Yesterday came in the news that Mr.Trump is banning TikTok in the US within 45 days if ByteDance ( the parent company), doesn't sell it to an American company. For the last one week, there is another related news that's created quite some excitement - Microsoft is planning to BUY TikTok. For the uninitiated, Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned in its effort to acquire TikTok. Last week in fact Satya Nadela, the Indian origin Microsoft CEO, called up Trump to allay the later's fear of privacy & national security of US citizen's data. From what we hear as per media reports, that swayed Trump's decision. And as we got the news yesterday that TokTok is indeed being banned in the US if not sold in 45 days, we will need to see how this shapes up or expedites the acquisition talk. Personally I was expecting, in his true trump style, Mr.President banning TikTok over a tweet. Wow! that would have been social media used to ban other social media.
However, what got me inquisitive is why Microsoft is looking at this opportunity? And that's where I found some interesting facts.

TikTok has the Numbers! Launched in 2016, TikTok can easily claim the No.1 spot as the fastest-growing social media company when it comes to Subscribers count. Instagram took 10 years and today has 825 Million users, Facebook took 16 years and now has around 1.5 Bn users and TikTok just zoomed past the Billion subscribers count in less than 3 yrs, in fact, TikTok has achieved 2 Billion downloads by April 2020. Well agreed INDIA did have a major role in that, but that's still 30% ( 600mn)

The Pandemic Surge: With the lockdowns globally came the surge of people spending more hours on their phone, Nielsen in its recent report summarised it aptly - "Social distancing leads to a spike in virtual Social Connectivity". And this is where we saw a tectonic shift in even the adults trying their luck with TikToks, which were till then regarded for the teens. I am sure you would have seen those hundreds of  TikToks that flooded your Whatsapp during the first phase of Lockdown:  funny husband-wife tiktoks of housecleaning/ utensil washing videos. So now TikTok had the adult population also hooked, which was stuck at home and nothing to do for entertainment, switched to TikTok! The journey of TikTok was shortlived though in India, as it got banned in June this year, courtesy geopolitical tensions.

Attention Span of Humans: The Goldfish which had the coveted title for more than a century of having the shortest attention span, has moved up the ladder in the last few years and we human beings have taken the top spot or shall I say the lowest. How do you feel lagging behind the docile goldfish in terms of being able to focus on a task or object?
From 12 sec in 2000 to the present day 8 sec, its been a scary decline in just 20 years, that's a whopping 33 % decline. And if this was not enough, JAMPP shared in a study a few years ago, that every year the human attention span decreases by 88%! We as humans have been on a journey southwards when it comes to our Attention span. The latest research suggests our attention span is worse than a goldfish! and it stands at a dismal 8 sec.( If you didn't' get distracted while reading this article, I will consider I did a good job) Be it  Netflix surfing, scouting for the next news on news apps, or be it the habit of scrolling through Instagram/Facebook feed mindlessly without having a thought - we seem to be always looking for that next thing that will hook us, although that for now, seems misplaced.

And TikTok seems to have caught the nerves of human beings with their now-ubiquitous 15 sec short videos. Their offering of short videos has dovetailed well with what the humans were craving: Dopamine burst by seeing something interesting or funny every few minutes.  No wonder now Facebook is trying hard to play the catch-up game with their version of it in REELS. 
Do read this article for details on how Facebook is trying their luck second time after the failure of LASSO, in convincing the TikTok users to switch to REELS (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/facebook-launches-tiktok-competitor-instagram-reels.html)

Ease of Broadcasting & Shopping: Well yes YOUTUBE came up with the tagline, 'Broadcast Yourself'  decades ago and we can safely say they did live up to that potential. As on date its one of the most trusted platforms for many visual content creators, however, they took a decade to build this kind of clout & fan following. However when you look at TikTok, while they do have similar numbers at their end, but what's just mindblowing is the speed at which the app has grown in their target market. And at the heart of this fan following is the way the APP has been designed. Features & Options that were earlier accessible to video editors have been simplified and everyone seems to be hooked to the art of making fabulous but short videos. 
Almost 40-45% of the user base of TikTok is in the range of 16-25 yrs and guess what this is also the age group which seems to be spending most on shopping via Social Media, no wonder Advertisers are flocking TikTok now, and they aptly launched TikTok Ads in 2019. If the initial response is some kind of a cue, we sense this has all the potential to snatch some market share from Google ( read YouTube Ads). Two brands in particular that leveraged the TikTok Ads well: NIKE & APPLE Music, and they seem to have mastered the craft of TikTok Ads with their visually compelling campaigns. With the edgy time frame, advanced targeting, and unique ad creation feature it's evident why it's scoring higher over their predecessors.

Microsoft & TikTok: On Monday(3rd August) Microsoft shares surged 5% on the weekend news of it firming up its plan of acquiring TikTok. Well, 5% sounds low, but if you are Microsoft, that 5% is $77 Bn. !! If reports are to be believed, Microsoft might end up paying $5 Bn. for the Rights of TikTok - the US, NewZealand & Australia. Still, it's a super deal for Microsoft, especially in the backdrop of its last few acquisitions.   Microsoft somehow post the departure of Bill Gates seems to have lost its steam and even though it did the acquisition of Linkedin a few years back, that hasn't moved the needle from a profitability point of view.  Let's face it,  LinkedIn is aging & slowing down. And from a macro perspective, TikTok will give Microsoft that much needed Video Service in its portfolio, which somehow was missed by this tech giant when almost all of its competitors have some form of video service   — and hence the 3X acceleration of TikTok’s user base could add that much-needed firepower to Microsoft & revive the animal spirits.
TikTok on its part seems to be pulling all the right strings be it hiring an American as its CEO in Kevin Mayer or sweetening the deal for Microsoft, literally every day. However, analysts are indeed amazed at the INDIA strategy for TikTok as what's presently on the anvil for Microsoft is the just US, NewZealand & Australia. Though there are recent reports which state that Microsoft might now be looking at buying TikTok globally, well when you have cash reserves of $136 Bn. , why isn't that possible too? 

Houdini Act Possible?
Will Mukesh Ambani pull in another Houdini act and lap up TikTok India which has 600 Mn subscribers or will we see the birth of  JIO's TikTok version soon, only time will tell. For now, INDIA definitely seems to be garnering a lot of attention for all the good reasons. One thing is for sure, TikTok will be live again in India soon after the change of ownership, its 600mn users is a huge number - this just cannot be ignored.