(Yicai Global) Nov. 12 -- Chinese tech giant Baidu has put two short video platforms Haokan and Quanmin under one business department, led by the former chief executive of Haokan, to move up in the game dominated by bigger rivals such as Douyin and Kuaishou.

The applications will operate independently but Song Jian will lead the unified department to advance business development, the Beijing-based firm told Yicai Global today.

Launched in November 2017, Haokan features videos with a length of three to five minutes. The platform has 110 million daily active users. Released in 2018, Quanmin focuses on even more brief videos, usually with karaoke content.

Short videos involve fierce rivalry in China as ByteDance has its Douyin and Xigua, and Tencent launched its Instagram Stories-like feature WeChat Channels this year. But Baidu's decision to move its platforms closer to each other could signal its resolve not to back down.

With the new structure, Baidu will pay more attention to content creators, training, and ecosystem construction, analyst told the Securities Times.

Joining efforts could also bring more users to the two apps. “We will break open barriers between the platforms of Baidu's mobile ecosystem so that any creator's work on any platform can be viewed and used by users on other platforms," Executive Vice President Shen Dou said at the 2020 Baidu Mobile Ecological Conference held in May.

The new unit will have an experienced chief. Song joined Baidu in August as the general manager of Haokan after leading Xigua.

Editor: Emmi Laine