By Jonathan Easton
TrillerNet, the parent company of US TikTok rival Triller, has acquired Combat Sports OTT platform FITE TV along with Amplify.ai.
FITE TV is a combat sports streaming service which offers PPV access to events ranging from boxing to professional wrestling, while Amplify.ai is a conversational ad developer which works closely with Facebook.
The latter acquisition will see Amplify.ai co-founder Mahi de Silva become TrillerNet’s new CEO. Existing CEO Mike Lu will move to the role of president.
Triller has acquired the companies at a time when it is seeking to provide competition to Bytedance-owned TikTok in the US.
From a commercial perspective, Triller will hope that the acquisition of Amplify.ai will enhance its relationships with major advertisers such as Pepsi and McDonalds.
FITE TV meanwhile will remain as a separate app as its new parent company looks to expand outside of solely short-form content.
These are the latest acquisitions for Triller, which has heavily invested in picking up digital platforms over the past 18 months. Overall, it has spent around US$250 million during this period of expansion, including a deal to acquire livestream music platform Verzuz earlier in 2021.
