iWorld
Tik-Tok begins testing ‘link in bio’ feature to monetise its billion plus user-base
MUMBAI: Popular social networking app Tik-Tok has begun limited test of a feature that will allow users to add links to products and e-commerce sites on their bio and posts. The Chinese short-video making platform, with a billion plus users, has been exploring ways to monetise its ever-increasing user-base and the new feature will put it in direct competition with established players like Facebook and Instagram, both of which let its users monetise their content.
The new feature allows content creators on Tik-Tok to insert product links, offering users the ability to send their viewers to shopping websites effortlessly to monetise its platform. The ‘link in bio’ feature was first rolled out by Instagram and was subsequently adopted by Facebook as well.
The new feature was first noticed by marketer Fabian Bern, a marketer and according to the video shared by him on Twitter, the users can now swipe on a post to directly visit an e-commerce platform to buy a product.
BREAKING: TikTok launches 'link in bio' & 'social commerce URLS' in videos @MattNavarra @TaylorLorenz @sarahintampa @TechCrunch @thenextweb @techinasia #tiktok pic.twitter.com/HczzHOHCNf
— Fabian Bern 法比安 (@iamfabianbern) November 14, 2019
Launched in 2017, the app developed by ByteDance, currently has over 1.5 billion users worldwide. The app is immensely popular in India. According to app research firm Sensor Tower: “India has been the biggest driver of TikTok's popularity, giving it 466.8 million downloads. China generated the second-most downloads, with 173.2 million or 11.5 percent. The US came in third, with 123.8 million downloads, or 8.2 percent. And that's not even including third party Android installs. Specifically, India drove up 277.6 million downloads so far this year, roughly 45 percent of all global installs for the app this year.”
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
