(Yicai) May 27 -- Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, known outside China as Rednote, said it aims to strengthen its presence in the medium and longer videos sector by setting up a content creation fund, launching a video traffic incentive program, and upgrading its distribution mechanism to better meet users' needs.

Rednote has formed two categories for its content creation fund, it announced yesterday. The first targets creators seeking creative breakthroughs, offering year-round financial support of up to CNY1 million (USD147,475) per project, while the second focuses on new-generation creators who have limited followers but strong potential, providing them with dedicated one-on-one mentorship as well as a maximum "annual salary" of CNY1 million.

Under the video traffic incentive program, creators can earn traffic vouchers by completing tasks, with a maximum of 80,000 traffic vouchers per person a month, Rednote said, adding that it plans to invest a total of 50 billion such coupons.

The traffic vouchers are free advertising quotas that creators can use to buy official exposure for posts or videos to hike views, reads, and engagement. One traffic coupon is equal to one push exposure.

The move has a very clear strategic goal for Rednote, Bai Ban, initiator of the RED New Generation Creation Competition, said to Yicai at a ceremony after the contest. Besides short videos, the company has noticed its users also want to see higher-quality content with greater aesthetic appeal or deeper insights, Bai noted.

In addition, from an industry perspective, mid-to-long videos have seen few new creators in the past four to five years, with content formats, themes, and genres becoming relatively fixed, Bai pointed out. However, from a purely commercial perspective, creating longer videos is not a good business model, as the overall market size is far smaller than that of short user-generated content, Bai noted.

Rednote's monthly active users have topped 400 million, according to data revealed at the ceremony. The platform's Video Creator Trend Observation Report showed that nearly 100 million users watch mid-to-long videos per day, with relevant watch time increasing by 43 percent last month from a year ago. In addition, over 42 million creators make mid-to-long videos every day.

Editor: Martin Kadiev