Reddit is buying short-form video platform Dubsmash, becoming the latest social media sites to edge its way into a market dominated by TikTok

• Reddit is buying Dubsmash, it announced Sunday, as social media platforms continue to expand into the short-form video space currently dominated by TikTok.
• The deal will give Reddit users access to Dubsmash's editing and short-video creation tools, but Dubsmash will still maintain its own platform and brand.
• The companies didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal, but a spokeswoman for Reddit told Reuters the acquisition was based on a combination of cash and stock.
• Dubsmash's entire team will join Reddit "immediately."

Reddit is buying US short-video platform Dubsmash, the social network firm said Sunday, becoming the latest company to expand in a space dominated by Chinese-owned TikTok.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a spokeswoman for Reddit said the acquisition was based on a combination of cash and stock.

The success of ByteDance's TikTok has prompted many social media companies to add short-video services to their platforms, with Snapchat rolling out "Spotlight" in November and Facebook launching "Instagram Reels" earlier this year.

Reddit said the deal would give its users, who can already upload and stream videos, access to Dubsmash's editing and short-video creation tools.

Reddit also highlighted Dubsmash's diverse userbase, which is more than two-thirds female, and added that around 25% of all Black teens in the US are on Dubsmash.

"It's clear that our missions closely align and that our community-focused platforms can coexist and grow as we learn from each other," Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said.

The San Francisco-based company added that Dubsmash would maintain its own platform and brand.

Dubsmash's entire team, including co-founders Suchit Dash, Jonas Drüppel, and Tim Specht, will join Reddit "immediately."

Read more: How much money do TikTok stars make? 10 creators break down what they earn from brand sponsorships.

Dubsmashed launched in Germany in 2014, and relocated to New York in 2016. It now has more than 1 billion video views per month.

Reddit is growing, too. Last month, Insider Intelligence estimated that Reddit had seen a sharp acceleration in US user growth, with the number of monthly logged-in users in the US growing by over a quarter from last year to reach 37.7 million in 2020.

This will be because of both demand for entertainment and connection during lockdowns, and "the higher volume of news in 2020, due to both the pandemic and the fraught election cycle," according to Peter Newman, eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence.