ByteDance, a Chinese internet giant, announced plans to discontinue two of its apps in India. They are Vigo Video and Vigo Lite. Indian users are going to move to TikTok.
Vigo Video and Vigo Lite, two apps that allow users to create and share short-form sketches and lip-syncing to Bollywood songs, posted an early Monday (local time) message. It was announcing that they would be discontinued by the end of October this year.
ByteDance said in their post, titled “a farewell letter”. This made them sad to shut down the apps. On the other hand, there was no explanation for the decision. The letter was first spotted by Indian news outlet Entrackr.
Unlike TikTok, the most popular app from ByteDance, Vigo Video, and Vigo Lite has struggled to make inroads on the world’s second-largest internet market.
Last month Vigo Video had about 4 million monthly active users. Meanwhile, TikTok has more than 200 million users in India. According to one of the top mobile insight firms, Vigo Lite could only accumulate 1.5 million users. In addition, the data was from the industry executive shared with TechCrunch.
Other posts reveal that the company is looking to hire executives in order to explore aggressive ways of monetizing its services in the country.
In India in recent weeks, ByteDance’s TikTok app has been scrutinized for failing to aggressively delete videos. It promoted brutality, animal cruelty, sexism, child abuse, and women’s objectification.
Overall, ByteDance said in its message to users on today’s Vigo apps that it will help them move their videos to TikTok. On TikTok, “You can show off your talent to a larger group of friends. We are eager to see you [there]! “The message reads.
