An AI-powered video editing and graphic design app CapCut is believed to be threatening the market hegemony of Australian-headquartered Canva and its American rival Adobe.

CapCut is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, which also owns social media platform TikTok.

After launching outside of China in 2020, Capcut is believed to have garnered more than 300 million monthly mobile active users and commands 81 per cent of the total active users for mobile video editing, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Some of the main reasons users are gravitating to it seem to be its relative ease of use, coupled with its integration into TikTok. With a simple interface, CapCut templates allow users to quickly match video formats and export finished content directly to TikTok.

Posted videos are watermarked with a CapCut link, tempting viewers to try the template themselves.

In comparison, Adobe’s tools are typically more advanced and require a level of skill using them that is more than that of CapCcut. And with a new desktop app, suite of tools for small businesses and a pro version, CapCut now has more diverse offerings too.

CapCut (Image: Screenshot of website)

Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe vice president of product marketing for creative apps, said the company is working on ways to make their tools more accessible and powerful, such as the web-based Adobe Express and by adding generative AI features, reported Bloomberg. She notes that Adobe offers “a level of precision and control in tools that professional video editors want and cannot find anywhere else — that’s really who we’re focusing on.”

Adobe has been reported to be developing a lighter version of Premiere aimed at casual users that would run in a web browser

As for challenging CapCut, Adobe’s two apps that can edit video have less than 2 per cent of the active users of CapCut, according to the Sensor Tower data.

Canva, among the world’s most-valuable startups, meanwhile has been attempting to build an all-in-one visual media editor. Canva has been “continuously investing in video,” head of product Rob Kawalsky said in a statement. Social media video creation on Canva has increased 44 per cent compared with last year.

But while CapCut is charging forward, it may be stopped in its tracks by US legislation. Already, US President Joe Biden signed a law in April to give TikTok 270 days to find a buyer or be banned in the US.

Whether CapCut will face the same fate as its sibling is something that not only millions of its users will be watching intently, but so will its rivals.