50 TikTok Statistics You Should Know in 2024

Since its launch in 2017, TikTok has not only taken the social media world by storm but changed the way brands could market themselves to their target audience.

However, to utilise TikTok effectively as a marketing tool, you need to understand the platform. A great way to do this is by familiarising yourself with some TikTok statistics.

As a leading social media agency with deep expertise when it comes to TikTok, it’s high time we brought you some showstopping statistics that can help take your digital marketing strategy to the next level.

Where better to start than at the beginning, when TikTok was released to the international market in September 2017.

Even in a crowded social media landscape, with some big hitting competition to contend with, social media fans took to TikTok straight away. Users have been drawn in their millions to its authentic user-generated video content. 

Which leads us nicely to the first of our 50 statistics: 

TikTok’s rise was meteoric, as fuelled by the pandemic, the platform reached 800 million monthly active users in 2020, with that number rising to the magical 1 billion mark in 2021.

Fast forward to 2024 and TikTok has continued its upwards trajectory.

At the end of 2023, TikTok had amassed an impressive number of monthly active users, making it the fifth most popular social media platform when judged by this metric.

We’ve tried to unearth the most recent statistics we can, and this one is definitely hot off the press! This app was downloaded 46 million times in March 2024, a number which was only bettered by Facebook and Instagram. 

TikTok has become ubiquitous, with no corner of the world untouched by this social juggernaut!

Judging TikTok by revenue alone, it’s clear to see that advertisers have a lot of confidence in the platform, due to its continued popularity, which is a good sign for digital marketers moving forward.

TikTok is even having an influence on the words we speak, with a significant number of the 630 latest additions to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary influenced by the platform. NGL, we’re bussin’ about this!

Some of the most important TikTok statistics to digital marketers are not related to how many people are using TikTok, but rather who is logging in.

From Portland to Pensacola, Americans can’t get enough of TikTok, and the land of the free boasts the largest number of TikTok monthly active users of any country.

Not to be outdone by our friends from across the pond, roughly a third of the UK population also checks in with TikTok every month.

TikTok’s popularity among the younger generation has been well documented, and with good reason too, as almost three quarters of TikTok’s worldwide users are between the ages of 18 and 34.

Millennials and Gen Z are the lifeblood of TikTok, but it’s the latter demographic, in particular, who seem to have really connected with the platform, accounting for 60% of the TikTok statistics user base. 

The beauty of social media is that there really is something for everyone, so it’s no surprise that the male/female split is not far from 50/50, with approximately 52% being men, and 48% women.

We can throw big numbers at you till the cows come home, but a deep dive into the typical behaviours of UK TikTok users is also crucial information, which we are more than happy to share!

A recent Ofcom survey revealed that TikTok is becoming synonymous with internet activity in the UK, particularly among the younger generation.

Sticking with young people, the survey also revealed that over a quarter of young internet users use TikTok as their main social media fix.

UK TikTok fans are spending an average of 26 minutes there per visit, a figure bettered only by Snapchat among social media sites.

A great indicator of TikTok’s popularity is the amount of time young people in the UK are spending on the app, with an average of almost an hour every day. 

An increasing number of UK online news consumers now see TikTok as a source of news, and while the 2023 total of 20% may not seem like a huge number, the fact it was just 3% in 2020 speaks volumes about the way the wind is blowing.

Facebook may have the reach, but TikTok is one of the only social media platforms that can truly claim to be changing the digital marketing landscape, for a variety of reasons.

In November 2023, marketers worldwide were partaking in a survey in which 49% of the respondents said they were looking out for TikTok or social video as a key marketing trend in the coming year.

One of the most significant developments when it comes to TikTok’s impact on digital marketing, is its growth as a search engine, becoming a viable alternative to Google in the eyes of many consumers.

In early 2024, Adobe conducted a survey which covered the rise of TikTok as a search engine in the USA, with one of the key takeaways being that huge numbers of people are already using it as a way to search online.

It was also revealed that TikTok’s popularity as a search engine is particularly pronounced in the younger demographics

It’s one thing for everyone to see them as a companion to Google for internet searches, but Gen Z is certainly shifting towards seeing TikTok as a preferred alternative to Google.

Sticking with that Adobe survey, one of the main advantages of TikTok as a search engine is certainly the ease with which information can be presented.

We couldn’t let the opportunity pass to celebrate the influencers and content creators entertaining not just millions, but billions of people.

Italian content creator Khaby Lame’s unique comedic style, including his hilarious parodies of popular life hacks, have earned him over 160 million followers, a partnership with Hugo Boss, and even a judging spot on “Italia’s got Talent”!

From our statistics only on TikTok could a simple video of someone applying makeup go viral in such spectacular fashion, with makeup artist Nyadollie racking up over 504 million views in 2023.

“500 million? Hold my beer”, said Zach King (probably), as his clever video pretending to ride a broomstick a la Harry Potter, is the most watched short video on TikTok, showing in the statistics with 2.2 billion views as of July 2023.

While TikTok is awash with individuals that have become celebrities due to TikTok, the Rock is the most popular “celebrity” in the traditional sense, with over 74 million followers. 

TikTok’s vast music library has not only opened up a new way to create content, but launched certain songs into the stratosphere. With over 20 million creations, “Cupid – Twin Ver” by K-Pop group FIFTY FIFTY was the biggest song on TikTok in 2023.

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the ways in which users are engaging with TikTok, as well as the growth trends we can expect to see in the future.

TikTok statistics show that the app is going all in on e-commerce, with the introduction of a way for users to buy products without having to leave the app. This will have a wide range of benefits to brands and businesses, from ease of use for consumers, to new ways to market products, such as TikTok live streams with clickable product links.

Speaking of TikTok live streams, it seems that they are catching on, with half of TikTok users making positive purchasing decisions after watching one.

According to statistics, TikTok is also the perfect platform for branded live content, with users being 50% more interested in branded live content than those frequenting other social media platforms.

In social e-commerce, we expect all of the above to lead to an explosion in the future, with TikTok in the perfect position to let digital marketers take advantage!

The idea of community is central to all social media, and TikTok’s authentic user-generated videos not only let people find content relating to their interests but also help them grow their social circle by connecting with others who share similar passions.

We could write a whole article on the niche communities that populate TikTok – and we probably will! For now, though, we just need to stress the huge numbers that are attached to hashtags such as #FitTok, #FashionTok, #FoodTok, #BeautyTok, and their potential importance to your next social media marketing campaign.

Understanding the technical capabilities of TikTok is also key to understanding how best to utilise it as a marketing tool.

After a brief flirtation with allowing users to record longer videos through the app, TikTok has now settled on a maximum duration of three minutes.

However, if you’re recording videos on your own device and uploading them to TikTok, the maximum duration is 10 minutes.

In 2023, TikTok introduced a new feature, that allowed users to save music they found on the site to their preferred music streaming app, whether it be Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Spotify. 

Given TikTok’s rivalry with Snapchat, it was no surprise that in 2023, after statistics, they launched an AR video filter feature that allowed users to create video effects directly in the TikTok app.

Checking out how TikTok stacks up against its rivals is vital, if you’re thinking of taking advantage of the digital marketing possibilities it provides.

Only Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp & Instagram can boast more monthly active users than TikTok.

One of TikTok’s key advantages over its social media rivals is the advanced algorithms that power the “For You Page”, or FYP, delivering a constant stream of content tailored to each individual TikTok user.

TikTok may be the fifth most popular platform when judged on monthly active users, but the upwards trend is there for all to see when it comes to brand new downloads.

In 2021, TikTok surpassed YouTube as the preferred influencer marketing platform, extending its lead ever since and closing the gap on second-placed Instagram, with Facebook looking unlikely to relinquish top spot anytime soon!

The future is certainly looking bright for TikTok, with an upward trajectory expected across many metrics!

In the next three years, TikTok expects to add around 500 million users, which should keep Mark Zuckerberg and the Meta crew looking over their shoulders for a good while!

The eye-popping revenue expected to reach TikTok’s coffers in 2025 neatly sums up confidence in TikTok’s future health.

The introduction of Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts was certainly a response to the unique content format popularised by TikTok, and there’s no doubt that this influence will continue to spread in the coming years.

Everyone loves an insight or two in the social media marketing game, so here’s a few for you!

TikTok’s superpower is the creator content that it showcases, which allows brands and businesses to engage with consumers on an emotional level that was not possible before. 

If you’re entering the world of TikTok, you must always have the notion of community at the forefront of whatever you do….

…..and that’s because the people who are on TikTok are always open to connecting with others and sharing their stories.

Don’t be afraid to have an open dialogue with the people you are targeting, as it will not only provide valuable insights, but increase positive sentiment towards you and the message you are trying to convey.

In October 2023, TikTok invited a number of influencers and creators to its New York office. This was with the intention of encouraging them to start putting out longer-form content. Interestingly, their justification for this was that users are now spending half their time on the app watching content that’s longer than a minute

From that very same pow-wow, TikTok also revealed that posting longer videos can benefit content creators and influencers.

Every point we have outlined in this blog post, and more besides, has contributed to TikTok taking its place as one of the social media sites where search-first social media marketing can be most effective.

At Social Chameleon, we coined this phrase, and we are experts in using SEO on TikTok and other social media platforms, to effectively utilise the power of short form video to boost our clients’ digital marketing strategies.

We’re excited about what the future will bring, and if you want to know more, we’d love to hear from you!