China’s largest search engine Baidu has launched a new app called Kuaisou Shipin, which translates to “quick video search,” as first spotted by Sina Technology.
The app has two main search functions—locating trending videos and finding feature films. Users must be over 17 years old and log in with a Baidu account to use the app.
With Kauisou Shipin, Baidu hopes to cement its hold over China’s web search market, in which it commands roughly three-quarters of the market share. Search revenue is core to Baidu’s business, contributing about 75% of the company’s bottom line in 2018.
The release of this video search app comes less than a month after Bytedance—the company behind the popular short video apps Douyin and Tik Tok, as well as the content aggregator Jinri Toutiao—began commercializing its own search engines in a move widely interpreted as taking aim at Baidu.
