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State of the Screens

TikTok Boom! How the Exploding Social Media App Is Going Hollywood

By May 21, 2020No Comments

Key details for TikTok:
1) Launched in 2016
2) U.S. launch in Summer 2018
3) Part of Chinese company ByteDance
4) $75B estimated valuation
5) ≈ 2B app downloads
6) 700M daily users
7) 69% of users are 14-26

Wow: TikTok was downloaded 199M times in March, which is the highest monthly total for any app ever!

TikTok global app downloads by quarter according to SensorTower:
1) 
2017-Q1 – 22.4M
2)
 2017-Q2 – 26.6M
3) 
2017-Q3 – 33.6M
4) 
2017-Q4 – 46.8M
5) 
2018-Q1 – 110.3M
6) 
2018-Q2 – 156.0M
7) 
2018-Q3 – 183.8M
8) 
2018-Q4 – 205.7M
9) 
2019-Q1 – 187.3M
10) 
2019-Q2 – 155.9M
11) 
2019-Q3 – 175.9M
12) 
2019-Q4 – 199.4M
13) 
2020-Q1 – 315.0M

TikTok app downloads (share of total) by country:
1) India – 611M (30%)
2) China – 197M (10%)
3) United States – 165M (8%)
4) Other – 843M (52%)

TikTok users in the U.S. according to eMarketer:
1) 
2018 – 18.8M
2) 
2019 – 37.2M ( 97%)
3) 2020P – 45.4M ( 22%)
4) 2021P – 52.3M ( 15%)
5) 2022P – 55.8M ( 7%)
6) 2023P – 58.4M ( 5%)
7) 2024P – 60.3M ( 3%)

Big hire: TikTok tapped former Disney exec Kevin Mayer to be CEO.  At Disney, he oversaw streaming efforts, including the launch of Disney+.

Senator Hawley marked the occasion by offering a free trip to DC…

Video: TikTok?!  Clout-Chasing Millennial Learns About Memes and More

More #1: TikTok Is Preparing For An Ad War

More #2: The Promise—and Risk—of a Career in TikTok

More #3: ‘If You Can Get Famous Easily, You’re Gonna Do It’: How TikTok Took Over Music

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.