The intention of Tencent’s 15 short video applications is very clear.

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At the end of last month, WeChat quietly released version 7.0.0. In this update, not only the icon and interface have changed greatly, but also the most important thing is that it has launched a short video solution — — "Time video". According to the introduction of its new function, is the shooting entrance of the updated "Time Video" in the upper right corner of "I"? Users can record it after clicking it, and the video can be edited, and expressions, words, music, geographical location and so on can be added.

So far, according to our incomplete statistics, Tencent has previously launched 14 short video apps, including Microvision, Flash Coffee, QIM, DOV, MOKA MOka, Cat Cake, Mo Sheng, Tencent Cloud Video, Meal Video, Speed Watch Video, Time Video, yoo Video, Tone Rabbit and Hapi. Coupled with this "Time Video", it means that there are as many as 15 such applications.

From the macro environment, the launch of these products, on the one hand, should perform their duties and become an important part of their layout. On the other hand, it will carry the ambition of Tencent video in the field of short video, and it will not lose momentum when bidding for competing products, but also strive for more opportunities under the new wind.

Homogeneous competition, solving foreign invasion

From the definition, homogenization competition refers to the phenomenon that different brands of products in the same series imitate each other in appearance design, physical and chemical properties, use value, packaging and service, and marketing means, and even the technical content and use value of products gradually converge. However, in the current short video field, this phenomenon is not uncommon.

From the official login to the App Store in September 2013 to the suspension of service in April 2017, and then to the re-launch in April 2018, the "fate" of microvision can be said to be very bumpy. As the earliest short video creation and sharing platform launched by Tencent, it focuses on 8-second short videos, aiming at allowing users to engage in social activities through short videos.

When the application of short video abroad is getting worse, micro-vision carries Tencent’s expectations for this industry. However, because it was not popular in China at that time, in order to compete for the market, Tencent did not hesitate to spend a lot of money on advertising, and invited many popular stars to gather popularity. Internally, various high-quality resources are also supported, and users can log in to Microvision through WeChat and QQ. However, the operation mode of burning a lot of money obviously did not last long, so after a period of time, Microvision also lost Tencent’s "love".

In recent years, with the rise of a large number of head platforms, the field of short video has begun to show explosive growth, so everyone wants this piece of cake. With the popularity of a certain sound, Tencent has restarted micro-vision, and its intention may be to attack opponents. In addition to micro-vision, Tencent’s "Happy", "Dinner Video" and "Time Video" all came into being in the homogenization competition.

Among them, "Hapi" launched in November last year is similar to "a certain skin shrimp", and it also focuses on funny videos and humorous jokes. The positioning of "Next Meal Video" launched in May last year is similar to that of "A Melon Video", which also focuses on a short video of 1-5 minutes; "Time Video" can help users to intelligently generate life video stories from photos in the album, and can also quickly create photo videos, with any song that users like, and share good times with friends and family with one click, which is very similar in function to "A Shadow" and "A Show" in the market.

Differentiate operation and solve internal worries

From the functional point of view, short video software at this stage can be subdivided into three categories, namely, native content, audio-visual special effects and video editing. In these three categories, Tencent has also made careful "arrangements".

Yoo video and flash coffee belong to the "players" in the "native content", in which the content of yoo video mainly includes PGC content in horizontal screen and UGC in vertical screen. DOV, a member of QQfamily, is chosen as the logo, which has the functions of solar trace, high-energy dance studio, special effects combination and interesting graffiti. As a video social software integrating QQ, Tik Tok, excitement and second shot, it focuses on shooting and sharing short videos.

Players who belong to "audio-visual special effects" include "MO sound", "Flash coffee" and "sound rabbit", among which "MO sound" focuses on sound effects, and users can dub videos conveniently in its app and watch a lot of funny dubbing videos. "Sound Rabbit" focuses on sound effects, and users can quickly make videos and picture materials into short music videos; While "Flash Coffee" focuses on the combination of audio and video. Users can experience 10-second blockbuster recording, music show, lip-synching performance and other functions in this application, and also make the video extremely convenient with cool dynamic effects, real-time beauty, accelerated recording and other effects.

MOKA Moka and Tencent Cloud Video belong to the category of "video editing". It is reported that MOKA Moka is a creative and thoughtful drama-chasing madman, movie controller, ACG enthusiast, Secondary Two patient, funny, wonderful, and segment player … … Tailor-made short video editing artifact; Tencent Cloud Video is a short video editing APP developed by Video Cloud, which mainly has short video recording, short video editing, short video synthesis, short video uploading and other functions.

What does Tencent intend to do with a lot of actions in the field of short video?

In addition to those short video software with similar competing products in the market, Tencent has also produced some self-developed software, such as "Quick Watch Video" and "QIM". Among them, Speed Watch Video app is a software for watching dramas created by Tencent. Unlike other playing tools and commentary videos, "Speed Watch Video" can condense a few hours of movies into a few minutes of speed watch. "QIM" is a short video application specially designed for young people launched by Tencent, which focuses on taking photos and sharing short videos.

Tencent’s 15 short video solutions have some special features. Different from Tencent’s own products such as microvision and flash coffee, the "cat cake" is actually the work of sterling silver, a famous product manager, and was subsequently sold to Tencent. In addition, the above-mentioned "Time Video" is also very special. It is not a separate App, but a function embedded in WeChat.

Despite Tencent’s extensive layout in the field of short video, a number of head applications have firmly stood at the forefront of the echelon. According to the data released by QuestMobile, in June 2018, there were 231 million monthly active users in Aauto Quicker, 207 million in Tik Tok, 108 million in watermelon videos, 101 million in volcano videos and 43.1 million in micro-vision.

The first echelon has gradually opened the gap with the competitors behind. In November 2018, Zhang Fuping, Party Secretary and Vice President of ByteDance, revealed that as of October this year, the daily active users (DAU) in Tik Tok had exceeded 200 million, and the monthly active users (MAU) had exceeded 400 million, and continued to maintain rapid growth; In January 2019, Aauto Quicker released the latest operation data. As of December 2018, Aauto Quicker had more than 160 million daily users and 300 million monthly users, with more than 15 million short videos uploaded daily and more than 8 billion short videos in stock. During 2018, 4.45 million users were logging in every day.

Under the severe situation, Tencent still hasn’t given up its investment in short videos, and keeps increasing its weight. At the global partner conference held in November last year, Lin Songtao, vice president of Tencent, said in an interview that the domestic short video industry is on the eve of the outbreak, not in the late stage of saturation, and Tencent’s short video products are not to beat anyone. He said, "Although there are many video and live broadcast applications at present, it is still only the initial stage of video applications. When 5G comes, with the great improvement of network speed and the reduction of bandwidth cost, it will usher in a real outbreak of the video industry and give birth to a brand-new digital content form."

In the field of short video, some people think that Tencent is "getting up early and catching a late episode".

However, after social videoization becomes the future trend, it is still unknown who can occupy the head position.