TikTok is the tale of two apps. In 2016, the Chinese company Bytedance launched Douyin, a video-sharing social network app. That app is still available in China, and when they released the international version of their app in 2017, they called it TikTok. Much of TikTok Statistics Western audience came from Musical.ly, acquired by Bytedance and merged with TikTok in 2018. Although TikTok and Douyin have similar user interfaces and features, they are not identical and have been tailored to their respective markets.
TikTok has grown in popularity in recent years, particularly among younger Millennials and Generation Z. However, it has not grown without controversy. For example, in 2016, then-President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the United States unless Bytedance allowed an American company, such as Microsoft, to purchase TikTok in that country. On the other hand, a proposed ban was blocked by a federal judge. Furthermore, despite TikTok’s popularity among India’s youth, the country’s government banned the app in June 2020 due to a border dispute between India and China. Its ban will be in effect indefinitely beginning in January 2021.
Neither TikTok nor its forerunner, Musical.ly, make many statistics available. It is, for example, much more difficult to find follower lists on Twitter than on most other social networks. With such a complicated history, it is not difficult to find several TikTok statistics that others have independently compiled.
TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users as of January 2022. Let’s take a look at some more mind-boggling statistics down below.
1. TikTok Users Spend More than 850 Minutes Per Month on the App
According to Statista, TikTok users in the United States spend 858 minutes per month on the app. In March 2020, this statistic provided information on monthly TikTok app user engagement in the United States.
If you look at the data from October 2019 to March 2020, you’ll notice a significant increase in the average TikTok user’s time on the app. The average monthly usage increased from 442.9 minutes in October 2019 to 526.1 minutes in November, 561.2 minutes in December, 680 minutes in January 2020, 731.6 minutes in February, and 858 minutes in March 2020.
2. TikTok now has 1 Billion Monthly Active users (January 2022)
TikTok had 1 billion Monthly Active Users worldwide as of January 2022!
According to a December 2019 Statista survey, 23% of respondents had used or seen videos posted on TikTok. In contrast, 44 percent said they hadn’t, and 33 percent said they’d never heard of TikTok. However, during the COVID pandemic in 2020, more U.S. Internet users used TikTok, so these percentages likely understate the actual situation.
3. 3 Billion Installations
TikTok has been downloaded over 3 billion times on mobile devices worldwide. It surpassed the one billion-mile mark in February 2019 and will surpass the two billion-mile mark in April 2020. By mid-2021, it would have reached three billion. TikTok is only the fifth non-gaming app to reach the 3-billion mark, and it is the first that is not owned by Facebook (now Meta).
4. 167 Million TikTok Videos Watched in an Internet Minute
Statista compiled global online media usage for an “internet minute” in August 2021. People consumed hundreds of thousands of hours of content and sent, scrolled, and uploaded millions of messages, emails, and texts. Among these statistics, Statista discovered that TikTok users watch 167 million hours of videos on the app in a sample minute.
5. Entertainment Most Popular Category on TikTok by Hashtag Views
According to Statista, the most popular TikTok content categories had over two billion views as of July 2020. The most popular content category on the app was entertainment content, which presumably includes all of those lip-synching videos, and dance was the second most popular content category.
The most popular categories overall are:
- Entertainment – 535 billion hashtag views
- Dance – 181 billion
- Pranks – 79 billion
- Fitness/sports – 57 billion
- Home reno/D.I.Y. – 39 billion
- Beauty/skincare – 33 billion
- Fashion – 27 billion
- Recipes/cooking – 18 billion
- Life hacks/advice – 13 billion
- Pets – 10 billion
- Outdoors – 2 billion
While TikTok users’ time and interest are dominated by entertainment and dance videos, it is clear that they are willing to spend time watching videos on a broader range of topics these days.
6. Most Popular iPhone App Downloaded in the U.S. in 2021
Apple has released charts detailing the most downloaded free and paid apps and games in the United States through 2021. TikTok was the most popular free app, followed by YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.
7. 150+ Countries
According to App trace, the TikTok app is currently available in 141 countries. It ranks in the top ten in 124 of these countries and the top 50 in 140.
However, according to the official TikTok Creator Marketplace, TikTok is now available in over 150 markets and is one of the most downloaded apps in 40+ countries.
8. 75 (or 39 or 35+) Languages
TikTok has made its way to the international stage, and it is now rumored to be available in 75 languages.
There were discrepancies in reports about the number of languages TikTok supported for a long time. TikTok’s customer service says, “TikTok is now available in 39 different languages. You have the option to change the language displayed in your TikTok app at any time.” That statement has since been removed from TikTok.
TikTok is now available in 35+ languages, according to the official TikTok Creator Marketplace. However, TikTok is now being banned in India, and TikTok may have removed support for some regional Indian dialects.
While there are conflicting reports on this statistic, we all agree that the app is now truly global.
9. Highest Social Media Engagement Rates Per Post
According to Upfluence data, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have higher engagement rates across different follower levels. TikTok has significantly higher engagement than the other two networks at all follower levels. Upfluence discovered that micro-influencers had engagement rates of 17.96 percent on TikTok, 3.86 percent on Instagram, and 1.63 percent on YouTube. On the other hand, Mega-influencers had TikTok engagement rates of 4.96 percent, Instagram engagement rates of 1.21 percent, and YouTube engagement rates of 0.37 percent.
Upfluence discovered that, while there were not many TikTok fitness influencers, they had the highest average engagement rate across platforms – 9.3 percent – compared to Instagram (2.9 percent), YouTube (0.7 percent), and Facebook (0.5 percent ).
10. Over 200 Million TikTok Users in India When it Was Banned in 2020
India is another populous country where young people are drawn to TikTok. TikTok had over 200 million users in India by mid-2020 when the government decided to ban it for political reasons. It was still the most downloaded app in the country in 2020, and TikTok was downloaded more in India between July 2019 and June 2020.
11. Highly Popular in Many Asian Countries
In most Asian countries, TikTok’s popularity has skyrocketed. It is popular in Indonesia (87.5 million users), Vietnam (39.7 million), Thailand (35.6 million), and the Philippines in particular (33.0 million). TikTok has 217.7 million Southeastern Asian users, 58.3 million Western Asian users, 25.2 million Eastern Asian users, 14.6 million Southern Asian users, and 6.3 million Central Asian users. These figures only include TikTok users aged 18 and up, and there are undoubtedly many younger TikTok users.
Many young people have used TikTok for political activism. In Indonesia, for example, it was used to protest a contentious new labor law.
12. 600 Million Active Daily Users in China
In China, the number of active daily users (primarily the Douyin version) has surpassed 600 million. Douyin has grown to become China’s largest knowledge, culture, and art platform. This figure is from August 2020, and TikTok does not appear to have released more recent data on Chinese usage.
13. TikTok’s Highest Reach (for Adults) is in Saudi Arabia
Surprisingly, TikTok has the greatest reach (for those over 18) in the Arab world. TikTok is experiencing explosive growth throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (G.C.C. ), with the app ranking among the top downloads in regional Apple and Google Play Stores. TikTok has the highest overall (adult) reach in Saudi Arabia (78.3 percent), Kuwait (72.5 percent), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (68.6 percent ). Qatar is ranked eighth, with a 55.0 percent reach. The United States of America has a TikTok reach of 46.5 percent.
Of course, this ignores the vast majority of TikTok’s younger users, but TikTok’s ad tools only publish data for audiences 18 and up.
14. Between $800M and $1B Purchase Price
Although nobody has ever publicly disclosed the exact purchase price Bytedance paid for Musical.ly, most pundits estimate that it was in the range of $800 million to $1 billion.
15. 1 Million Videos Views per Day in First Year
Within a year of TikTok’s development, it had already reached the milestone of 1 million views per day.
16. 132.7 Million Fans –TikTok Record
@charlidamelio, a social media personality, and American dancer Charli D’Amelio is now TikTok’s most popular user, with 132.7 million followers as of January 2022. On March 25, 2020, she deposed the previous leader, Loren Gray, and assumed the coveted number one position. When Charli passed her, she had 41.3 million followers.
Khaby Lane, a Senegalese TikToker, closes in on D’Amelio and has 124.9 million followers.
17. 72 Million Fans – Douyin Record
Chen He, a Chinese male actor, was the most followed celebrity on Douyin as of July 2021, with nearly 72 million fans in China. Andy Lau, an actor, and singer, come in second, and Dilireba Dilmurat, a model and actress, comes in third.
Chen Xiang was the most popular Douyin influencer in June 2021, with nearly 64 million followers in China, followed by Ares Cheng and his wife. Austin Li Jiaqi, the most popular beauty product salesman, came third.
18. 2014 – Muscal.ly Launch Year
Musical.ly’s prototype was released in April 2014, followed by the official version in August. After initially designing it as an online self-learning platform, Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang took about six months to build the product. Unfortunately, this did not take off, so Zhu and Yang shifted their focus to a platform that combines music and video in a social network.
19. 2016 – TikTok / Douyin Launch Year
Bytedance, a Chinese company, launched Douyin in September 2016. When they entered the international market in September 2017, they branded it TikTok, but they still use the original name in their home country.
20. $110 Million Estimated Monthly User Spending
TikTok’s earnings have increased in lockstep with its popularity. TikTok was the top-grossing non-gaming app in the world in February 2021, according to Sensor Tower data, with more than $110 million in user spending, 1.9 times its revenue in February 2020. Later that year, Sensor Tower announced that TikTok would be the top-grossing app in the world in 2021, despite ranking fourth on Google Play in terms of revenue, behind Google One, Piccoma, and Disney+.
21. Nearly 80% of Revenue Comes From China.
Approximately 79 percent of TikTok’s revenue came from Douyin in China, with the remaining 8 percent coming from the United States. This is a significant change from a few years ago, before the introduction of ads when the United States accounted for 42 percent of revenue, but this excludes income from the app’s Chinese Android version. From May to July 2020, Chinese revenue accounted for up to 89 percent of the total revenue for the app.
22. Over $500 Million Spending on TikTok in a Quarter
In previous versions of this post, we celebrated TikTok reaching a total lifetime user spending of $US300 million in Google Play and the App Store by February 2020. This was a significant increase over the $US50 million spent on TikTok at the end of October 2018. (before TikTok introduced advertising).
However, TikTok users quickly outnumbered all of these figures. Since Q2 2020, user spending has exceeded $300 million every quarter, with consumers spending $535 million in Q2 2021 alone via their TikTok app. TikTok consumer spending has surpassed $2.5 billion globally, a feat previously accomplished only by Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, and Tencent Video.
23. More Than 90% on Android Devices
More than 90 percent of TikTok downloads have been made to Android devices, mirroring Android’s smartphone market dominance. The only exception is in the United States, where more iOS users are.
Most TikTok fans in India use the Android version of TikTok.
24. Nine Out of Ten TikTok Users Use the App Multiple Times Daily
According to official TikTok statistics, its users are loyal and keep on returning to the app. Indeed, 90% of users use the app multiple times per day.
25. Nearly 1,000 Apps Totaling 1.3 Billion Downloads Related to TikTok
TikTok has spawned a slew of other related apps, according to Sensor Tower. As a result, there are now over 900 apps attempting to capitalize on TikTok’s popularity, with more than two-thirds of those having launched since January 2020.
Almost half of the apps allow users to save videos to their devices. Other popular app categories include analytics on followers and hashtags, and keyboard/font replacements.
26. Nearly 18% Engagement Rate for U.S. Influencers
A July 2020 study revealed that U.S. TikTok influencers had a higher engagement rate than the global average. The report stated that U.S. influencers had an average engagement rate of 17.99% compared to international TikTok influencers, who had an engagement rate of 15.86%.
27. 32.5% of U.S. Users Aged 10-19
TikTok’s user base still very closely matches that of its predecessor Musical.ly. Most of its U.S. users are young, with 32.5% aged between 10 and 19, according to Statista. A further 29.5% are aged 20-29.
However, Pew Research data suggests that more older people may now use TikTok. Pew Research only incorporated TikTok into their survey of online social platforms in Jan-Feb 2021, so it is too early to see any trends over time. According to their survey, 48% of U.S. adults aged 18-29 say they have used TikTok, compared to 22% of those aged 30-49, 14% of 50–64-year-olds, and 4% of those aged 65+. Unfortunately, they didn’t analyze those aged under 18.
Chinese statistics for Douyin suggest that users are aging with the app. In March 2020, 10.1% of users were under 18 (down from 10.5% in 2019). The change was even more noticeable for 19-24-year-olds, with 13.3% of users in that age band (down from 18.7%). Numbers were closer for 25-30-year-olds, 16.6% in 2020 (compared to 18.8% in 2019). The big increase came with 31-35-year-olds, who made up 20.6% of the Douyin user base in 2020 (15.6% in 2019). Notably, there were also small increases in the percentages of all other older age groups using Douyin.
28. TikTokers Like to be on Top of the Latest Trends, As Well as Create New Ones
G.W.I. asked TikTok users to describe themselves. G.W.I. measured their descriptions compared to the average internet user (who would have scored an IDX of 1.0). 22% of the survey respondents considered themselves a musician or audio creator. This is 19% more than the average internet user, i.e., an IDX of 1.19.
38% of the respondents considered it important for them to get the music they care about as soon as it comes out. This was 17% higher than the average internet user, i.e., an IDX of 1.17.
29. Many TikTokers Like to Share Music
Another conclusion from the Q4 2020 G.W.I. survey is that 45% of TikTokers listen to music to share it with friends and family, and 42% support their favorite artists.
30. 1,000,000 Estimated Daily Page Views
TikTok’s website reached the milestone of 1,000,000 estimated daily page views on Jan 5, 2019.
31. 59 Alexa Ranking
In early January 2022, TikTok’s website had an Alexa ranking of 59 (i.e., Alexa estimates the site to be the 59th most viewed website globally in terms of internet engagement). This compares to an Alexa ranking of 74 in early July 2021, 102 in early March 2021, 412 in early March 2020, 3,225 in early January 2019, and 4,778 in mid-November 2018. This change demonstrates the increased popularity of TikTok in recent times.
32. Nearly 100 Million App Installs in India in 2020 Despite Being Banned for Half the Year
Although TikTok has always been very popular in its home country, China (albeit as Douyin), India saw the most significant growth externally in 2019 and 2020. It grew so rapidly that the Indian government became concerned enough to ban it for a while in 2019 before banning it again in 2020 because of border disputes between India and China. Despite this, there were still 99 million app installs in India in the first six months of that year before the government implemented the ban. A court later agreed that the ban should be permanent, with TikTok announcing that it would lay off most local employees.
33. 69% of U.S. Teenagers Are Regular TikTok Users
TikTok appeals to the young, although it keeps its audience as they age. According to a Fall 2021 Survey from Piper Sands, Snapchat is still U.S. teenagers’ favorite social media platform (31%). However, Instagram has fallen from No. 2 to No. 3 (24%), with TikTok moving up to second. Additionally, 30% of the teenage respondents named TikTok their favorite platform, just 1% below Snapchat. TikTok adoption is rising — up to 71%, compared to 62% who used the app in Spring 2020. In comparison, 84% of the teenagers used Instagram, 78% Snapchat, 41% Twitter, 34% Pinterest, and just 28% Facebook.
34. First Temporary Indian Ban Cost 15 Million New Users
Indian legislators were so concerned about TikTok that they temporarily banned the app in 2019. They were worried that TikTok would expose children to inappropriate content. While that ban didn’t last long, it cost the app 15 million new users.
Of course, in late June 2020, the government imposed a longer-term ban, which the courts have since confirmed can be permanent. Who knows how many potential users TikTok has lost due to this?
35. 20% of Those with Household Income of More Than $75,000 Have Used TikTok
According to Pew Research’s 2021 survey on online social platforms by U.S. adults, TikTok is used relatively evenly by people across the income spectrum. 22% of those under $30K claim to have used TikTok, as do 29% of those making $30K-$49,999, 20% of those earning $50K-$74,999 20% of those earning $75K+.
According to older research quoted by MarketingCharts, 37% of TikTok’s U.S. users come from households with $100,000 or more income.
However, it is also relatively popular with low-income families. 18% of its users claim to be from households earning less than $25,000 per annum. These statistics will be skewed by excluding those under 18 – a large proportion of TikTok’s target audience. Also, many lower-income households could well be student flats, poor now, but potentially well-off once they graduate.