Douyin, the Chinese version of social media app TikTok, unveiled plans to boost investments in the platform’s video search features to capitalise on increased user demand.

Kelly Zhang, CEO, China at Douyin parent ByteDance, said in a blog monthly active users (MAUs) of the video search engine are now at more than 550 million: it launched the service in May 2018.

The figure represents the majority of the app’s MAUs, which TechCrunch reported at more than 600 million as of September 2020.

Zhang stated the company will increase investments in the video search capabilities of the app in the coming year, and is also looking to expand its team in R&D, products and operations.

She expressed hope the offering will become “the video encyclopaedia of human civilisation”, claiming hunting for video to be “the entrance to find answers and gain new knowledge”.

The move will pitch ByteDance into direct competition with Chinese search giant Baidu, which yesterday (17 February) reported 544 MAUs at end-December 2020.

Video is an increasingly competitive battle field for the companies, after Baidu agreed to take over live streaming service YY Live in November 2020.