Mandopop star Jay Chou has finally joined Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
The 46-year-old started an account on the short video platform under the name “Classmate Chou” on July 9 at 11am.
According to the Chinese media, the number of followers exceeded one million in one hour, even though the Taiwanese singer has not posted any videos. That number jumped to more than 11 million by the afternoon of July 10.
There were rumours online on July 9 that Douyin had spent a nine-figure sum to get Chou to join, but they were refuted by the platform, reported Chinese news site Guancha.
Chou’s presence on Douyin provided a boost to Star Plus Legend, a company co-founded by his mother Yeh Hui-mei and closely linked with the singer.
According to Hong Kong Economic Journal, the company’s shares surged more than 1.6 times on July 9 to a high of HK$17 at one point before closing at HK$12.44.
Chou’s Douyin account is his second Chinese-language social media account. In 2020, he set up an account on Chinese short video platform Kuaishou, considered a rival to Douyin. The Kuaishou account has about 48 million followers, but Chou has not updated it in more than three months.
The singer is also on Instagram and Facebook, where he has about 10.4 million and 4.3 million followers respectively. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
