TikTok owner ByteDance launches new video search tool, eyeing Baidu’s dominance

TikTok owner ByteDance has launched a stand-alone app in China to search for short video content published on Douyin, bringing it into closer competition with internet search giant Baidu.

Douyin Search, which draws on the popularity of the Chinese version of TikTok, became available for download on various domestic Android app stores this week. The app was not available on Apple’s App Store as of Thursday.

The app’s homepage has a search bar at the top, followed by a few trending topics. The ones on Thursday afternoon contained “the battle scenes of Black Myth: Wukong”, referring to the popular Chinese video game released this week, and “Eric Tsang Chi-wai achieved 100 million sales in three hours of live commerce”, referring to the Hong Kong actor who sold wares during a live-streamed shopping event on Douyin a day earlier.

Developed by Beijing Douyin Technology, the app markets itself as “real and reliable”, offering “strong search and accurate recommendations” from the short video platform Douyin. The app is also powered by ByteDance’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based recommendation system.