Kwai, the overseas version of Kuaishou, as TikTok to Douyin, is setting up localization teams in Brazil and Indonesia to try to save its flagging business, said ZHENG Yanxiang, head of the international business. Brazil and Indonesia are the two countries where Kwai has the most DAUs.
Zheng said income in Brazil and Indonesia mostly comes from advertisements for Chinese companies exploring the local market. The localization team will help find more local clients
TikTok DAUs have long since passed 500 million but supposed rival Kwai has never really taken off. Since last year, Kwai has been retreating from niche markets so that it could focus on the core areas, like Southeast Asia and Latin America.
In Q1, revenue overseas was 103 million yuan (US$15 million), double compared with Q4 last year. Net loss narrowed 63.2 percent year-on-year to 1 billion yuan.
In the past five years, the office of the head of Kwai has been a revolving door. QIU Guangyu left the post in March for personal reasons. MA Hongbin who was in charge of Kuaishou’s commercialization took over in August.
