Cheetah Mobile Debuts ‘Cheez’ - a short video App in India

Cheetah Mobile Inc has launched Cheez, a new social video app to create, share and discover short videos that are up to 17 seconds long.

Cheez comes with a wide range of interactive features and a revenue share model for creators. It offers a huge selection of live filters, voice changers, stickers, and music. The editing tools on the app are user-friendly, and first time creators will find it easy to use. The intuitive editing tools let users trim, cut, merge and adjust playback speed.

The app includes fun and unique functions like Dance Off, a game-like feature that displays a scrolling set of dance moves for users to replicate. Dance Off uses the front-facing camera and image sensing technology to detect user performance. To encourage and reward creators, Cheez features hashtag challenges and group "Battles" throughout the main feed for people to vote on questions and then create videos to support their side.

Cheetah Mobile is confident that Cheez will see widespread adoption in the coming months with increasing mobile internet consumption in India. The social video app has already seen 5 times increase in downloads 2 months since its beta launch. Cheez wants to inspire people to share high-spirited moments with others and become the video app of preference to share short videos all over India.

The app has been designed to provide users with videos for a few seconds of enjoyment and take pressure off of content creators to make lengthy videos which require planning and more careful consideration. This app aims to do exactly what the name implies, to say Cheez and make you smile with videos on comedy, cooking, makeup, pets, pranks, and fashion. Cheez will connect you with a short video community with the world’s most fun video moments. All one has to do is post short videos with the coolest effects, stickers, filters and pop tracks, explore new videos and stories uploaded by ‘Cheezers’ every day and engage by liking and sharing fun video moments with friends on Instagram, Facebook, etc.

India has become one of the major consumers of social media today, with 200 million active social media users and 88% of them sharing content on their social profiles. A major chunk of the country’s population constitutes millennials, a generation that thrives on sharing their personal lives on multiple social platforms. Video apps serve as a medium for all the individuals who want to showcase their talent and achieve viral success. This video format is well suited to the Indian users as short and crisp videos are more popular among this audience.

“As a platform that hopes to cultivate local talent and bring light-hearted and short video content to the masses, it is only natural that we put a strong focus on the India market as it houses some of the world’s most talented individuals only waiting to be discovered by a global audience.” Said, Yuki He, CEO of Live.me Inc. Cheez is a subsidiary product of the world renowned live broadcasting app, Live.me.

Leading live broadcasting video platform Live.me, has seen exponential growth in India since its launch earlier this year in February, witnessing a 10xjump in users in just five months. Top influencers on the platform are drawing up to US$1,000 in a week. Cheez hopes to achieve the same goal of connecting Indian creators with a worldwide audience.

In line with Cheetah Mobile’s strategy for AI across all its apps, Cheez will utilize deep learning algorithms to create a personalized feed of videos created by other ‘Cheezers’. The team behind the product hopes that Cheez becomes a platform for discovering and viewing a variety of videos ranging from funny to sentimental, and everything in between. Cheetah Mobile has set up a local team to introduce localized features to the app.