TikTok enters ed-tech space, will now serve educational videos
What's the story
China's famous short-form video platform, TikTok, has made its first move in the ed-tech sector of India. The company, owned by the world's most valuable start-up ByteDance, has launched a learning program, one that will see a number of creators and firms offer educational content, or #EduTok videos, for people in the country. Here's all you need to know about it.
Program
#EduTok: TikTok's step to serve educational content
In a recent announcement, TikTok said it is working with several creators and firms in India to serve #EduTok videos on its platform. They will be similar to regular, 15-second-long TikTok videos but focus on specific learning videos, like career advice, life tips, motivational talks, and new languages. The learning-related videos will cover topics ranging from school-level Math and Science to health and fitness.
Goal
Goal to democratize learning for Indians
With the new program, TikTok hopes to democratize learning for Indians using its platform. The company claims to have 200 million monthly active users in the country and says people have already shared more than 10 million videos tagged as #EduTok. These clips, it says, have already been viewed more than 48 billion times by the Indian community.
Creators
Who will be producing these #EduTok videos
Last month, TikTok had partnered with ed-tech start-ups Vedantu, Vidya Guru, Hello English, and CETKing to produce educational content for the platform. Now, it has expanded this list with bigger brands, including Toppr, Made Easy, and Times Internet's GradeUp. Notably, the company has also partnered with Josh Talks and the Nudge Foundation, a non-profit focused on education and poverty, to mentor 5,000 young creators.
Plan
Clearly, TikTok wants to expand now
The move from TikTok clearly shows its growing ambitions in the content space, where it wants to expand beyond entertaining content and establish itself as a prominent player in the e-learning segment, which is expected to be valued at $2 billion in the next two years. Not to mention, the latest program will also help the company go against YouTube, its prime competitor.