MX Player launches short video app MX Takatak

Indian companies have been scrambling to woo users who are looking for alternatives to TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps after the Indian government banned them last month. While there are over four dozen desi entrepreneurs who are competing on Play Store for downloads, seasoned companies including InMobi, Times Internet, and ShareChat don’t want to miss out on this opportunity that has presented itself. 

In fact, Times Internet has two independent products that aim to be TikTok's alternatives. Two days after launching HotShot on music streaming platform Gaana, the digital arm of Times Group has released another app - MX TakaTak.

MX TakaTak allows users to create short videos and share them on social media. Similar to TikTok, it enables video browsing across genres such as dialogue dubbing, comedy, gaming, DIY, food, sports et al. The app can be used in 10 languages including English.

It’s worth noting that some apps such as ShareChat’s Moj don’t support the English language. Launched on July 9 (today), MX TakaTak has already seen more than 10,000 downloads with 4.4 ratings on the Google Playstore.

MX Player is the second over the top (OTT) platform to launch a TikTok clone. Zee5 already launched HiPi on its native app. Entrackr had exclusively reported about HiPi last month. Unlike Zee5, MX Player has launched TakaTak as a separate app.

India emerged as a lush green farm for Chinese DAU/MAU chasing apps. Given that they aren’t allowed to graze in the world’s largest download farm anymore, it opens up a huge opportunity for homegrown companies to acquire users who are seeking their TikTok fix. A clutch of companies - Roposo, Chingari, Trell, Mitron, TikTik, and Moj - has been in the fray to onboard hundreds of millions of users.

Within a week of the ban on China-linked mobile apps, these apps had witnessed a spurt in downloads. According to SensorTower data, Roposo had 6.7 million downloads whereas Chingari amassed 4.1 million. Mitron was downloaded 3.1 million times between June 29 and July 5. Trell and Moj had cornered 2.61 million and 2.4 million downloads respectively.

While these apps may grow to have a hundred million downloads with a huge MAU/DAU base, they require a deep knowledge of machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to come close to TikTok at the product level. TikTok has been successful because of its tech prowess. Even global social media giant Facebook and China’s WeChat found it hard to stop ByteDance’s dominance.