As TikTok pleads with the U.S. Supreme Court to let it continue operating in the United States, one video company is taking advantage of the uncertainty around TikTok’s sister app.
CapCut, a video editing tool made by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has gained about 300 million users since launching outside of China in 2020, according to the data analytics firm SensorTower. It offers editing templates so that people can easily post videos on social media platforms, such as TikTok. Bloomberg reported that the company’s mobile-first growth has even threatened Adobe and Canva, which have become the incumbents when it comes to making creative digital tools. And CapCut is free—for the most part, though it does offer a premium tier for $9.99 a month that comes with more professional features such as camera tracking and vocal isolation. Yet the company could be affected by a TikTok ban.
Now, a smaller company called Captions, which uses artificial intelligence technology to easily cut raw video footage, is adjusting its business model in order to position itself for a future without CapCut. Captions currently has about 51 million users, according to SensorTower.
On Jan. 9, Captions, which has offered a tiered plan starting at $9.99/month, announced that it is now offering a free version of its software in a move that makes video editing more accessible to budget-conscious users—perhaps those who don’t need as much AI-powered cutting-edge tech. And they know there’s an opportunity with CapCut’s future on the ropes.
“We’ve long considered offering a free plan to make video creation more accessible,” says Gaurav Misra, Captions’s cofounder and CEO. “But now that millions of creators might lose their go-to editing application, the timing felt right for Captions to launch our free tier—ensuring that creators everywhere still have access to powerful editing tools regardless of their budget.”
Today, as TikTok’s fate rests in the hands of nine justices, the race to scoop up the platform’s users isn’t limited to big tech behemoths like Meta and YouTube. It extends deeper, into the very tools used to create social-ready videos. Captions, for one, isn’t waiting to make a move.
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