TikTok may be losing appeal, data shows
TIKTOK SAW GLOBAL USER-DOWNLOADS FALL FOR THE 1ST TIME SINCE ITS INCEPTION TWO YEARS AGO
HONGKONG: TikTok, the viral short video app run by Chinese upstart ByteDance Inc., saw global user-downloads fall for the first time since its inception two years ago, new data from Sensor Tower shows.
The app amassed an estimated 177 million first-time users across the Apple App Store and Google Play for the third quarter ended September. That represents a 4% decline from a year ago. It’s the first time the hit app saw new installs drop on a quarterly basis, the mobile data provider said. In total, TikTok has been installed by around 564 million users so far this year and has been installed 1.45 billion times since launching.
TikTok has evolved to become a global phenomenon known for lighthearted content—including lip syncing and dancing—uploaded by teenage users from Boston to Bengaluru. It’s also one of the few examples of a Chinese social media platform that has achieved global success. Beijing-based ByteDance is the world’s largest startup with a valuation of $75 billion according to CB Insights.
ByteDance has long splashed huge chunks of money to advertise TikTok on Facebook, essentially buying users away from its biggest rival. But more recently, the company appears to have curtailed that spending. According to Sensor Tower, TikTok was the top app-install advertiser on Facebook in the US for four quarters in a row—until it dropped out of the Top 10 in the second quarter. That coincided with a sharp plunge in new user growth in the country—from the first quarter’s 182% year on year to just 16% in the second quarter.
A ByteDance spokeswoman said TikTok doesn’t comment on third-party numbers.
“With any app growth, there will come a time when it plateaus, especially since TikTok had grown so much,” said Alvin Foo, managing director of Reprise Digital, a Shanghaibased online marketing agency under the Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. “They should worry more about monetisation and evolving.”
The firm is also facing greater scrutiny overseas, including from Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. He called out the app earlier this month over privacy and freedom of speech concerns.