Retain users longer? How TikTok is inspired by Netflix

It's a surprising move, but when you think about it, it's one of the smartest moves TikTok has made by adding mobile games to its application. Indeed, by offering a new type of entertainment, the company is ensuring that its users stay on its platform longer, but also that it attracts new followers.

Because if TikTok is indeed one of the most popular social networks in the world, overshadowing Facebook and Instagram, the application is not satiated. It wants to continue to grow and to do so, it needs to renew itself and offer new features to its users. And that's where mobile games come in.

Keeping it fun

These mini-games are also an opportunity for creators to create content. Many of them are already filming themselves playing games or using augmented reality filters. Here, TikTok allows them to record their gameplay and share it in the form of a video. It's easy to imagine that some people will do this, encouraging others to do the same, even if it's just to beat their score. That's all it takes to get the ball rolling.

Mini-games therefore represent an opportunity to create engagement among users. One might wonder whether ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is not pursuing even greater ambitions in the long term and thus making TikTok a version 2.0 of Twitch. It could indeed allow its users to stream their video games while interacting live with their subscribers, as is already the case with TikTok Live.

We're extrapolating a bit here, but it's a possibility. Over the past few years, video games have become increasingly popular and have become the number one entertainment market. This has prompted tech giants to step in, as Apple and Netflix have done. And tools such as Twitch, which allows you to film yourself playing games while interacting live with others, have only accentuated this. They have themselves become extremely popular.

If TikTok is far from being in trouble, it is not stupid of it to want to be inspired by what is popular to enrich its platform and thus maintain its position compared to the competition.

How to take advantage of this?

Another proof that TikTok's strategy is well thought out: the mini-games are only accessible under the videos. There is no dedicated page to go to in order to enjoy them.

Creators will be able to add a mini-game to their creation when writing the description of their video. They will need to click on "Add a link" and then "Link your video to a mini-game". The mini-game will then be added below the video, once it has been posted. This will once again encourage user engagement.