--- title: "ByteDance’s Xinghui revenue soars 834%, Kuaishou’s KLING AI up 330% MoM—why are creative tools leading mobile growth? | August 2025 AI Top 100" author: "JasonH1121" sourcePublication: "Unique Research Substack" originalPublishedAt: "2025-09-17T10:13:17+00:00" canonical: "https://ffcap.cn/en/research/bytedances-xinghui-revenue-soars" source: "https://uniqueresearch.substack.com/p/bytedances-xinghui-revenue-soars" language: "en" --- # ByteDance’s Xinghui revenue soars 834%, Kuaishou’s KLING AI up 330% MoM—why are creative tools leading mobile growth? | August 2025 AI Top 100 Looking at the August 2025 mobile AI ecosystem data, three main threads emerge. **First, scale continues to concentrate.** On global activity, general-purpose assistants and search still lead—Baidu AI Search at ~651M MAU, ChatGPT ~604M, Gemini ~282M, and Doubao ~207M—showing that “entry-point” capabilities still carry the broadest day-to-day reach. **Second, growth is diverging and “creative apps” are rising.** Month over month, music/video/image “creative-entertainment” subcategories are producing high-growth standouts (e.g., Splice, ToonMe, djay), which aligns with short-cycle content needs and a strong willingness to pay for subscriptions. **Third, Chinese apps are making structural progress “going global.”** Among global top downloaders, many “go-global” apps rank high (e.g., Seekee, Cici AI, Hypic, UpFoto), but only a few make the global MAU Top (e.g., Hypic). The signal: acquisition efficiency is strong; retention and long-term usage depth still need work. The combined annual revenue of the global Top 100 AI apps has exceeded **$6B**. **ChatGPT** remains the absolute “anchor,” with about **$248M** in August in-app purchases and an annualized run-rate of roughly **$2.97B**. After that comes a “resilient middle” dominated by **creative tools + education/assistants**: image processing/generation apps like **FaceApp, Facetune, Remini, Photoroom**, education products like **Speak**, and personal assistants such as **cleo** and **Grok**. On revenue **growth**, **Xinghui** (+834% MoM), **KLING AI** (+330%), **Spellai** (+219%), and **Coconote** (+189%) are almost all from the “creative” track. One-click generation of images/video/text shortens the path “from inspiration to finished work,” and when combined with templates and style packs, it easily triggers rapid subscription uptake. Their revenue structures are straightforward: a “tangible-result” single-point capability is easier to sell on subscription. From one-tap beautify, object removal, super-resolution, background cut-out, ID photos to AI portraits—payment reasons are clear, and repurchase/cross-sell are easy to design. General assistants win on “broad coverage + multi-price tiers” at scale; editing/generation apps rely on “high-frequency micro-needs + instantly visible value” to hold the middle. **Search and browser** apps have very large activity bases, but their monetization still leans on ads/ecosystem rather than mobile IAP, explaining why they can be “high MAU but mid-table in IAP” (e.g., **Quark**, **Edge**). In global downloads, **ChatGPT** remains the volume leader, while **Perplexity**’s downloads rose markedly (~+48% MoM), indicating that the new generation of “Q&A-retrieval” entry tools is seeing stronger mobile demand. In China, **Doubao**, **Tencent Yuanbao**, **DeepSeek**, and Meitu’s **Meitu / BeautyCam** stay high in downloads. You can see how “entry + tool” each represents a coupling of **long-term vs. short-term** needs: entry apps stabilize scale; tool apps drive growth. In MAU, **Baidu AI Search (~651M)** and **ChatGPT (~604M)** form a “dual global hub,” followed by **Gemini (~282M)** and China’s **Doubao (~207M)** and **DeepSeek (~163M)**. Behind this are differences in **product placement and distribution**: deep integration into systems/content platforms/feeds naturally absorbs top-line traffic and converts lightweight questions into high-frequency use. Image editing/generation apps (e.g., **Meitu**, **Hypic**, **Remini**) also occupy a notable share in the MAU Top, validating the mobile-side inertia of “light creation as a just-need.” By MoM growth, “pocket opportunities” clustered across four bands: - **Audio/music generation:** **Splice** and **djay** stood out (Splice’s global MAU grew by roughly **+52% MoM**). Typical drivers: version iterations + smoother onboarding + scenario templates that cut the bar from “spark to song.” - **Image generation/editing:** **ToonMe** and **SeaArt AI** ranked high globally; in China, **Xinghui**, **Jimeng AI**, **Lianmao** rotated onto the lists. Common thread: plug-and-play **assets** (materials/styles) accelerate retention. - **Video generation:** **KLING AI**’s downloads nearly doubled MoM; combined with strong activity growth for **Kuaijianji (Quick Clip)** in China, this shows the path from “AI video tool to finished work” is being mastered by more everyday users. - **Go-global:** **Seekee** (AI search), **Cici AI** (chatbot), **Hypic** (image editing) claimed seats in the global download Top. The data says: on acquisition efficiency, “going global” is already competing head-to-head; to truly break into the global MAU Top, you need a combination of localized content ecosystems, task depth, and solid D1/D7 retention. The domestic structure is relatively clear: - **Platform-level entry:** **Baidu AI Search** and **Doubao** form an “activity dual-core,” reflecting the combined force of system placement + content platform distribution + broad task coverage. **Baidu AI Search** also climbed notably in the download growth list, showing users **perceive entry-upgrades as new value**. - **Stable education/tools:** **Zuoyebang**, **University Problem Solver**, and **Xiaoyuan** series sustain scale and stickiness. On the growth lists, **Liulishuo**, **Onion Academy**, **English Practice Daily** showed resilient MoM improvement—evidence that highly reusable scenarios bolster retention. - **Creative-entertainment diffusion:** **Xinghui**, **Jimeng AI**, **Kuaijianji (Quick Clip)**, **NieTa**, **Duxiang**, **Maoxiang**, etc., spanning image→video and light tools→companionship. Shared traits: **instant results** and **low learning cost** driving continuous penetration. As of August 2025: - **Chatbots** still lead on **annual IAP revenue**, largely **pulled up by ChatGPT’s long-tail reversal** effect. - **Image editing/generation** maintains depth across **revenue share + app count + downloads & activity**, making it the most stable **monetization and install pool** on mobile. - **Education and personal assistants** contribute steady activity and recurring subs. - **Video/music generation** is the fastest-growing band but, versus image, is still in an earlier phase of the penetration curve. The data supports two stable judgments: 1. **Go-global apps have entered the first-tier race at the global downloads level,** proving repeatable playbooks in acquisition, paid UA, and channel partnerships. 2. **Breaking into the global MAU Top takes time**—it’s not just UA and localization, but a composite of **task depth (result quality), ecosystem connection (assets/templates/UGC), and long-cycle retention mechanics**. Put differently: **new users can be bought; only product keeps them.** **Strategy suggestions:** - Deepen **one-click to completion** outcomes; shorten the path from trigger to finished product. - Build **recyclable asset ecosystems** in priority markets (high-quality templates, style packs, automated batch capabilities) so users “have things to do—and can reuse what they do.” - Reinforce **usage frequency via content scenarios** (e.g., small UGC + social distribution loops), not just single-point tool efficiency. * * * **UNIQUE RESEARCH’s August 2025 AI Top 100** includes: - **AI App Revenue Rankings:** Top-100 apps by subscription revenue and revenue growth. - **AI App Download & MAU Rankings:** Top-100 apps by downloads and monthly active users, split by global and China markets. UNIQUE RESEARCH’s data and insights are widely trusted and cited by top investment institutions, academia, and media at home and abroad, serving as a key benchmark for market analysis, investment decisions, and trend assessment. **Partners & citers (partial):** - **Securities & investment banks:** GF Securities, CSC Financial, Huayuan Securities, Haitong Securities, etc. - **Authoritative media:** China Securities Journal, TMTPost, Jiemian News, etc. We believe only data **validated by core industry participants** has lasting value. 1. **AI Top 100 remains permanently open-sourced and free,** with full methodology and raw data available for complete reproduction. 2. **Data sources are strictly limited to independent third-party monitoring platforms;** we do **not** accept company self-reported data as evaluation inputs. 3. **Ranking methodology remains strictly neutral;** we do **not** accept any commercial cooperation or paid behavior that interferes with ranking outcomes. - **Investors/analysts:** A clean, reverse-engineerable dataset to build models, find underwater opportunities, and cross-validate theses. - **AI founders/product managers:** Precisely locate competitors and fully reproduce our methodology to analyze your own performance and optimize iteration. - **Researchers/students:** The fully open nature makes this an excellent free dataset for academic and market studies; we encourage innovative research based on it. For the full underlying data behind the charts and rankings, visit **100aiapps.cn**. All visible data can be copied and is open for free **non-commercial** use (learning, research). **Commercial** use requires prior authorization from UNIQUE RESEARCH. We welcome teams on the list to use their rankings—under compliant use—in pitch decks, hiring materials, etc., as authoritative proof of strength. [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UkAB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F627a0521-5095-4ed1-834e-534ee399cd49_1024x2166.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UkAB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F627a0521-5095-4ed1-834e-534ee399cd49_1024x2166.png) [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MZp8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F766c5d75-5c9c-4244-88cc-31a0197dfd39_1166x2174.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MZp8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F766c5d75-5c9c-4244-88cc-31a0197dfd39_1166x2174.png) [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M6yg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98450637-72ee-4eb9-bd6b-1c3dc3b90443_1180x2248.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M6yg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98450637-72ee-4eb9-bd6b-1c3dc3b90443_1180x2248.png) --- Original publication: https://uniqueresearch.substack.com/p/bytedances-xinghui-revenue-soars On-site reading page: https://ffcap.cn/en/research/bytedances-xinghui-revenue-soars