This archive report was first published on 20 November 2019.
TikTok's Rise to Fame ¶
Launched just three years ago in 2016, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms globally, with over 1.5 billion downloads across the iOS App Store and Google Play Store worldwide.
According to Sensor Tower, a mobile intelligence firm, TikTok has surpassed the 1 billion download threshold in February, with 614 million downloads this year alone, a 6% increase from the same time last year.
India leads the pack with over 466 million downloads, followed closely by China with over 173 million downloads, although this number does not include installs from third-party Android stores, which are widely used in China.
Interestingly, users in India generated 277.6 million downloads this year, representing 45% of the global installs, while China accounted for 45.5 million downloads, representing 7.4% of the global installs.
As for revenues, TikTok has earned an estimated $175 million worldwide via the App Store and Google Play Store, with Chinese users accounting for 48.3% of all revenue, followed by the US with 35.7% and the UK with 3.9%.
Believe it or not, a massive $115.3 million of the $175 million was earned this year alone, with TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, spending $1 billion to acquire Musical.ly in 2017, which would eventually become TikTok.
Facebook has attempted to mimic TikTok's success, launching a standalone video-sharing app called Lasso in November 2018, but it seems that TikTok's explosive growth is here to stay.
