Douyin

Douyin is the largest short-video platform in mainland China and the domestic counterpart of TikTok, operated by the same parent company but as an entirely separate product with its own content pool.

Distribution works by algorithm rather than follower count, so a first video can reach a large audience — the property that makes it a viable cold-start channel. Live commerce is heavily built in, and for many merchants livestream selling on Douyin now outweighs their traditional e-commerce storefront.

Operating there requires a domestic business entity and platform verification, and rules around content, claims and product categories are enforced more tightly than on most Western platforms.