t found success.

Currently, Tencent’s Weishi short video app had only just over 200 million downloads across all platforms, with only 3 to 4 million daily active users.

That might sound like a lot, but for those in the industry or long-time internet users, 3 to 4 million actives might be enough to get by in livestreaming — but in the short video space, it was far from enough.

Because now, the total active traffic on the leading short video apps was on par with Tencent itself.

Especially the two giants — Kuaishou and Douyin — they were the most famous and popular.

South Douyin, North Kuaishou!

These were the two signature platforms in the short video world. Kuaishou boasted nearly 200 million daily active users and over 700 million total registered users. Its average user session time was unmatched by any competitor.

Douyin, although slightly behind Kuaishou domestically and ranking second in China’s short video apps, still had around 100 million daily active users and nearly 500 million registered users in China.

Yet being mentioned in the same breath as Kuaishou proved that Douyin’s influence extended far beyond China.

Yes, three years ago, Douyin had already begun expanding overseas.

Today, it held significant market share in countries like Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

In Japan especially, Douyin had already become an indispensable daily-life app for Japanese citizens.

This made it clear that Kuaishou and Douyin together controlled half the short video market.

Additionally, there were other strong competitors like Huoshan (70 million daily active users), Xigua Video (over 300 million total registrations), and Baisi (Baike) Video, among many others.

In this crowded and fiercely competitive space, Tencent’s Weishi app was struggling to gain traction.

But Tencent had no intention of giving up on the short video market.

Because the rise of short video apps was gradually threatening Tencent’s dominance in social networking.

Nowadays, many Kuaishou and Douyin users no longer opened QQ first thing in the morning — they opened these short video apps.

And these apps were also developing their own social systems, which posed a serious threat to Tencent’s core apps like QQ and WeChat.

So Tencent, naturally, wouldn’t sit idly by and let short video apps grow unchecked.

On one hand, it was negotiating investments and partnerships with Kuaishou and Douyin. On the other, it was actively developing and promoting its own short video platform — and thus, Weishi was born.

Even though Weishi wasn’t too popular yet, with Tencent’s steady investment and traffic support, its future was still promising.

At that moment, sitting in a plush chair, Mu Bai looked at a Weishi notification pushed by QQ and smiled faintly.

[Ding!] Old driver card activated. Calling all old drivers! Live now: witness the difference between a broke guy and a rich god when hitting on girls on the street!

“Prank flirting?”

Mu Bai looked at the notification with no particular fondness or dislike.

He just felt a bit bored while waiting, so he casually tapped it open.