Despite the dominance of established social media services like Facebook and Snap, Musical.ly rose to prominence among a teenage and tween audience by enabling users to record quick videos set to music. Young users of the app performed coordinated dance moves or lip-synced to the music.

Since then the company has branched out to other types of videos, including live streaming, and has even sought to attract short-form video shows.

For Toutiao, Musical.ly brings a toehold in valuable American and European markets. Ostensibly an aggregator of news content, Toutiao has evolved into something more like a Facebook newsfeed.

The company uses artificial intelligence to cater an array of posts and videos to users. It has grown increasingly video heavy, and it works more as an aggregator of entertainment in a country where a large number of websites vie to attract a smartphone-addicted population.

For Musical.ly, Toutiao brings a huge user base in China and expertise in how to attract users. While Musical.ly has had success overseas, the company has been slow to target a Chinese market that its founders say can be more competitive and radically different from Western markets.