SO, WHAT HAPPENED?

After two years in development, co-founder of Vine, Dom Hofmann, has publicly launched Byte – a video sharing app that allows users to create and share six second, looping videos.

Sound familiar? Hofmann’s previous video sharing app, Vine, launched in 2013, that allowed users to create and share 6 second videos, on loop. Vine’s immediate success saw Twitter acquire the business for an estimated $30 Million.

Its success was short lived, with Twitter shutting down the video app in 2016 after a round of cost-cutting exercises. Vine simply could not compete with the user growth of rivals, notably Instagram, and did not find an effective way to drive revenue for the platform or its most influential users.

WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?

Video sharing apps continue to dominate downloads and user attention.  TikTok was the number 2 most downloaded app globally in 2019, while the likes of Snapchat see users return 20 times per day, spending half an hour on average on the platform.

Hofmann wanted a “Byte” of the pie. But is there enough space for another platform? Apps need to offer something completely different or exciting to pull audiences over from more established platforms. The likes of TikTok have pushed creative boundaries with mechanics like gamification offering users more creativity and greater freedom. While Byte still offers only what Vine previously did.

So, the user experience hasn’t really moved on since Vine, but will Hofmann’s newly proposed revenue model entice the big-name Influencers over to Byte?

In a move to win over creators, Byte are passing on 100% of ad revenue during their pilot in a partner scheme.  While beneficial for creators, this will only be meaningful if the audience significantly scales.

The release of ads so early in the life of Byte goes against the grain of the typical growth strategy of social apps. Usually apps focus on user growth, followed later by an advertising model. In our opinion, this will impact the appeal of Byte both to users, interrupting their experience with ads, and creators, limiting the scale of audience they’ll reach.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

With the power of Influencers valued at $15 billion by 2022 (Business insider, 2019), you can’t ignore ‘influence’ in your marketing mix. With the rapid growth of platforms like TikTok, you, and your brand, should be at the forefront of any new platforms where your audiences will be spending time.

At OMD Create, we love working with creators and Influencers – however we also care about audiences. As we know, audiences are only really interested in viewing relevant or relatable content. Byte and its creators will need to focus on delivering desirable content which is different enough from its competitors to attract the audience and encourage them to stay.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NEXT?

Jump right in, try it out. Follow creators, follow Influencers and brands that you admire and see what they are doing. But the best way to find out, is to try it yourself.