According to recent analytics, smartphone users in the United States and the United Kingdom are spending more time watching Chinese-owned app TikTok than YouTube.
BBC News reports that according to a recent analysis by the app monitoring firm App Annie, users in the U.S. and UK are spending more time on the Chinese-owned short-form video app TikTok than on YouTube. App Annie stated that TikTok has “upended the streaming and social landscape” with its short-form video content approach. The app is wildly popular with teenagers in both countries.
YouTube has, however, held onto the top spot for overall time spent on the app based on its massive userbase, but TikTok has surpassed it on average watch time. YouTube boasts an estimated two billion monthly user count, while TikTok’s most recent figures suggest around 700 million active monthly users as of 2020.
Jamie MacEwan of the analytics firm Enders Analysis commented: “YouTube still leads TikTok in overall time spent, including in the UK. YouTube’s mass audience means it’s getting more demographics that are comparatively light internet users… it’s just reaching everyone who’s online.” MacEwan added that YouTube users that are highly invested in the platform likely “match or surpass” the engagement of TikTok users, but added that “none of that’s to say TikTok isn’t a success.”
MacEwan added: “TikTok was spending big to attract users, but they were not necessarily hanging around for long compared to other social media. Now we know that in the US and UK, TikTok has overhauled YouTube, and is reeling in Facebook… that’s a huge seal of approval.”
App Annie’s “time spent” metric reports only accounts for Android phones and does not include the demographic of China where TikTok — known in the country as Douyin — is an extremely popular app, meaning that the app’s overall usage is likely much higher than currently reported.
Read more at BBC News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com