Original source：Nomura International (Hong Kong) Ltd.First published on Unhidea：Original source date：
Key takeaway
Nomura’s September tracker shows that short dramas and free music are helping ByteDance apps compete for users’ time, overseas short dramas are growing rapidly, and competition in AI office tools is shifting from individual users to enterprise customers.
As user numbers stabilize, who is competing for more usage time?
In September 2026, China’s monthly active smartphone users rose 0.9% year on year to 1.28 billion, while total mobile usage time grew 7.6% year on year. The user base has remained stable in recent months.
WeChat returned to first place among individual apps with a 19.3% share of usage time, while Douyin had 18.5%. However, Douyin’s total usage time grew 17% year on year, exceeding WeChat’s 1%. Nomura believes the two may continue to alternate in first place over the coming months.
By app group, among the top 50 apps, which together account for approximately 93% of national mobile usage time, ByteDance apps had a 41.8% share in September, up from 35% a year earlier; Tencent apps fell from 31.8% to 29.3%. However, ByteDance’s share was unchanged month on month, while Tencent’s rose 0.7 percentage points.
Can domestic short-drama growth be replicated overseas?
Daily active users of ByteDance’s Hongguo Short Drama rose 127% year on year to 203 million in September, while total usage time grew 210%. Its share of Chinese mobile users’ total usage time rose from 2.4% a year earlier to 6.9%.
ByteDance launched the overseas short-drama app PineDrama in early 2026. Nomura notes that TikTok provides traffic support and the video-generation tool Seedance helps with content production. In September, PineDrama’s monthly active users rose 15.6% month on month to 38 million, the fastest growth among overseas short-drama apps developed by Chinese companies.
PineDrama still trails earlier products: ReelShort and DramaBox have 80 million and 79 million monthly active users, respectively. But PineDrama’s monthly usage time in September was 377 minutes, exceeding their respective 68 and 70 minutes. Its monthly active users came mainly from Indonesia, Brazil and the United States, accounting for 41%, 28% and 13%, respectively.
Why is competition in AI office tools shifting to enterprises?
According to Analysys data, Tencent’s WorkBuddy remained China’s most visited desktop AI office agent in September 2026, with monthly visits rising from 21 million in June to 85 million. Alibaba’s QwenWork and ByteDance’s Doubao Work recorded 47 million and 30 million, respectively.
Citing industry experts, Nomura says WorkBuddy currently leads the individual office market, but enterprise customers are generally more willing to pay and more loyal, making them a key battleground. Nomura expects office agents to become more closely integrated with collaboration software such as DingTalk, WeCom and Feishu for cross-selling.
Existing collaboration platforms have markedly different user bases: in September, DingTalk had 88 million daily active users, down 4% year on year; WeCom had 79 million, up 7%; and Feishu had 11 million, up 52%.
How is Tencent Music responding to users shifting to free music?
Monthly active users of ByteDance’s Qishui Music rose 43% year on year to 172 million in September. Over the same period, monthly active users of Tencent Music’s QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music fell 5%, 14% and 16%, respectively.
Tencent Music is stepping up promotion of lightweight apps monetized mainly through advertising to attract price-sensitive users, while keeping its flagship apps focused on paying subscribers. In September, monthly active users of Bodian Music and Kugou Concept Edition rose 77% and 21% year on year, respectively, each reaching 5 million; Kugou Free Edition grew 391% to 6.5 million.
Nomura believes Qishui Music has built strong awareness through its free positioning and Douyin’s support. Whether Tencent Music’s lightweight apps can stabilize its overall user base remains to be seen.
