ByteDance has recently announced it will discontinue its two different apps present in India, which is its biggest market and instructed the users to move to TikTok.
The two apps which allow us to share and create sketches are Vigo Lite and Vigo Video. Moreover, there is lip-synching to Bollywood songs.
ByteDance also wrote a “farewell letter” in which it said that it was quite sad to shut down the apps. However, it didn’t give an explanation behind this decision. The Indian news outlet Entracker spotted this letter.
Unlike TikTok, Vigo Lite and Vigo Video are struggling to make inroads to the second largest internet market in the world. Although TikTok has around 200 million users in India, Vigo Video had around 4 million active users last month. Recently, Douyin, the TikTok app in China, reached 400 million users.
However, according to a top mobile insight firm, Vigo Video only had 1.5 million active users. An industry executive shared this data with the reporters.
Vigo had less than 1 million users in a year. However, Vigo Lite had lessened just as many during the same period.
Both the apps stated that India was their biggest market. However, they are available in certain other markets, like Bangladesh. However, it isn’t clear whether ByteDance is discontinuing the app in every market.
Although this move had poor reception in India, it comes out as a surprise. The recruitment posts submitted by ByteDance describes Vigo as the company’s top business in India.
Some other posts also reveal that the company has hired executives to find out ways to monetize its services in the nation. The TikTok app of ByteDance has been scrutinized in recent weeks because it failed to remove the videos that started the violence, racism, child abuse, racism, and the objectification of women.
Byte Dance gave a message to Vigo apps today. ByteDance stated that it will migrate the videos to TikTok. “Through TikTok, you will be able to show your talent to your friends. We will meet you there,” the message reads.
