Fresh data from QuestMobile, cited by Nomura, indicates that Douyin has overtaken WeChat in total monthly usage time for the first time, solidifying ByteDance's leading position in the battle for user attention across China's mobile internet sector.
In July 2026, Douyin's total monthly usage time surged 29% year-on-year, capturing a 19.4% share of total time spent and edging past Tencent's WeChat, which held an 18.8% share, making Douyin the most-used application in China by this metric. ByteDance's portfolio of five apps—Douyin, Douyin Lite, Hongguo Short Drama, Toutiao, and Fanqie Free Novels—collectively accounted for 40.9% of the time share among China's top 50 most-used apps, a significant jump from 33.6% in July 2025. This figure comfortably exceeds the 29.1% held by the Tencent ecosystem.
This shift carries direct implications for investment strategies in the internet sector: ByteDance's deepening penetration into content consumption is evident, while Tencent faces sustained pressure on its time share within the social and content ecosystem. Concurrently, the competitive battlefield among major internet giants is swiftly moving toward AI-powered office assistants.
Douyin's Ascent: DAU Gap Remains Wide, Growth Drivers Differ
According to Nomura's analysis of QuestMobile data, Douyin's 29% year-on-year increase in total monthly usage time was propelled by a 19% rise in daily active users (DAU) and an 8% lift in daily time spent per DAU (DTSD). In contrast, WeChat's total monthly usage time grew just 3% year-on-year, supported primarily by a 3% DAU increase.
In terms of user scale, WeChat retains a commanding lead. WeChat's DAU stands at 931 million, compared to Douyin's 714 million, leaving a substantial gap between the two. This suggests that Douyin's overtaking in usage time is driven mainly by heightened engagement depth per user rather than overall user numbers.
On monthly active user penetration, WeChat ranks first at 90.2%, with Douyin following at 80.6%. QuestMobile data also shows that China's monthly active smartphone users grew 1.3% year-on-year to 1.28 billion in July 2026, remaining stable in recent months. Total monthly usage time across the mobile internet expanded 8.8% year-on-year, a slight acceleration from the 8.6% growth recorded the prior month.
ByteDance's App Suite: Short Drama Surges, Free Novels Show Slowing Momentum
The standout performer within ByteDance's portfolio is the short drama application Hongguo Short Drama. Nomura's QuestMobile figures reveal that Hongguo Short Drama's DAU reached 168 million in July, up 107% year-on-year and 8% month-on-month, with total monthly usage time soaring 157% year-on-year. The app's DAU now exceeds the combined DAU of the four major long-form video platforms: Tencent Video, Youku, Mango TV, and iQIYI.
Long-form video platforms are generally under strain. Total monthly usage time for iQIYI, Tencent Video, Youku, and Mango TV fell 27%, 31%, 47%, and 24% year-on-year, respectively, with corresponding declines in DAU across the board.
Hongguo Short Drama recently launched a sub-application dedicated to AI-animated short dramas called "Hongguo AI Animated Drama," which saw its July DAU climb 37% month-on-month to 16 million, signaling rapid user acquisition momentum.
Meanwhile, ByteDance's free reading app Fanqie Free Novels is showing signs of decelerating growth. Its July DAU rose 6% year-on-year to 144 million, down from an 8% year-on-year growth rate in June. Nomura suggests this could indicate that user growth for the app is nearing its ceiling after years of rapid expansion, with competition from AI-animated short dramas also diverting attention away from literature-focused apps.
AI Competition Shifts Focus: From Chatbots to Office Assistants
Nomura highlights that the AI competitive focus among China's internet giants is accelerating its pivot from AI chatbots to AI office assistants.
QuestMobile data shows ByteDance's Doubao maintains the top DAU position in China's AI chatbot sector, with July DAU at 168 million, a 3.6-fold year-on-year increase, though month-on-month growth flattened, ending a streak of consecutive growth since August 2025. Nomura interprets this as a signal that intensity within the AI chatbot arena is cooling.
In the AI office assistant space, Alibaba has consolidated QoderWork, MuleRun, and Wukong into QwenWork, leveraging DingTalk to tap into enterprise workflows. Tencent positions WorkBuddy as its flagship general-purpose AI office assistant, gradually integrating it with WeChat, WeCom, Tencent Docs, and Tencent Meeting. ByteDance officially launched Doubao Work on August 25, merging the Feishu product team with Doubao and moving the Feishu sales team under Volcano Engine.
Looking at traditional office applications, QuestMobile data shows DingTalk's July DAU at roughly 77 million (down 1% year-on-year), while WeCom's DAU grew 9% year-on-year to 72 million, steadily narrowing the gap with DingTalk. Feishu posted the highest year-on-year DAU growth at 51% to 10 million, though it starts from a relatively smaller base.
Comments