For the first time, Douyin surpassed WeChat in terms of usage time, with ByteDance taking the top spot in China's mobile internet "time share".

For the first time, Douyin has surpassed WeChat in total monthly usage time, establishing ByteDance's leading position in the "battle for time" in China's mobile internet.

According to data from QuestMobile cited by Nomura Securities, in July 2026, Douyin's total monthly usage time increased by 29% year-on-year, surpassing Tencent's WeChat's 18.8% for the first time with a 19.4% time share, becoming the most used app in China. ByteDance's five apps—Douyin, Douyin Lite, Hongguo Short Drama, Toutiao, and Tomato Free Novels— collectively accounted for 40.9% of the time share of the top 50 mobile internet apps in China, a significant increase from 33.6% in July 2025, far exceeding Tencent's 29.1%.

This data has a direct impact on investment logic in the internet industry: ByteDance's penetration in content consumption continues to deepen, while Tencent is facing ongoing pressure on its time share in the social and content ecosystem. At the same time, the competitive battlefield among major internet giants is rapidly shifting towards the field of AI office assistants.

Douyin Surpasses WeChat: DAU Gap Remains Large, Growth in User Time Drives Different Factors

Nomura, citing QuestMobile data, points out that Douyin's 29% year-on-year increase in total monthly usage time was driven by a 19% increase in daily active users (DAU) and an 8% increase in average daily usage time per DAU (DTSD). WeChat's 3% year-on-year increase in total monthly usage time was mainly supported by a 3% year-on-year increase in DAU.

In terms of user scale, WeChat still maintains an absolute advantage. WeChat's daily active users (DAU) are 931 million, while Douyin's DAU is 714 million, and the gap between the two remains significant. This means that Douyin's overtaking in terms of usage time mainly comes from the continued increase in the depth of use per user.

In terms of monthly active user penetration, WeChat ranked first with a penetration rate of 90.2%, while Douyin ranked second with 80.6%.

QuestMobile data also shows that in July 2026, the number of monthly active smartphone users (MAS) in China increased by 1.3% year-on-year to 1.28 billion, remaining stable in recent months. Total monthly mobile internet usage time increased by 8.8% year-on-year, a slight acceleration from the 8.6% growth rate of the previous month.

ByteDance's matrix: Short dramas are on the rise, while the growth rate of free novels is slowing down.

ByteDance's short-drama app, Hongguo Short Drama, has performed particularly well. According to Nomura, citing QuestMobile data, Hongguo Short Drama's daily active users (DAU) reached 168 million in July, a year-on-year increase of 107% and a month-on-month increase of 8%, with total monthly usage time increasing by a staggering 157% year-on-year. Hongguo Short Drama's DAU has surpassed the combined DAU of the four major video platforms: Tencent Video, Youku, Mango TV, and iQiyi.

Long-form video platforms are generally under pressure. The total monthly usage time of iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku, and Mango TV decreased by 27%, 31%, 47%, and 24% year-on-year, respectively, and their daily active users (DAU) also declined to varying degrees.

Hongguo Short Drama recently launched a sub-application called "Hongguo AI Animated Drama," which focuses on AI-powered animated short dramas. In July, its daily active users (DAU) increased by 37% month-on-month to 16 million, demonstrating a rapid customer acquisition momentum.

Meanwhile, the growth rate of Tomato Free Novels, ByteDance's free reading app, has shown signs of slowing down. Its daily active users (DAU) increased by 6% year-on-year to 144 million in July, a decline from the 8% year-on-year growth rate in June. Nomura believes this may indicate that after years of rapid expansion, the app's user growth is nearing its ceiling, and competition from AI-generated animated short dramas is also putting pressure on literature apps.

The focus of the AI competition is shifting: from chatbots to office assistants.

Nomura points out that the focus of AI competition among Chinese internet giants is rapidly shifting from AI chatbots to AI office assistants.

According to QuestMobile data, ByteDance's Doubao maintained its position as the top-ranked AI chatbot in China in terms of daily active users (DAU), reaching 168 million in July, a 3.6-fold year-on-year increase. However, its month-on-month growth rate flattened out, ending its continuous growth momentum since August 2025. Nomura believes this signal indicates a cooling down of competition in the AI chatbot field.

In terms of AI office assistant deployment, Alibaba integrated QoderWork, MuleRun, and Wukong into QwenWork, relying on DingTalk to reach enterprise workflows; Tencent positioned WorkBuddy as a flagship product of general AI office assistant, and gradually integrated it with WeChat, Enterprise WeChat, Tencent Docs, and Tencent Meeting; ByteDance officially launched Doubao Work on August 25, and at the same time merged the Lark product team with Doubao, and the Lark sales team was merged into Volcano Engine.

In terms of traditional office applications, according to QuestMobile data, DingTalk's DAU in July was approximately 77 million (down 1% year-on-year), while WeChat Work's DAU increased by 9% year-on-year to 72 million, with the gap between it and DingTalk continuing to narrow; Lark's DAU saw the highest year-on-year increase, reaching 51% to 10 million, but its base was relatively small.

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