Short video app VMate becomes top fourth app in App Annie’s breakout social media app category.
The rise of TikTok in India has resulted in many other short video platforms trying to make a name for themselves. One such short video app is VMate which has now entered the top five “breakout social media app” category as per App Annie’s “State of Mobile 2020” report.
The ranking is based on year-on-year growth of app downloads on iOS and Google Play Store. In India, TikTok topped the chart in the category followed by Helo and Hago. VMate grabbed the fourth spot and the fifth place was claimed by WhatsApp Business.
VMate has a total of 50 million active users in India and is very similar to TikTok. VMate claims its popularity has seen the emergence of many popular creators on the platform from UP and Bihar who are also making a living out of it. Since VMate managed to stand out against the competition, we decided to give it a try and see how things work around here.
What’s there on VMate
The name and icon of “VMate” remind of the VidMate, a video grabber app that is used to search and download videos over the internet. However, the VMate app is a video creator app launched in 2017, which doesn’t look any different from other short video platforms.
If we were to describe the app in simple words, I’d say VMate is “Rural TikTok”. That’s because the interface is the same as most of the video streaming platforms but the content mainly comes from rural areas showing the kind of audience the app has garnered.
There is one thing that I liked about VMate– you can see the earnings made by each video on your feed. I don’t know how accurate these numbers are but the earning also depends on the gifts and likes received on each video.
When you open the VMate, you will be taken to the Trending category where you will see popular videos created by users on the platform. There are two more tabs for video consumption. The Following tab shows the videos from people you are following whereas the Nearby tab shows videos from the areas near your location.
Video creation and VMate influencers
To create videos, users have multiple filters, stickers, soundtracks, and other features to experiment. Users can also upload existing videos on their phone or use special effects to make a collage of pictures. Users can also copy effects from videos of other creators as well.
You can simply swipe left on a video to go to the creator’s profile, which is almost like Instagram’s profile page. Here you will see the follow button along with creators’ followers, likes, post count, and people they follow.
According to VMate, one of the top creators on the platform, Anju Singh from Mumbai, earns around Rs 1 to 2 lakh each month. Another influencer on VMate is Naina Jee who is also said to earn the same amount each month with a pool of 2 million followers. With 5.5. lakh followers Abdullah Pathan is among the top creators on VMate, who according to the platforms earns around Rs 1 lakh per month.
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/vmate-becomes-top-4th-breakout-social-media-app-heres-what-this-short-video-app-can-do-6230027/
