- Startup Spells 🪄
- Posts
- How AI Video Editing Apps Are Dominating TikTok and Instagram
How AI Video Editing Apps Are Dominating TikTok and Instagram
PLUS: By default, capital will matter more than ever after AGI
How AI Video Editing Apps Are Dominating TikTok and Instagram
Pixverse, an AI video editing app, hit 400 million views in just 3 months by posting the same video daily.

Daikiti Analytics
They posted the exact same video, with minor tweaks.

Daikiti - Tiktok
This simple strategy earned them 1.4 million TikTok followers and 487,000 Instagram followers.

Daikiti - Instagram
The Power of a Monopolized Sound and Dance
Pixverse’s secret? They turned a single sound into a trend. This sound now has over 10,000 videos attached to it, keeping their content in the spotlight.
They also repeat the same dance moves in every video. This consistency makes their content go viral. Once a format works, they stick to it—posting daily with minor changes.
What goes viral once will likely go viral again, until the algorithm changes (manually) or people lose interest.
A/B Testing: From Cats to Babies
Pixverse constantly experiments by changing looks, animals, and details. One standout test? Switching from animal videos to baby videos.

AI Baby Dance - Tiktok
The result? 1.1 million views, a 550% increase over their animal content.
Scaling Success: Dedicated Accounts for Niche Content
Recognizing the potential, Pixverse launched a new account focused solely on baby content.
This account racked up tens of millions of views, proving niche scaling works.
Repetition builds recognition and keeps content favored by algorithms. But once the novelty fades, it’s time to pivot.
Pets and Babies: Tapping into Emotional Insights
Pets and babies succeed because they tap into a deep emotional connection. Many people see their pets as children, making this content highly engaging.
Peter Kaufman, in his speech “The Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking”, explains that kids and pets give unconditional love. Their excitement when they see their owners creates a bond that adults adore even if it lasts for <60 seconds.
This bond is why cat pages on Facebook can buy likes cheaply as the CPA is low and why the subreddit /r/aww has 38 million members, making it the 6th-most popular subreddit.
Content often goes viral due to initial algorithmic boosts. Sustained success comes from understanding what worked and scaling that format.
Pixverse’s focus on repetition, trend creation, and emotional insights sets new standards for viral growth. Their strategies are simple yet powerful, proving that sometimes, less is more.
By keeping it simple and consistent, AI video editing apps like Pixverse show that viral success is within reach.
Hat Tip to Castany Miquel for the insight.
Top Tweets of the day
1/
I keep seeing some TikTok agency owners flexing their "viral" videos to lure naive clients (=easy prey)
Truth is if viewers are not commenting “what’s the app?” it means the TikTok video is NOT converting at all (<0.01%)
Views ≠ signups. Don’t fall for vanity metrics
— S-laurent (@iamlaurentbo)
9:27 AM • Apr 1, 2025
Only thing that matters is conversions, not views.
1m views video that converts at 10% > 100m views video that converts at 0.01%
2/
BREAKING SEO - GeeksforGeeks got a manual action .....
This site has almost 70 million monthly traffic per Semrush numbers.— Gagan Ghotra (@gaganghotra_)
11:43 AM • Apr 1, 2025
Sites that did SEO on terms outside of their niche are getting downranked.
Google has a nasty fault in its algorithm that could be easily gamed.
So all sites used the fault to rank on Google. GeeksforGeeks, Hubspot, Forbes all ranked on unrelated terms to their niche.
Now they've got kicked by Google as AI-generated slop showed faults in Google's algorithm.
To fix this, they have to remove unrelated keywords and stick to their niche. For GeeksforGeeks, its programming.
Similar analogy is being friends with scammers/spammers on social media (or even in real life.) I got my 14 year old X account shadowbanned in late-2024 by just accepting DMs from scammers/spammers, etc...
El Salvador shows the real life application of this. If you have a gang tattoo on your body, then you go to jail. You can do no crime but just take a tattoo to look cool and still go to jail. Optics matter.
Another real life application is talking shit about politicians on the internet. You can have your life uprooted or go to jail or simply disappeared forever.
3/
Best hack to get design clients:
Rebrand a startup you see on Twitter, and DM the founder a link to it.
100% chance they’re gonna click that link.
— Brett @ Designjoy (@BrettFromDJ)
3:06 PM • Mar 22, 2025
The Permissionless Apprenticeship in action.
Rabbit Holes
GPT-4o Just Replaced Your Creative Team (For Free) by Marketing Against The Grain
Kipp & Kieran's AI Prompt Library by Kipp & Kieran
By default, capital will matter more than ever after AGI by L Rudolf L
What’d ya think of today’s newsletter? Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.
Do me a favor and share it in your company's Slack #marketing channel.
First time? Subscribe.
Follow me on X.
Reply