Short form app Tiki announces closure; experts say Indian apps to benefit

Social media app Tiki said it is shutting down operations effective June 28 “due to the recent challenges” faced by the tech industry.

Users will not be able to watch or create short videos or watch streams on Tiki after 11:59pm IST on June 27, it said. The app will also not be available for download from app stores. All user data stored on Tiki's servers located in India and Singapore will permanently be deleted, the Singapore-based company said on a note posted Friday on Twitter.

Tiki has more than 100 million downloads on the Play Store. It is ranked among the top 30 grossing apps on the Play Store in India and stands eighth among the top free social apps on the platform.


A number of social media apps were forced to shut down their operations in the last three years. The wildly popular ByteDance-owned TikTok, for instance, was banned in India in June 2020 along with 58 other apps with Chinese links, over allegations that the app posed a threat to national security. Soon after, a number of other apps too were forced to wind up operations. These included Bigo Live, Shareit, WeChat, Helo and Likee. This has made apps such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and apps like Tiki garner new users.


However, apart from government ban, the environment has been tough in the space for tech players. Social media giant Meta that runs Facebook and Instagram recently implemented a series of job cuts across its various business and operations units as part of its larger plan to eliminate 10,000 positions.

Twitter, under new owner Elon Musk, has slashed half of its workforce and almost entirely wiped out its India office presence. Closer home, microblogging site Koo laid off 30% of its workforce over the course of the year while ShareChat too did a round of layoffs.

Industry experts believed that Tiki's closure could provide a fillip to Indian short form video apps, especially in tier II cities and beyond. These include Sharechat, Moj and Josh.

"I can draw parallels to when TikTok shut down in India. A lot of creators with sizable followings switched to Instagram at the time while many got onto platforms like Moj, Josh and MX Takatak," Karan Pherwani, vice president at influencer marketing firm Chtrbox, told ET. "We worked closely with Josh at the time to onboard regional creators onto the platform. With Tiki's exit, I see a similar situation playing out now wherein Indian players could stand to benefit, especially among users in tier II, tier III cities and beyond."

Mohit Rana, partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants in March this year said that Indian short form apps are catching up to global players in popularity and usage.

However, industry expert Manish Maheshwari thinks Tiki's exit should serve as a wake-up call to creators. Maheshwari, the former Twitter India head, is now a cofounder of Fanory, a social platform for creators to build and monetise their community of fans.

"Tiki's exit would indeed benefit Indian short form video players but will also benefit players like us who help them directly monetise their fanbase," he said. "Creators should realise that they should not depend on social platforms alone because all the social capital that they build can be ruined overnight. It is important for creators to have their own destination and while they can use these channels for marketing, they should not associate their identities with these platforms alone."

Meanwhile, Tiki, in its note on Twitter, asked users to “download any videos that are dear to you”. The app won't be able to provide any assistance or support after the shutdown date, it said.