ByteDance’s popular social video app picked up 500 million users in five months, Sensor Tower data shows.| sensortower.com
Twitch is a livestreaming platform focused on video games. It was founded by Justin Kan in 2011, originally as a spin-off of Justin.tv. The latter started life in 2007 as a single channel, broadcasting Kan’s life live around the clock, pioneering the concept of ‘lifecasting’. The website attracted interest from others who were more interested in broadcasting their own lives than viewing that of Kan’s, which had nonetheless served as great exposure for Justin.TV. Acting on this interes...| Business of Apps
YouTube was launched in 2005. It was founded by three PayPal employees: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who ran the company from an office above a small restaurant in San Mateo. The first video uploaded to the platform was “Me at the zoo”, featuring Karim. By the years end, YouTube was hosting over two million videos per day on its website and was averaging over 20 million daily active users. It wouldn’t be long before Google scooped up YouTube, acquiring the startup for $1.65...| Business of Apps
Netflix was conceived in 1997 by Reed Hastings (the current CEO) and Marc Randolph. Both had previous ventures in the West Coast tech scene, Hastings was the owner of debugging software firm Pure Atria, while Randolph had co-founded and then sold MicroWarehouse for $700 million. Originally a DVD-rental service, in the same vein as Blockbuster, Netflix broke ground with its mail order service. It introduced a subscription model at the turn of the millennium, which allowed subscribers to rent a...| Business of Apps