The 16 TikTok Stats Your Business Needs to Know in 2023

• Updated on: 2022-11-18
• Read original article here

There’s no question that TikTok is a major trend, especially with young people. In fact, more than with many other networks, TikTok is making big tech CEOsin Silicon Valley lose sleep. This relatively young and fast-growing social networking platform appeared “from nowhere” and is now posing a big threat to all other social media platforms. Increasingly, this network is one of the best places to see and be seen.

Want to know why? It almost goes without saying, but one of the reasons for TikTok’s growth is its runaway popularity with younger users. However, that isn’t the whole picture. This article will give you the astonishing TikTok stats that demonstrate why it’s so successful, and why it’s such a threat to big tech.

These stats are categorized based on:

At the end of this discussion, you’ll see that TikTok is a real powerhouse. Even with the media controversy over data security and Chinese snooping, it’s a force to be reckoned with.

TikTok is a mobile app that allows people to create and share videos. Part of its appeal is the ability to make videos inside of the app: users simply click a button on the bottom of the screen to turn on the camera. Plus, you can do basic video editing like logo insertions or stickers.

It’s been called “the next big thing” since its Chinese launch in 2016. Then, growth exploded with worldwide availability after 2018. As such, this social network is one of the most prominent Chinese tech products to date. The TikTok stats we’ll discuss demonstrate the success of this platform over time.

As you can see, TikTok has become an important force in the social media world. That’s especially true if you want to market your goods and services to the younger generations. At the same time, the runaway success of TikTok is threatening the current big tech companies.

Fortunately, as things stand, TikTok is a good place to advertise while continuing to market on other platforms. That’s because, although TikTok’s audience is massive, it still has less market saturation than other platforms. A quick look at TikTok stats will help you see how this platform can enhance your overall social media marketing. Additionally, you can do it in a way that maximizes ROI by leveraging the most effective channels for each segment of your customer group.

TikTok sometime ago reported 1 billion monthly active users worldwide. On the other hand, TikTok is still smaller than Facebook, with 2.9 billion users, and Instagram, with 2 billion.

With that said, if TikTok’s explosive growth continues, it will quickly rival larger networks. While it’s currently the sixth most popular platform globally, the network is on track to hit 1.8 billion members by the end of 2022. That’s just a bit smaller than Instagram, and it is easy to imagine TikTok membership numbers rivaling Instagram by next year.

In fact, we see signs of the rapid growth continuing, so long as the regulators do not ruin it on the grounds of being a security risk. That’s because TikTok has been downloaded 3 billion times. It was the most downloaded non-game app in the first six months of 2021, hitting 383 million installs from January to June 2021 alone. And while not everybody that downloads the app will become a regular user, it does mean that there is a lot of interest.

If there’s any doubt in your mind that TikTok is growing rapidly, it’s useful to look at some global numbers. Between January 2018 and July 2020, TikTok’s global user base increased by 1157.76%, a huge percentage by any measure. Furthermore, in the U.S., it increased by 787.86%. This is especially remarkable considering that the US Government tried to ban or place restrictions on the platform. And while this growth rate is likely unsustainable, it should still remain rapid for years.

Further Reading: From Starting to Going Global: 5 Amazing Secrets for How to Get Followers on TikTok (for Brand New Accounts)

Arguably, TikTok is the most engaging platform, because people spend a lot of time on it. The average session length is 10.85 minutes, which is double the time spent on #2 Pinterest at 5.06 minutes.

Perhaps the most interesting point about average session times is that TikTok time exceeds Facebook and Instagram times. It’s intriguing because the two other social networks have a much more intense culture of updating people about users’ lives. You also don’t hear a lot about people using TikTok to keep track of family.

Let’s underline the last point. As of 2021, kids and teens watched an average of 91 minutes of TikTok per day, compared to 56 minutes per day for YouTube. In addition, it’s worth noting that TikTok videos are very short, so spending over an hour on the platform every day means that people watch and create a lot of content in that time

That’s why people argue that, in 2022, it is the most addictive social app, with 28.7 hours spent per month on average. Tellingly, people spend a lot fewer monthly hours on Facebook (16 hours) and Instagram (8 hours).

What do these TikTok stats tell us as marketers? Simply put, now is a great time to start marketing on this platform, so long as your target audience would find TikTok videos appealing. As I will mention later, this platform still has demographics with very low representation.

When you consider how long people spend on TikTok, it’s probably no surprise that there are 1 billion videos consumed daily across the globe. This is a huge number of videos, and it’s probably one reason why the platform overall is growing so fast. It would be interesting to know how many more TikTok videos are reviewed in their reposted forms on other platforms, such as YouTube shorts.

Most people think of technological domination as belonging to Google, Apple, and Amazon. However, when you consider the TikTok stats overall, you’ll see that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, out of 4.8 billion global internet users, 20.83% use TikTok. Of course, many of these people are in China, and for this reason, the number of global users may be among the less useful TikTok stats for companies that don’t do business in certain countries.

While many Americans are on several social networks, it’s important to know that TikTok has around 80 million monthly active users in the U.S.. Among American users, there are 60% females and 40% males, and sixty percent of them are between the ages of 16 and 24. 25-44 year old’s account for 26% of the population. In other words, the vast majority of TikTok users in America are between the ages of 16 and 34.

US-based users are also a large percentage of TikTok’s business. Approximately 136.5 million users engaged with TikTok on April 2022, making theU.S the country with the largest TikTok audience by far. TikTok users in Indonesia numbered around 99 million, making them the second-largest user group. In third place was Brazil, with 74 million users watching short videos on TikTok. Chinese users, technically the largest total use of this service, are technically on a different site called Douyin.

Naturally, with TikTok reaching such a large percentage of Americans, it’s becoming a significant cultural phenomenon. When you tweak the different TikTok stats in this section, you will see that TikTok is most effective at reaching the younger generations. This is why maximizing your ROI on TikTok requires understanding your audience well.

Further Reading: TikTok Marketing: 5 Reasons Why, 5 Strategy Tips How, and 5 Examples to Help You Master the Channel

As with viewership and the quantity of content, we can see significant growth in revenue from selected TikTok stats. For example, in 2021, it generated $4.6 billion in advertising revenue, an increase of 142% over the previous year. That’s a lot of advertising, and it means that brands increasingly see this platform as worthwhile.

Let’s look at some numbers. For a one-day run of the TopView ad — that pops up on users’ feed when they open the app — the company charges as much as $2.6 million. In other words, being the first thing that a user sees when they log on to TikTok each day is quite valuable. They say that first impressions are the most important, and this seems to be true with the hottest website on the Internet.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that In 2022, it’s on its way to tripling revenue to $12 billion. This is a huge number, especially for a site that has been around for many years. Furthermore, in terms of revenue, that makes it bigger than Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. combined.

Revenue from the U.S is growing too. In the second quarter of 2022, the video-sharing app TikTok generated more than 39.4 million dollars there from iOS alone. This figure doesn’t include android users, which are also major drivers of revenue. And like many social networks, most of this money came from advertising.

Further Reading: TikTok Ads Guide: 7 Steps to Get Started (and 6 Opportunities You Don’t Want to Miss Out On)

Globally, Android users make up the majority of TikTok members. In fact, from a global viewpoint, some 90% of TikTok downloads come from Android smartphones. The one exception is the United States, where iOS TikTok users outnumber Android users. Nonetheless, there are a lot of people who use Androids even in the US.

As with device use, the numbers are different between the United States and other countries when it comes to gender. Globally, 57% of users are Females and 43% are Males. While this isn’t quite the same gender breakdown as the general population, it’s still a relatively close margin. By contrast, in the US, 61% of users are females. These TikTok stats show us that for some reason American women are more dominant on TikTok than they are in most of the rest of the world.

It’s hard to say why this is, and it would be an interesting next study to find out. However, one reason might be that there are a lot of cooking-related videos and similar traditionally female topics. Being able to see a recipe demonstrated in a minute or less can be quite valuable, especially if you are a busy mom with a job and not much meal prep time. You’ll also find a lot of life hacks that can similarly appeal to this demographic.

As I mentioned above, the largest demographic group for TikTok in the United States is between 18 and 34 years old. However, like other TikTok stats, it’s useful to break that data point down further, where we find that approximately 17.7 percent of TikTok users are aged 12-17. Another 2.5 percent of TikTok users are aged 11 and under, making this a relatively young audience.

If your company serves a young niche, it’s easy to see that TikTok can be pure gold for your brand’s marketing efforts. For instance, TikTok’s focus on challenges, jokes, and dances automatically appeals to the younger set. And if you have watched commercials for children’s clothing and sports gear, you’ve probably seen a dance-themed advertisement. Similarly, tutorials for craft materials, electronics, and similar items are very appealing.

According to Bloomberg, TikTok is one of the most valuable startups at $350 billion. That number places it ahead of SpaceX and Stripe Inc. 

Unpacking this number a little bit does require some context. TikTok is part of the Chinese company Bytedance. It’s also not the only product making money for Bytedance. Rather, there’s another platform called Douyin that’s exclusive to the Chinese market and its billion-plus population. The valuation from Bloomberg does include both branches of the parent company.

Even when you consider that valuation-related TikTok stats include more than just the international version, it’s clear that this social network is big business. And that’s the same time because it’s a young social network, is a lot less commercialism on the site. This provides a unique opportunity for brands focused on authenticity to make their mark.

Like other social networks, TikTok has several very popular content creators. One of the great things about TikTok is that it provides a unique opportunity for users to show off their personalities and their sense of humor. And for this reason, a lot of people can relate to these creators. Like other social networks, many of these popular TikTokers are also influencers.

At the end of June 2022, TikTok creator and comedian Khabane Lame was the most popular content creator with over 150 million followers. His videos are known for displaying a sense of humor and presenting a view of everyday people. In fact, many people say that it is Lame’s personality that keeps them watching.

Charli D’Amelio was in the second position with 145.4 million followers.

Charli is known for her dance videos. This is a staple on TikTok, dating back to its original Chinese version. While still in high school, Charli started her TikTok account, and immediately experienced explosive growth. In fact, she is so famous that she was the first TikToker to gain 100 million subscribers. This makes her a true celebrity.

Finally, singer Bella Poarch ranked third at 91 million followers. A Filipino-American, Poarch often speaks of her difficult childhood. However, she has a special talent for singing, and she has turned this into TikTok greatness. Now, she has a recording contract and has started creating her own music.

As you can see, there is a relatively diverse group of people who have achieved TikTok fame. No two of these famous TikTok verses have the same ethnic background or the same talent. From a TikTok stats point of view, this means that almost anyone can be successful. And as a marketer, you should also see lots of opportunities to reach your target audience.

Further Reading: 6 Tips To Help You Find The Right TikTok Influencers

a post about TikTok stats would not be complete without discussing the gender of TikTok members and creators. When people open a TikTok account, say are asked to reveal their gender. And while it’s possible to answer “neither” or “I prefer not to say,” we don’t have specific statistics for these individuals. We also need to bear in mind that not all users who identify as male or female were assigned to that gender at birth.

Within the above parameters, we know that Approximately 56.21 percent of TikTok’s content creators were women, while 46.21 percent were men. In other words, when these TikTok stats were recorded in August 2021, women accounted for the majority of TikTok’s creators. According to a different measure, a slightly lower 53.79 percent of the short-video app’s content creators are women.

Regardless of which estimation is correct, there’s a significant difference in the number of women as opposed to the number of men. The fact that two of the top three TikTok personalities are women also seems to bear this out.

Overall, when you consider the demographics from TikTok stats, the average user is young and female. However, unlike Pinterest, the female presence is less overwhelming. With over 40% of users being male, TikTok is a good place to reach the younger generation regardless of gender.

Like most other social media networks, TikTok uses hashtags, to sort, and describe the content. But, what are the top hashtags? Here are three to watch.

The hashtag “fyp”, which stands for “for you page,” amassed over 18.57 trillion views across posts in January 2022. On TikTok, the fyp is equivalent to a homepage or feed, therefore, it’s the first thing that people see when they log on. And as a result, there is a real arms race among content creators to score a spot on someone’s fyp.

TikTok short-video posts using the hashtag “viral” ranked second, with approximately 6.3 trillion views. While going viral has more to do with how many people find your content engaging, using the #viral tag is a good way to ask for those likes and shares.

As of January 2022, the hashtag “duet,” which refers to TikTok videos that creators can share, mirror, and comment on, had accumulated around 2.4 trillion views. Everybody loves to curate content on social media, so it’s probably unsurprising that this hashtag is doing so well. And anyway, with its roots in tense and challenges, interacting with other people’s content is a cool thing to do.

Further Reading: 15 Legit Ways How to Get More Views on TikTok

If these TikTok stats tell us nothing else, it’s that this platform is exploding in popularity and influence. Additionally, any brand that is focused on young people should probably have a presence here. The biggest reason for this, of course, is that so many users are under the age of 35. With that said, no audience is so valuable that you should give up your brand voice and consistency. As always, the road to success for any brand is by staying true to itself.