"There is no reason why TakaTak can't be as big as TikTok in India": Karan Bedi, MX Player

The CEO of MX Player talks about the expansion into the short video format and his expectations from TakaTak.

TikTok is banned in India, and the search for its replacement is still on. From raditional media networks to news aggregators and Social Media giants, a wave of new TikToks have hit the likes of 'Faisu Miya', 'Hindustani Bhau' and other TikTok stars. Many of them claim that they were planning to launch anyway and their decision has nothing to do with TikTok being banned in the country. However, their products, in-app experiences and profiles tell a different story. 

However, new launches have slowed down, and now various platforms are boasting of numbers. Gradually, the dust is settling and the trend so far is that if the app is from the stable of a video-on-demand (VOD) platform, it will get a lot of engagement. 

One of them is MX TakaTak from Times Internet Ltd (TIL). With investment from Tencent, the local media player-turned-OTT MX Player, which according to Comscore is number 2 in terms of active users below YouTube and above Hotstar, claims to have more than 10 million active users on TakaTak. The ad-based VOD platform wants the short video or user-generated content format to be a large contributor to its revenue. 

Karan Bedi, CEO of MX Player, talks about the expansion into the short video format and his expectations from TakaTak. 

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