How Triller app smartly roped in top TikTokers and its CSO to become the No. 1 in-app store, with zero marketing budget

• The US-based app Triller promises data privacy and ease of editing content, two things that TikTok couldn’t offer which led to its downrise in various countries.
• Internationally, celebrities like Rebel Wilson, Kevin Hart, Alicia Keys and Cardi B are on Triller, which helped it rise to the forefront in India.
• Talks about Jio acquiring TikTok in India hasn’t shaken Triller’s spirit either.
• We caught up with Abbos Roohparvar, Senior Vice President, Triller to understand how the app managed to take over TikTok’s strong presence in the country with zero marketing budget.

After TikTok was banned in India, too many home-grown apps sprouted out to fill the void. They meticulously started riding on the vocal-for-local wave to attract new users and saw overnight popularity.

However, US-based photo and video sharing platform Triller acted rather smartly. It decided to strike while the iron was hot by coming up with a strong strategy to replace TikTok that did not leave any space for speculations.

Triller was originally planned to roll out towards the end of the year, but with the TikTok ban, those plans were accelerated overnight. It was also quick to poach top TikTokers and well-known celebrities like Bhuvan Bam, Armaan Malik, Awez Darbar, DIVINE, Manav Chabbra, etc onto its platform.

As a result, so far, Triller has seen over 40 million downloads in India and more than 250 million global downloads. And following the TikTok ban in India, its user base surged to 30 million overnight.

According to Sensor Tower data, Triller rose to the number one spot in the app store last month across 85 countries including the United States, India, Australia, France, Great Britain, Italy, and almost every major country it is available in, overtaking YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and other apps, thanks to worldwide security concerns over TikTok and Facebook.

Internationally, celebrities like Rebel Wilson, Kevin Hart, Alicia Keys and Cardi B are also on the app. This international stardom also played a key role in bringing Triller to the forefront in India amongst an array of home-grown video apps.

Telling us what kind of growth the platform witnessed as it set its foot in India, Abbos Roohparvar, Senior Vice President, Triller, said, “The platform has become one of the fastest growing social media apps in India, witnessing a 600% year-over-year growth, surpassing YouTube and Instagram. We've seen a spike in users coming over from TikTok, and most recently announced TikTok sensation Josh Richards as our new Chief Strategy Officer, who brings with him a roster of A-listers who will serve as advisors.”

Marketing Mantra

Triller aims to propagate a simple and powerful message with its communication, “You do you.” With this, it aims to become the go-to platform for all kinds of creators.

“We’re committed to furthering our influence as a safe space for artists – whether singers, dancers, comedians, creators, etc, to create and share their content through a refined and cultivated lens. A lot of our growth has happened organically, which has been a remarkably valuable bonus to our marketing efforts,” explains Roohparvar.

Revenue Model

Explaining the revenue model behind Triller, Roohparvar said, “Triller makes a profit through brand partnerships, sponsorship, integration deals along with live events and pay-per-view, like the upcoming, highly-anticipated fight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr set for November 28. Another example was this summer’s virtual talent contest, the first of its kind, Step Up to the Mic powered by Boost Mobile, and which reached more viewers than American Idol and X Factor combined.”

Triller also opens the borders and offers its creators an opportunity to associate with global brands.

“Triller helps creators monetize through our high-level relationships with major worldwide brands. We are able to help influencers on a significantly larger level than places like TikTok, by taking a hands-on creator by creator approach, working with them to understand their needs and messaging while connecting them with the most relevant and customized brand deals and partnerships,” said Roohparvar.

It also helps the music artists earn their due by offering them royalty fees every time their song is used.

“Partnerships with major music labels provide Triller users access to 95% of music in the world, and because of these partnerships, when a user plays a video that streams a song, artists make money the same way they do on other streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple,” said Roohparvar.

Differentiation factor

So far, Triller has added over 100 filters on its platform and interface that allows to add drawings, emojis, etc. All this content is shareable across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Text and E-mail. Triller also has partnerships with some of the top labels, artists and streaming services in the world so that its creators can make videos with music without the fear of posts being taken down due to copyright infringement.

Triller also hit where it hurts a lot of platforms in the segment the most -- it offers data privacy and ease of editing -- crosshairs that TikTok is caught up in across the world. Triller claims that it only keeps a tab on users’ music preferences and doesn’t access their location.

“We are incredibly meticulous when it comes to the privacy of our users, collecting only limited data that’s not shared with anyone else, including ad networks. The only data Triller is interested in, is the musical style of users so we can better personalize and curate their feed. We do not store any personal contact details and all data is encrypted so it’s completely safe. All Indian data stays within and under Indian guidelines and law. Additionally, we have a content moderation team of over 200 people who work with local companies to ensure all content aligns with the traditions and culture of that specific country,” beams Roohparvar.

Vision for the app

Roohparvar is highly optimistic that Triller will continue to be the number one app for content creation, even if TikTok does come back through Jio.

“Triller brings in about 64 million active users a month, with a total of 250 million downloads worldwide. Basis these kinds of statistics, we envision numbers to continue rising over the coming period of time. Based upon the sky-rocket success we’ve seen in just these last few months, Triller, already trending as #1 on the app store in more than 50 countries, is positioned and already established to be the next go-to, safe platform for content creation with more and more creators, influencers and celebrities joining our community,” said he.