When TikTok was banned in India in 2020, the market was flooded with other short-format video-sharing applications. Domestic products such as Chingari, Roposo and Moj easily took millions of users who were starved of short video content. These platforms provided dance challenges to funny clips and became an instant favourite among the people of India as they started to adapt to the increasing usage of digital media. Yet, just as quickly as those got popular, many of them are now either failing or have shut down completely. What happened?

Overcrowded Market with Little Differentiation

This happened after the government banned TikTok and more than a dozen short-video apps came into the market intending to capture it. While this initial burst seemed promising, the problem became clear: This problem was due to the fact that there were too many apps that provided similar experiences to the users. It was evident that most platforms are very similar in terms of the content they offer to the users, the format and design of the content, and features. This made it rather challenging for users to remain faithful to any one of the applications which are freely available. Lacking their own unique personalities or new ideas these apps have witnessed low user retention.

Users with short-form content service delivery depended on the quality of materials the channels posted and, unfortunately, the quality was often an issue. Some of the complaints included the fact that the platforms were highly saturated with excessively similar or often low-quality or even obscene content. Slowly with time people stopped looking for short videos as they initially began to look for videos that had meaning or were of a better quality. Also, it meant that although more niches had dedicated apps as seen in the case of TikTok and Likee, users discovered more appropriate options on already-existing, better-quality apps, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Struggles with Monetization

A major issue that these short-video platforms faced was the question of monetization, and if they would be able to sustain their operations. Even though they were able to attract millions of users within short spans of time, converting those users into revenue streams was not a very easy task. Almost all platforms attempted to monetize via ads, and since there was competition with similar apps, advertisers could not spend big money. At the same time, the absence of a long-term and efficient monetization model due to which many platforms could not draw revenue and could not continue developing, as the overhead costs and responsibilities of maintaining servers and thousands of users started to pile up.

Short videos then became a battleground as Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook offered their own versions of ‘short videos’. These global platforms already had massive active user numbers on their platforms, and thus short format videos just fit right into their ecosystems. People liked the format of using short videos in applications which they already used and preferred not to switch to a new application. This integration alone made it nearly inviable for Indian standalone short-video applications, to challenge.

Limited Support for Creators

As more short-video platforms rolled out, some worked to grow a robust creator ecosystem, but most failed to provide enough motivation to ensure these creators stayed on board. When there wasn’t support offered, in terms of monetary benefits or career progression, creators migrated to other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram in order to build their audience and generate more returns. These content creators’ migration stripped numerous short-format apps of interesting content for new users as well as the ability to retain existing ones.

The case of disappearance of short-format online video app in the Indian market is an example that having a large number of clients is not necessarily a success factor. These factors include differentiation, the quality of content produced, and the development of sustainable revenue streams in the long run. With international majors like Instagram and YouTube already controlling the short video market, the India-based platforms were up for a challenge. Finally, many faded away as fast as they came into existence, due to the inability to compete properly and sustain themselves in the market.