YouTube, a Google-owned video platform has announced that they are shutting down Simsim- its live social commerce app. The decision has been made within two years of its acquisition by the tech giant.
Simsim is an Indian startup which was acquired by the streaming giant in mid-2021, TechCrunch reports. The social commerce app was founded in 2019 by Amit Bagaria, Saurabh Vashishtha and Kunal Suri.
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Through influencer-based videos in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil, it assisted small businesses to make the transition to e-commerce.
Creators have posted video reviews about products from local businesses and viewers could buy those products directly from the application Simsim itself.
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YouTube has acquired the social commerce app in a deal valued at over $70 million to the company, as per the report.
YouTube stated that the acquisition will allow the video streaming company at the time. It will assist small businesses and Indian retailers in reaching new customers in more powerful ways than earlier.
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Furthermore, the report said that Simsim's acquisition came at a time when YouTube was exploring ways to expand into e-commerce.
Meanwhile, YouTube is reportedly rolling out song and album credits to its music streaming service ‘YouTube Music’.
With this new feature, users will be able to see song and album credits when listening to their favourite music.
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The feature will enable the users to instantly see detailed song information, like who the singer produced, and who wrote and composed each track, which has long been a part of many other streaming services like Tidal.
Inputs from IANS
