WeChat, or Weixin in Chinese, was launched in 2011 as an instant messaging app, and as of 2023, it has 1.36 billion monthly active users – almost equaling the entire population of China. Known world-wide as a super app even Elon Musk has thought of copying its functions. In the first episode of #ChinaExplained we take a look at how #WeChat began and its domination of the Chinese market over the last decade.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 For most people, it is now unimaginable to live life
00:15 or even a day without mobile apps.
00:19 It would be like traveling back in time.
00:23 If you could have just one app, what would it be?
00:28 Facebook, TikTok, a banking app, Uber, WhatsApp?
00:33 It's a tough one, isn't it?
00:35 But in China, there is a one simple answer, WeChat.
00:39 Despite the dizzying speed of technological change,
00:44 WeChat has remained the most downloaded
00:47 and the most popular app in China for years.
00:50 And in 2023, it had nearly 1.4 billion active monthly uses.
00:57 That's almost the entire population of China.
00:59 So in a culture that embraces innovation
01:02 and fierce competition,
01:03 how has one single app conquered all?
01:07 What is WeChat?
01:09 WeChat, or Weixin in Chinese,
01:12 was developed by China's tech giant Tencent
01:15 and launched in 2011.
01:17 Its first incarnation was an instant messaging app
01:20 which allowed voice messages and later video calls.
01:24 It was an impressive offering at a time
01:27 when most in China were buying their first smartphones.
01:31 Within five years of existence,
01:33 WeChat was being used on 94% of China's smartphones.
01:37 806 million people are active on it every month.
01:42 Other functions also attract people to WeChat,
01:45 like fun shareable emojis or GIFs.
01:48 Oh, I like this one.
01:53 (baby crying)
01:54 But why is it a super app?
01:57 What sets WeChat apart from its rivals
02:00 is that it doesn't simply innovate.
02:03 It also diversifies its offer.
02:05 Hi, Jaden.
02:07 Hi.
02:08 How many apps do you have on your phone?
02:10 Far too many.
02:11 Actually, the average American has 80.
02:15 From shopping and banking to transport and food delivery,
02:19 not to mention the news apps.
02:22 But in China, you can do nearly all of these things
02:25 on WeChat, energy bills, tickets, hotels,
02:28 restaurants, streaming TV, and even sending a parcel.
02:32 Basically, for most Chinese,
02:36 if they have to live with one app, that would be WeChat.
02:40 How did WeChat do it?
02:42 WeChat owes its popularity
02:45 to its early arrival on the app market.
02:47 And the internet grew, WeChat grew with it.
02:51 10 years ago, banking was being transformed
02:53 as mobile money swept the global South.
02:56 WeChat launched WeChat Payment in 2013,
03:00 bringing money transfer between friends and families
03:02 to the mainstream in China years ahead of the game.
03:06 It also used the Chinese culture
03:08 to encourage electronic money transfer
03:11 with its gifting function, Red Envelope.
03:14 It revolutionized the centuries-old tradition
03:17 of sending money in Red Envelope
03:19 as a Chinese New Year gift.
03:22 The acceptance of mobile money
03:24 elevated WeChat's reputation,
03:26 establishing trust in technology and the brand.
03:30 Spring Festival in 2015
03:32 saw one billion WeChat money transfers.
03:35 And since then, they have never looked back.
03:38 Another genius feature was to allow its platform
03:41 to act like an open-source internet.
03:44 By building many apps in the WeChat ecosystem,
03:47 it evolved from an app into an app store
03:51 and encouraged people to contribute their own mini-apps.
03:55 In 2022, new functions increased 30%
03:59 to cover more than 200 industries,
04:01 including tourism, entertainment,
04:04 retail, medicine, and education.
04:07 That catapulted daily users in 2023 to 600 million,
04:12 and transactions exceeded 280 billion US dollars.
04:17 This turned WeChat into the world's first mega-app.
04:22 So how would the Chinese react
04:24 if they were told to delete WeChat?
04:25 - I can't function without it.
04:29 - No, never.
04:31 - I would lose all my friends.
04:33 - We have got some strong reactions, haven't we?
04:35 No wonder some other tech billionaires
04:37 are looking east for inspiration.
04:39 - How about if we just copy WeChat?
04:41 Hey, we'll do it.
04:43 Copy them.
04:44 - But wait, not everything is a slam dunk.
04:47 Gen Z has different ideas about which apps are cool.
04:50 In 2020, WeChat launched a short video channel feature
04:55 to rival Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
04:59 But despite the 200 million daily users
05:01 and merchandise business of over $14 billion,
05:05 Douyin still dominates the younger markets in China.
05:09 Why hasn't WeChat conquered the world?
05:12 Most of its functions only work in China
05:15 with the Chinese business.
05:16 Meanwhile, other Chinese apps are on fire.
05:19 TikTok now reaches over 1 billion around the world
05:22 and its parent company ByteDance
05:24 is using its TikTok user base
05:26 to turbo boost its mobile video editor app CapCut,
05:31 giving it nearly half a billion users.
05:33 And don't forget the e-commerce apps such as TeeMoo,
05:36 which saw a yearly increase of nearly 800% in downloads,
05:40 while Shein now boasts 75 million users worldwide.
05:45 Dizzying, isn't it?
05:47 So can WeChat reinvent itself for a global audience?
05:51 We'll see how this super app will respond
05:54 to the new kids on the block.
05:56 (upbeat music)
05:58 (upbeat music)
06:01 (upbeat music)
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06:09 (upbeat music)