Trailing Rivals, Tencent Short-Video App Pivots to Movies and TV

Tencent’s plan to reposition Weishi comes as the short-video app has fallen behind rivals Douyin and Kuaishou.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. said it will reposition its Weishi app to focus on film and TV content, as the short-video platform struggles to win users in an increasingly saturated domestic market dominated by Douyin and Kuaishou.

Weishi will pivot away from sharing user-uploaded videos and instead offer TV and movie clips, help to distribute Tencent’s licensed content, and build a system to redistribute works by other creators, Sun Zhonghuai, the technology giant’s vice president, said Monday at a press conference in Shanghai.

The announcement comes after the Hong Kong-listed firm integrated Weishi and several other platform and content offerings into a new online video business unit headed by Sun, in an effort to enhance profitability and quality. Read more Caixin Global