ByteDance-owned video sharing app TikTok was the world’s second-most downloaded app in 2019.
TikTok passed Facebook (No.4) and Facebook-owned Messenger (No.3) to rank second globally behind the No.1-most downloaded app, WhatsApp, which is also owned by Facebook, according to new figures published by intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
The figures show that TikTok downloads reached an all-time high in Q4 2019, with nearly 220 million installs, which represented a 24% increase over Q3 2019.
Sensor Tower also reports that TikTok’s revenue grew by a massive 540% YoY in Q4 2019.
The intelligence firm estimates that TikTok revenue approached $40 million in December alone, and that it was the world’s No. 7 app (excluding games) by revenue that month.
The vast majority of that revenue growth came from China, says Sensor Tower, which adds that the country was responsible for 78% of TikTok’s revenue in Q4 2019. The US was second at 16%.
TikTok saw more than 700m downloads across the entirety of 2019, reports Sensor Tower, whose estimates include worldwide downloads for iPhone, iPad, and Google Play for January 1 through December 31, 2019.
India was responsible for nearly 45% of the app’s first-time downloads last year.
TikTok downloads on the US App Store grew 83% YoY to nearly 10m in Q4 2019, according to Sensor Tower data.
Meanwhile, 66% of US installs were from the App Store, with 34% from Google Play in Q4 2019. Russia, Turkey, and Italy were TikTok’s top European markets for the quarter.
TikTok’s top market for download volume throughout 2019 was India. Brazil was its second largest market in Q4 2019.
“When it comes to worldwide downloads, Facebook’s dominance among the top apps was apparent: Facebook published the top four apps in 2016 and 2017,” writes Sensor Tower in the report.
“Over the next two years, only TikTok was able to break into these top positions, demonstrating that it is still possible for new apps to emerge and compete with top social apps by publishers such as Facebook and Snap.”Music Business Worldwide
