_1592458732488_1592458742202_1593609429110.jpg "Popular chinese apps such as TikTok ShareIt UC Browser and WeChat are now banned in India")
New Delhi: For many of the 59 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government over privacy and security concerns, India is a substantial and fast growing market outside their home country, shows data. Collectively, these apps accounted for 5% of total installs on App Store and Google Play in India with combined total of 330 million new installs in Q2, 2020, according to Sensor Tower, an app intelligence firm.
TikTok, the most sought after Chinese app, had 16.4 million new installs in June. Overall, the app has over 200 million active users in India, which is almost 40% of its 500 million global user base. It also rates highly with brands and influencers. According to SensorTower, the app generated revenue of $924,000 from Jun 2019 to June 2020 in India through user spending alone. With the ad revenue, the overall revenue would be a lot higher.
“TikTok earns a certain amount of revenue from India market. It is quite likely that they are earning ₹2.5 crore in revenue per day. For whatever period of time the ban stays, they will lose the revenue," said Harish Bijoor, a Bengaluru-based brand consultant.
Bijoor points out, loss of reputation is a much bigger concern than loss of revenue. The ban will force many brands, influencers and content creators to see participation with Chinese apps as risky.
TikTok’s sister app Helo, which caters to regional language audiences, has over 50 million users in India, as per their own estimates. Sensor Tower’s data shows that Helo had 10.8 million new installs in India in June.
TikTok and Helo's parent company, ByteDance, had said in 2019 that it plans to invest $1 billion in India in the next three years.
Among other apps that were banned, Bigo Live, a live streaming app and Likee, a video streaming app, are very popular in India too. Likee has run several engagement campaigns on its platform in association with leading Indian brands. For instance, in 2019, Likee partnered with Salman Khan Films to promote Dabangg 3. According to Sensor Tower, Likee had 6.1 million new installs, while Bigo Live has 2.1 million users in June alone. Likee made $776,000 in India through user spending in the app, according to Sensor Tower. The ad revenue is not included.
Though social media apps have been grabbing most eyeballs, the likes of UC Browser, ShareIt and CamScanner too have a huge presence in India.
Alibaba-owned UC browser has over 430 million active users globally and 130 million of them are located in India. According to StatCounter, a web analytics firm, UC browser was the second leading mobile browser in India with 14.5% market share after Google Chrome as of May 2020. As per Sensor Tower, UC browser had 6.1 million new installs in June.
Document scanning app CamScanner, was one of the first Chinese apps to gain acceptance among Indian audiences. It has 100 million users in India with 4 million new installs in June. The app’s revenue comes through ads and premium subscription plans. As per Sensor Tower, they made $1,944,000 through in app spending by users. It doesn’t include ad revenue.
ShareIt is another Chinese app which is hugely popular in India. Though the app's claim to fame was the file sharing tool which allowed large file transfers in a few seconds, it has also forayed into video streaming and mobile gaming. The app has over 400 million installed users and 200 million monthly active users in India. It was installed 4.9 million times in June as per Sensor Tower. In 2019, ShareIt’s India head told the media that India is among the top five markets and that the company was eyeing a 100 crore turnover.
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