Teen sensation TikTok’s appeal now waning
HONG KONG—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 per cent 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 teens from Boston to Bangalore. 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 (U.S.) 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 the company appears to have curtailed that spending. According to Sensor Tower, TikTok was the top app-install advertiser on Facebook in the U.S. 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 per cent year on year to just 16 per cent in the second.