China's short video market sees explosive growth: Report

BEIJING - Becoming a celebrity is the dream of many, and Tian is getting closer to that dream.

Tian, 30, is a white-collar worker in Beijing. On short video application Douyin, Tian has more than 2,000 fans. So far, she has received more than 50,000 likes on the Dubsmash-like app.

On her page on Douyin, Tian shares everything, from her son's daily activities, to her pet dogs, to little skits created by her and her husband.

"Making funny videos, and incorporating them with music is really interesting," Tian said. "Of course, I make the videos for fun because it is quite relaxing."

China's short video market has seen explosive growth, according to a report.

The report, released Monday by data provider iResearch, said that China's short video market was valued at 5.73 billion yuan ($900 million) in 2017, an increase of 184 percent.

The industry value is predicted to surpass the 30 billion mark in 2020, the report said.

Companies like Tencent, Sohu and Iqiyi have all started providing short video content.

"Short videos are popular because they are complementary to traditional audio and video content on the internet," said Sun Jiashan with the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

Fans say that the short videos help them "chill out" from a stressed-out lifestyle.

"My favorite videos are all about pets," said Zhou Na, a nurse in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province. "After a whole day's work, watching the 15-second videos makes me laugh, which relieves my pressure."