[starfallg]

TikTok is a fluke, created by the condition of how it was originally born as Douyin in China. It is also the only app that translated well from the domestic China market to international markets.

Being backed by lots of VC cash and Bytedance's revenues in China is a key factor in getting TikTok established overseas.

[non_aligned]

TikTok is the most prominent one, for a number of reasons, but other platforms that pioneered or copied the format also reached considerable prominence. Instagram Reels, Snapchat Stories, etc. And tellingly, when YouTube wanted to compete, they needed to build an experience quite separate from the rest of the site. There is a qualitative difference in how people perceive and consume this type of content. It's not just "vertical YouTube".

Of course each one of these platforms was backed by VC or stock market money, but that's the nature of the industry. Over the years, VCs ended up throwing a lot of money at Google and YouTube killers and that didn't get them anywhere, so that in itself isn't the winning formula.

[corimaith]

Wasn't TikTok originally Musicaly that already popular then acquired by ByteDance?

[starfallg]

Vine had more active users than Musically, and look what happened to Vine. It would have never had the investment internationally if not for the blow-out success it had inside Mainland China.

[NooneAtAll3]

well yeah, crossing the giant youtube moat took a lot of money, both invested and prexisting

but what makes it a fluke?

[starfallg]

Combination of factors, but mostly the success Douyin had in Mainland China leading to the investment in TikTok internationally, given that no other Chinese social app had reach this level of penetration.