Social Media platform TikTok has continued its meteoric rise since an important merger in 2018 that took the platform global, permeating the mainstream. The platform is especially popular among the younger generation with a majority of teens using TikTok in the US. According to data presented by Stock Apps, over 32% of TikTok users are in their teens which is the biggest among all age groups. More data indicates that 7 in 10 American teens use TikTok at least once a month.
The Early Days of TikTok
TikTok is a social media platform that originated in China and is locally known there as Douyin. Douyin was started by ByteDance in 2016 and aimed to spread globally once it gained popularity in mainland China. In 2017 ByteDance launched TikTok which was the international version of Douyin.
In 2018, Bytedance reportedly spent up to $1B to acquire Musical.ly, another Chinese social media startup based out of Shanghai that was founded in 2014. Musical.ly already had a large following especially among the younger generation, this became the foundation for TikTok’s global rise. Since their merger, TikTok has been made available to download in over 150 countries and 75+ languages.
TikTok Widely Popular Among Younger Generation
TikTok allows users to record a short 15 second clip that usually features music in the background and can be edited through filters. A popular kind of clip which originated with the Musical.ly app are short lip-sync videos to trendy songs. The video can also be sped up or slowed down to the users liking allowing for creative little clips that easily go viral.
The platform clearly appeals to the younger generation and has surpassed many other social media platforms in terms of usage among teens. In the fall of 2020, a survey of almost 10K teens indicated that TikTok was the third most popular social media platform behind only Snapchat and Instagram with over 7 in 10 teens indicating that they used the platform at least once a month.
More Than 30% of TikTok’s Android Users are in Their Teens
TikTok’s popularity among the younger generation is no secret and is in fact the backbone of the app’s success. As of the midway point of 2020, 32.5% of TikTok’s Android users are from the 10-19 age group, the largest share of any group, followed by the next youngest generation, the 20-29 year olds who comprise 29.5% of TikTok’s Android users. That means over 60% of TikTok’s Android users are under the age of 30.
This important share of the market has not been lost among celebrities who seek to expand their reach with stars such as Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk among those to join the TikTok party relatively early in 2018. Since then other megastars such as Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber and Will Smith have joined the party, among many others.
In the fall of 2019, TikTok also announced a multi-year partnership with the National Football League which included the launch of the official NFL TikTok account giving teams, players and the league a whole new marketing avenue. Partnerships such as these are what help catapult TikTok to become one of the fastest-growing social media platforms today, already boasting 800 monthly active users in less than four years since its launch.
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