Clapper Consumer Progress Is Sky Rocketing As Customers Search TikTok Alternate options

• The app Clapper has surged in downloads amid a possible TikTok ban within the US.
• Clapper is a social-video app based in 2020 and based mostly in Texas.
• It affords an ad-free expertise and monetization for creators.

Clapper, an upstart video and livestreaming app, has soared to 3rd place within the free iPhone app obtain charts. The surge comes as TikTok awaits a call from the Supreme Court docket about whether or not it is going to face a ban within the US.

Clapper was based in 2020 when the primary Trump administration initially floated the likelihood of a TikTok ban. Bita Motiie, Clapper’s head of operations, informed BI that since then, Clapper has seen spikes in person progress any time the subject has been within the information.

“We have seen skyrocketing numbers of customers becoming a member of us just lately attributable to the truth that individuals are actively now searching for an alternate,” Motiie mentioned.

The highest trending subject on Clapper on Wednesday was #TikTokRefugees.

An identical dynamic appears to have pushed the TikTok-like app Xiaohongshu, also referred to as RedNote, to No. 1 on the free iPhone apps leaderboard.

The US Congress handed a divest-or-ban legislation final yr that may pressure TikTok to cease working within the US if its Chinese language guardian firm, ByteDance, does not promote the app. TikTok informed the Supreme Court docket that the app would “go darkish” within the US on Sunday if the divestment deadline is not prolonged. A Supreme Court docket choice on TikTok’s future is anticipated this week and authorized specialists informed BI they thought the justices would uphold the legislation.

“Loads of our focus proper now’s serving to all these TikTok customers be part of our platform and be taught concerning the variations,” Motiie mentioned.

Clapper shares a lot of the identical vertical video performance as TikTok however differs in a couple of key methods. It is solely accessible to customers 17 or older and does not carry advertisements.

“Persons are being bombarded with advertisements 24/7 by means of their telephones, and we need to present a secure haven the place creators can deal with that real reference to others,” Motiie mentioned.

Creators can earn cash on Clapper by receiving presents from different customers in livestreams, group chats, and direct messages. Creators may promote subscriptions to their content material or objects on Clapper Store. Clapper takes a 30% fee from these earnings.

Clapper’s content material can seem rougher across the edges than another social-media platforms. On opening the app within the UK on Wednesday morning, BI was served a video of a person seemingly getting a horrific eye damage after being hit within the face, a girl nearly being gored by a bull, and sexually suggestive “thirst traps.”

Customers can flip off “not secure for work” content material. The app additionally forbids sexually specific content material or nudity.

Motiie mentioned Clapper was centered on hiring three to 4 further neighborhood managers and using AI moderation instruments. Clapper is a small enterprise at current, with round 20 workers based mostly in Dallas, Texas.

A Clapper spokesperson mentioned the corporate hadn’t taken on any exterior funding since 2023, when it raised $3 million in seed financing. The spokesperson mentioned the corporate is worthwhile and that it isn’t at the moment in search of additional funding.

Business insiders say Clapper wants to maneuver shortly to grab the second

Asti Wagner, CEO of Invyted, an app that connects manufacturers with influencers, mentioned Clapper would wish to maneuver shortly to attraction to creators and refine its advertising to make sure its in a single day recognition interprets into lasting enterprise success.

“TikTok was fortunate in that it massively boomed in lockdown when everybody was on their telephones,” Wagner informed BI.

“The ‘no advertisements’ factor is actually attention-grabbing, however I do not understand how lengthy that may final,” Wagner mentioned. Social platforms, normally, are likely to derive most of their income from advertisements.

Motiie mentioned it was not possible Clapper would introduce advertisements over the subsequent couple of years. Nonetheless, that does not imply manufacturers cannot collaborate with Clapper creators, she added. Clapper can also be encouraging manufacturers to arrange their very own profiles on the app.

Gigi Robinson, a creator with greater than 150,000 followers on TikTok, joined Clapper in 2020.

She’s solely posted 4 movies and grown her viewers there to round 1,000 followers. Nonetheless, Robinson mentioned that in mild of TikTok’s precarious place, she’s contemplating posting extra content material on Clapper and has been in contact with the corporate’s partnership group to get her profile verified.

No matter TikTok’s final destiny is, Robinson mentioned the potential of the app going darkish has highlighted that creators should not be over-reliant on any single platform for his or her viewers and earnings.

“A majority of creators are scrambling proper now,” Robinson informed BI. “That is going to be the lasting affect.”