Headlines From China: With Trump Gone, TikTok Could Get a Chinese Makeover in 2021

With Trump Gone, TikTok Could Get a Chinese Makeover in 2021

Having weathered a crusade by former President Trump to force the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a consortium led by Oracle and Walmart, Bytedance appears to have a green light to make TikTok feel a lot more like Douyin, its Chinese counterpart. Having already expanded Douyin functions like sponsored challenges on TikTok over the course of 2020, Bytedance has moved on to introduce new affiliate marketing features for brands in 2021, which would allow more social commerce integration by letting video creators link to products, whether or not the content is sponsored. The company will also allow brands to showcase products on the app and boost e-commerce live-streaming. Read more Content Commerce Insider

Hollywood Struggles for Fans in China’s Growing Film Market

With China’s box office takings expected to return to near pre-pandemic highs in 2021, the world’s largest movie market is becoming more attractive, while also more tricky, for Hollywood studios. Ticket sales from movie theaters in China may jump to 60 billion yuan ($9 billion) this year according to Artisan Gateway. But the increasing reliance comes as Chinese viewers pivot to local language films, and show a greater sensitivity toward portrayals of China and its people in Western culture, amid simmering geopolitical tensions with the U.S. Read more Bloomberg