Zhang Xiaoran, the person in charge of Jianying product, has resigned. | Exclusive from 36Kr.
Written by Deng Yongyi
Edited by Su Jianxun and Yang Xuan
"Intelligent Emergence" has learned from multiple independent sources that Zhang Xiaoran, the product manager of Jianying, has currently resigned.
According to publicly available information, Zhang Xiaoran graduated from Wuhan University of Science and Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Intelligent Emergence" understands that she was an early member of Faceu, the predecessor of Jianying. She joined ByteDance after Faceu was acquired by ByteDance. Since the end of 2021, Zhang Xiaoran has been responsible for the overall products and businesses including Jianying, Xingtu, CapCut, etc., accompanying this business from its infancy to a period of rapid development.
In early 2024, the former CEO of Douyin, Zhang Nan, announced her departure from Douyin to lead the Jianying and CapCut businesses, and Zhang Xiaoran reported directly to Zhang Nan.
"Intelligent Emergence" has sought verification from ByteDance regarding the above-mentioned news. As of the time of publication, there has been no response.
Jianying is a video editing product launched by ByteDance in 2019. It was initially launched as the official editing application for Douyin. In the past five years, Jianying has completed user coverage from individual users, professional users to enterprises. In February 2021, Jianying officially released the Pad, Mac and Windows versions. In 2022, Jianying officially released the enterprise version, thus becoming a full-matrix product covering B-end enterprises and C-end creators.
Although it has always kept a low profile, Jianying has already become the largest video editing tool product in China. Within the ByteDance system, Jianying is also one of the few new businesses that still maintain rapid growth. Less than two years after its establishment, its monthly active users have exceeded 100 million.
△ Source: Bloomberg
The overseas version of Jianying, CapCut, has also experienced rapid expansion along with the TikTok ecosystem. According to Sensor Tower, CapCut has rapidly risen since its launch in 2020 and has become the second most downloaded application in the US App Store in 2023. In 2024, CapCut has more than 300 million monthly active users, accounting for 81% of the total active users of mobile video editing.
According to a report by Jiemian in November 2024, Jianying and CapCut achieved more than triple-digit revenue growth in 2024, and the total revenue is approaching 10 billion yuan. At the same time, the combined global monthly active users of Jianying and CapCut have exceeded 800 million.
Today, Jianying also undertakes a more important historical mission.
The rapid growth of Douyin into a content community is inseparable from Jianying behind it. Previously, video editing basically required the use of professional editing software on the PC side, with a quite high usage threshold. The emergence of Jianying has greatly lowered this threshold - even ordinary users can complete tasks such as inspiration sourcing, material finding, shooting, editing, dubbing, etc. on their mobile phones.
In the past two years of the generative AI wave, the content creation field has also been the first to be affected. Jianying is one of the ByteDance products that earliest implemented AI and has the widest coverage.
"Intelligent Emergence" understands that since 2022, Jianying has internally started the research and implementation of text-to-image, AI-generated music and other directions. Now, Jianying products have launched a variety of AI functions, including digital humans, AI intelligent voiceover editing, text-to-image, etc.
The business importance of Jianying is further enhanced. "Intelligent Emergence" understands that before Zhang Nan came to Jianying, Zhang Xiaoran was mainly responsible for the overall product and business, but now Zhang Nan's front-line involvement has become higher, and the product and business are being closely monitored. In May 2024, Jianying launched the AI video application "Jimeng", which includes functions such as image generation, intelligent canvas, video generation, and story creation. Within Jianying, R & D and product resources have also begun to tilt more towards "Jimeng".
Jimeng carries ByteDance's hope of creating "the next-generation Douyin", and its positioning is not only an AI creation tool, but also a content community. Previously, Zhang Nan had expressed optimism about the AI prospects in an internal letter and decided to start an internal entrepreneurship again to create a new AI tool.
ByteDance is also planning to subsequently shift more resources to more modal product forms. This month, "Intelligent Emergence" alsoexclusively reported that ByteDance has prioritized the business priority of "Jimeng". In the future, the form of "Jimeng" may be a large application for games, videos, and the Metaworld.
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This article is from the WeChat official account "Intelligent Emergence", author: Deng Yongyi, and is published with authorization by 36Kr.