TikTok’s growing prominence in the market was highlighted last week following the news that the ByteDance-owned app surpassed YouTube in both the US and the UK for average time spent per user, per month on Android as of May 2021.
Now, according to a new report from analytics firm Sensor Tower, TikTok was also the most downloaded and highest grossing non-game app worldwide in the first half of 2021.
The app, according to Sensor Tower data, reached nearly 383 million first-time installs globally and approximately $919.2 million in consumer spending in the first half of 2021.
TikTok has also now passed 3 billion installs globally from across the App Store and Google Play (including the iOS version of its Chinese release, Douyin, and excluding third-party Android marketplaces), which Sensor Tower says makes it the first non-Facebook owned app to achieve this.
In the United States, TikTok has generated close to 253 million downloads to date from the App Store and Google Play, which accounts for 8.4% of global installs of the app.
TikTok is just the fifth non-game app to ever pass 3 billion installs globally from across the App Store and Google Play. The other four include WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram.
In spite of new TikTok downloads falling 38% year-over-year from nearly 619m in the first half of 2020 (see below), a decline that Sensor Tower says is partially attributable to the app’s ban in India, consumer spending (in-app spending) was actually up 73% from $530.2m in the same period a year prior.
Consumer spending in Q2 grew to $534.6m, from $384.7m in the previous quarter (Q1 2021), marking TikTok’s greatest quarter-on-quarter growth in spending since Q2 2020.
According to Sensor Tower, TikTok has now generated more than $2.5 billion in consumer spending globally since its launch.
TikTok is one of only five non-game apps to have generated more than $2.5bn in revenue, according to Sensor Tower, including Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, and Tencent Video.
Elsewhere, Sensor Tower reports that TikTok’s adoption also accelerated in the first half of 2021.
First-time downloads of the app grew 2% quarter-over-quarter r to 177.5m in Q1 2021, while first time installs climbed 16% quarter-on-quarter to 205.4 million in Q2 2021.
That Q2 growth was the most growth the app has seen since its record-breaking Q1 2020, when it accumulated more than 315 million installs, the most any app has seen in a single quarter.
“TikTok’s metrics tell a story of astounding growth, but it doesn’t stand unchallenged in the social video space.”
Sensor Tower
Sensor Tower notes that “TikTok’s metrics tell a story of astounding growth, but it doesn’t stand unchallenged in the social video space”.
Added Sensor: “Popular apps such as YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram have integrated similar features into their platforms, hoping to appeal to new and existing users.
“Standalone competitors such as Kwai and Moj are also jostling to lead the pack. To stay competitive, ByteDance will undoubtedly continue to innovate and build out the creator ecosystem on TikTok.”Music Business Worldwide
