The Decline of Qutoutiao

QuToutiao has been delisted. Looking back at its history, its only real advantage was being first-mover in the promotional model: users exchanged their time for money, while QuToutiao spent money to acquire users' time. It was a blunt, straightforward customer acquisition play. But human nature craves quick cash, and the threshold keeps rising while patience erodes. Without quality content as a foundation, users ditched the app fast. In the end, QuToutiao faded—not because it couldn't acquire users, but because it failed to retain them.

The Delisted QuToutiao: Trapped in Easy Money