BEIJING & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toutiao announced today that it has acquired Flipagram, the largest mobile video creators’ network with more than 200 million creators sharing video stories in a wide range of categories. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition marks a significant step of Toutiao to expand its global strategy.
Global Expansion with a U.S. Flagship and Enhanced Distribution with Recommendation Engine
The combination of Toutiao and Flipagram creates many advantages to both companies and their technical products and properties. The combination provides:
- Toutiao gets a flagship mobile video property and operations in the United States;
- Enhancement of the Flipagram network via the Toutiao content recommendation engine;
- Greater distribution of Flipagram videos through Toutiao properties globally; and
- Exploration of other Flipagram integrations with Toutiao properties.
“We have been striving to enhance the efficiency of information communication. We hope the state-of-the-art technology of Toutiao will bring something different to Flipagram,” said Yiming Zhang, founder and CEO of Toutiao.
Toutiao aims to expand its footprint in the United States and intends to invest in and grow the Flipagram team as appropriate by sharing its experience of content recommendation and product operation.
“Since the launch of our free app in late 2013, Flipagram has been one of the most popular mobile video creation apps in the world. We pioneered the licensed use of music clips in user generated videos, and have enabled hundred of millions of users around the world to create and share amazing video stories, with just their phones,” said Flipagram co-founder and CEO Farhad Mohit. “Today we are thrilled to take the next step in our journey, with Toutiao, whose expertise in content recommendations can help take the Flipagram mobile video network to the next level.”
The Largest, Most Popular Mobile Video Creators Network
To date, more than 200 million users have created over half a billion Flipagram video stories. As the only app with global music licensing deals, enabling the free use of tens of millions of 60-second song clips from top music publishers and labels, Flipagram is uniquely positioned to enable anyone with a smartphone to tell their stories and express their interests and affinities by pairing the perfect music with personal photos and videos.
ABOUT TOUTIAO:
Founded in March 2012, Toutiao (“headlines” in Chinese) is China's largest one-stop entertainment platform. Toutiao's mission is to connect people with information and foster content creation and discussion. Driven by machine learning that is powered by artificial intelligence which a team of 1000 world-class engineers is constantly improving, Toutiao generates individually customized content feeds for every user. By analyzing user interactions with the content served, Toutiao’s relevance engine continuously improves, learning what articles, short-form videos and creators are interesting to which people, and serving them ever more engaging feeds. As of January 2017, Toutiao has about 175 million monthly active users, with each user spending an average of 76 minutes per day on the platform.
ABOUT FLIPAGRAM:
Everyone has stories worth telling. Flipagram’s mission is to give everyone the power to create and share amazing immersive video stories with music that can inspire, entertain and inform. Flipagrams (Flips) are easy to create, fun to consume and by allowing photos, videos and music to tell the story, Flips transcend language, giving people all over the world the ability to share their own stories and to have a powerful voice. With tens of millions of users monthly worldwide and growing, Flipagram is a go-to platform for musical artists, influencers, brands and millions of ordinary people looking to tell stories in an authentic way that resonates and inspires action. Flipagram is fully licensed to allow music use in its videos via agreements with top record companies including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music, Merlin and The Orchard—and music publishers, including Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG, Warner/Chappell, and the NMPA. Flipagram is available on iOS, Android, Amazon and Windows platforms.
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EDITOR’S NOTES:
- Screenshots = https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c7q6cixgv2dw5v2/AAAfI4OntO2vYl91_nLb6mxOa?dl=0
- Additional company background = https://flipagram.com/press
