It may not seem that long ago, but TikTok began in 2016. No one knew what TikTok was at the time, but that would change quickly. It took TikTok less than four years to hit milestones that Instagram and Facebook hadn’t reached until they’d been around for a decade.
That incredible growth has continued as TikTok numbers continue to boom. The pandemic helped TikTok reach record numbers, beating itself in almost every growth category. If you’re wondering how the data trends in 2024 stack up, let’s break them down.
TikTok Statistics at a Glance
Here are some basic stats about TikTok that you need to know:
- TikTok averages 1 billion active users every month.
- More than 3 billion downloads of TikTok have occurred since 2016.
- 45% of the total downloads of TikTok occurred between 2020 and 2021.
By most measures, TikTok is the world’s 4th most popular social media giant.
Active Users of TikTok
TikTok is one of the fastest-growing apps of all time and reached 1 billion active users in September of 2021. Only Instagram, with 1.4 billion, YouTube, with 2.2 billion, and Facebook, with 2.9 billion, have more engaged users.
The numbers TikTok achieves also mean that over 20% of people with the internet use TikTok. That’s 1 in 5 of the 4.8 billion internet users. Over 110 million of those active users are in the United States. That number is expected to rise by next year, 2024.
TikTok in America
In addition to having over 110 million active users in the U.S., TikTok is expected to see 20% growth over the next two years. There are over 267 million mobile internet users in the U.S., and over 40% of users have TikTok.
An astounding 20% of American mobile internet users log into TikTok daily. This comes out to around 50 million daily app users on their smartphones. Almost 40% of all TikTok users in Gen Z log in daily to TikTok, which is who TikTok has long targeted.
Worldwide Stats
TikTok and its Chinese version, Douyin, are available in 141 countries. That means there are only 14 countries that don’t have any TikTok users. That is 91% of countries on Earth. So far, TikTok has been translated into 39 languages, which helps keep the user base expanding.
The first country you may have heard of is India. There is a lot of misinformation out there and old data being used. India was the largest growing market for TikTok, but that all changed when the Indian government banned TikTok.
Here are the three countries with the most TikTok users, not counting China, which operates Douyin:
1. United States
TikTok has had fantastic success in the United States and North America. The app has been downloaded over 170 million times in the U.S. alone. This amounts to 116.5 million active accounts from the United States on TikTok.
2. Indonesia
The market for TikTok in Indonesia remains robust and incredibly popular. Indonesia has almost as many active users as the U.S., with 113 million users.
3. Brazil
It was long thought that TikTok had trouble growing in South America, but Brazil proved the analysts wrong. Brazil alone has over 80 million active users on TikTok. TikTok has shown sustained and explosive growth in Brazil, with other South American countries continuing to expand their active user base.
Demographics of TikTok
Now that we know where TikTok is popular, let’s look at who it’s popular with. In the beginning, an overwhelming number of young people used the app. That has begun to change with the popularity surge, meaning that older users also log on in record numbers.
Here is how age breaks down for TikTok in the United States:
- 25% of TikTok’s active users in the U.S. are aged 10-19.
- 22.4% of TikTok’s active users in the U.S. are aged 20-29.
- 21.7% of TikTok’s active users in the U.S. are aged 30-39.
- 20.3% of TikTok’s active users in the U.S. are aged 40-49.
- 11% of TikTok’s active users in the U.S. are aged 50 or older.
One quarter, or 25%, of all TikTok users are under 20. Of the total number of people using the app in the United States, 45% are Gen Z. The age demographics are expected to become more balanced as the app ages, just like Facebook and Instagram have.
Gender Demographics
TikTok has also done well among women. Women represent around 60% of the average daily users of TikTok. Not only are a lot of women watching, but popular female Instagram content creators have also migrated platforms to TikTok.
Regional Stats
North America and Southeast Asia are the two most robust markets for TikTok globally. According to TikTok add data, the United States alone accounts for a considerable percentage of income and advertisement. Countries like Indonesia and Vietnam are also growing in this regard, as are Thailand and the Philippines, with over 40 million active users.
Europe has a strong TikTok community, with the Russian Federation having over 50 million active users. Western Europe also has a thriving TikTok user base, with over 100 million regular users watching and creating content. Turkey also has a large user base with over 30 million regular users.
Latin America and South America are doing well regionally, and the popularity of TikTok is surging in many countries in those regions. Brazil is the third leading nation in the world for TikTok, with Mexico in a solid fourth place with over 60 million users.
TikTok is far less prevalent in Africa and the Middle East, with only one nation breaking into the top ten. That nation is Saudi Arabia, which is now close to having 30 million active users.
TikTok Engagement Statistics
TikTok is one of the most engaging apps in the world. People enjoy spending time on TikTok and, as a result, spend more time on it than other apps.
90% of TikTok’s active users access their account every single day. TikTok has the highest average session length of any social media app currently on the market. The global average for using TikTok sits around one hour every day.
The average session length for TikTok is around ten minutes. That is almost double that of Pinterest, the next closest. TikTok has experienced over 100% growth in engagement over the last four years.
If you want to use TikTok as a marketing platform, the chance to grow a massive audience is now available. Accounts with over 100,000 viewers have engagement rates of over 5%, which blows away the competition, like Instagram, which only has a rate of 1.1%.
In the United States
Engagement in the United States is high, with the average user spending around 33 minutes daily on the application. This puts it second only to Facebook in terms of engagement and use. While Facebook is a juggernaut in social media, it has suffered decreased engagement since 2020.
One of the most impressive statistics about engagement in the United States is that growth has soared monthly and yearly. This means it won’t be long before TikTok takes over areas traditionally dominated by Facebook and Instagram.
Content Creators
Content creators can make good money on TikTok, with Addison Rae being the highest-paid as of 2021. She is said to have earned over $8 million in a single year through her channel. However, TikTok has a more specific focus than most other social media platforms.
Entertainment, dance, and pranks are the three largest categories viewed on TikTok. Popular creators in these fields can have tens of millions of subscribers. One point of interest is that costs for advertising and posting are far lower on TikTok than on Instagram.
If you have over 2.5 million subscribers, you get between $600 and $1,000 per sponsored post as a content creator. Instagram influencers charge between $100 and $200 per 15,000 users, meaning it can be costly to advertise on the most popular channels.
TikTok Marketing
Facebook remains the #1 place for paid advertisements in North America. That remains true for now, and the foreseeable future, but TikTok is progressing. They have their own platform that focuses on showing relevant and quality ads.
TikTok ads can run traffic to your website and app. You can also use hashtags to boost posts and content. It’s important to remember that creativity is the most crucial element of TikTok. You can create branded filters, stickers, and A.R. lenses.
There are exciting possibilities for the future with TikTok. It is a great platform to get into marketing right now. The growth and changes coming in the future will be easier to negotiate for those businesses that are already active on the platform.
TikTok remains a largely untapped resource for marketers, with less than 10% using it regularly. The app generates over $9 billion in revenues, and it is just getting started.
The company now values itself around $223 billion overall. The total value of TikTok is expected to continue to rise in the next few years, with large-scale growth expected.
The Bottom Line
If there’s anything you absolutely need to know about TikTok, it’s that it’s growing in popularity. TikTok has grown fast and continues to see booming numbers across the board. TikTok is the growth engine of the future, and that time is coming sooner than you may think.
TikTok is positioned right now in almost the perfect spot for marketers. It is easy to gather a following, engagement is high, and growth is expected to continue exponentially.