Sunday, November 10, 2024

Reddit recovers Dubsmash, rival of TikTok

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Reddit bought out Dubsmash, its rival from TikTok, becoming the latest social media platform to expand into the increasingly competitive viral video segment.

The Silicon Valley-based online discussion forum did not disclose the financial terms of the cash-and-stock transaction, its most publicized acquisition to date.

In a statement released on Sunday, Reddit said so planned integrate Dubsmash’s video creation tools into its platform, while allowing the application to “maintain its own platform and its own brand”. Launched in 2014, Dubsmash is known for hosting short user-generated videos and lip-syncing clips.

The acquisition comes as social media groups increasingly shift from social and private messaging functionality to hosting viral entertainment platforms in an attempt to emulate the Chinese-owned TikTok success, which popularized the short scrolling video format.

In August, Facebook launched a TikTok impersonator, Reels, in the Instagram camera app.

Last month, Snap rolled out its own video app clone, dubbed Spotlight, which presents users with hand-picked, designer content. As an incentive, Snapchat promised that a day of $ 1 million would be split among the influencers featured, based on the number of views they get.

Facebook and Snap had already approached Dubsmash on a potential acquisition, according to US media reports. The company was recently valued at $ 47.5 million in November 2016, according to PitchBook. He has raised a total of $ 20 million from venture capitalists to date, according to data from Crunchbase.

Reddit, which already has its own native video and live streaming capabilities, said in its statement that Dubsmash hosts 1 billion video views per month.

“Dubsmash elevates underrepresented creators, while Reddit fosters a sense of community and belonging across thousands of different topics and passions,” said Steve Huffman, Managing Director, Reddit.

The fast growing discussion forum has already been criticized for harbor hate speech fringe and far-right groups, and has taken steps to better control its platform as it seeks to attract more advertising clients.

The entire Dubsmash team, including its three co-founders Suchit Dash, Jonas DrĂĽppel and Tim Specht, will join Reddit.

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