(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has opened a gym channel, encouraging users to work out via cash rewards while turning up the pressure on rivaling mobile application Keep which is planning an initial public offering.

Short-video platform Douyin, which has over 700 million daily active users, has debuted a function for users to watch live-streaming or recorded gym classes posted by celebrities such as fitness star Will Liu and others amid a surge in interest in home workouts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Users can check in and receive prizes.

The scale of China's fitness market will maintain an annual increase of CNY100 billion (USD13.9 billion) to reach CNY1.48 trillion (USD210 billion) in 2026, according to a report published by Zhongtai Securities.

Up to 70 percent of China's fitness market used to be offline but that is changing quickly amid the pandemic, per Zhongtai Securities. This year, the size of the online fitness market should exceed its offline counterpart for the first time. In the next five years, the compound growth rate should be 13.5 percent.

This year, the volume of fitness live-streamers and their sessions on Douyin more than doubled from a year ago, according to a document the Beijing-based firm released in August. Users made 130 million comments and shared live-streaming content more than 22.9 million times.

Douyin's move is expected to spark conversations at Keep which is preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong. The Beijing-based company filed its prospectus for the second time in September after the previous one expired.

Launched in 2015, Keep is a pioneer in China's online fitness sector, with an average monthly active user base of 41.1 million as of June 30, according to the prospectus.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi