As of January 2023, Indonesia was the country with the largest TikTok audience across the Asia-Pacific region by far, with approximately 110 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. In contrast, Cambodia had just over seven million TikTok users as of January 2023.

As of February 2025, the United States was the region with the largest TikTok audience by far, with almost 135.79 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. Indonesia followed, with around 107.7 million TikTok users. Brazil came in third, with almost 91.75 million users on TikTok watching short-videos. From Reels to Shorts: social short video takes the internet Between 2021 and 2022 some of the most popular social media platforms have been adding short-video features on the heels of TikTok’s popularity. YouTube Shorts, which rolled out to the global market in June 2021, reached two billion monthly active logged-in users in 2023. In comparison, Instagram’s short-video format Reels, which launched in August 2020, presented a higher view rate than regular videos on the platform between June 2021 and June 2022, as well as a higher likes rate than other content types on Instagram. TikTok business model TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, along with the short-video app Douyin (TikTok’s version for the Chinese market), video platform Xigua, and popular news app Toutiao. While the products intended for domestic market consumption operate in the Chinese digital ecosystem and have a plurality of established monetization methods such as a live-shopping events hosted by famous influencers, TikTok’s main revenue stream comes from online advertising. In 2022, TikTok was estimated to have generated around four billion U.S. dollars worldwide via online advertising.

As of February 2025, the Philippines had the highest potential reach rate of TikTok ads among adult population in the Asia-Pacific region, around 80 percent. Malaysia followed, with a potential reach rate of TikTok ads at almost 73 percent. In contrast, TikTok advertising in Hong Kong had a potential reach of two percent among the population aged 18 years and over.

ByteDance’s triumphant TikTok/ Douyin is one of the most successful Chinese brands that have made its name beyond borders. The short video brand enjoyed immense popularity around the world, surpassing Instagram and WhatsApp to be the most downloaded mobile app. In 2025, the brand value of TikTok/Douyin amounted to 106 billion U.S. dollars. It was the most valuable unicorn worldwide as of 2024 with a market cap of 200 billion U.S. dollars. TikTok versus Douyin: the major differences After Douyin’s success in China, ByteDance launched TikTok — a separate, international version of Douyin- in 2017. The video-sharing platforms, though quite similar in interface and functions, are two independent entities. Douyin and TikTok differ in accessibility (mainland China versus rest of the world), content results (China-based content versus international content), positioning (skills and lifestyle-tips-based versus more art-based), and functions (Douyin has more advanced live streaming and in-app purchase features). Who is using TikTok and Douyin? The duo possessed a large user base. In 2025, TikTok was estimated to have over 950 million users while that of Douyin would exceed 830 million in China. American and Southeast Asian countries were TikTok’s major markets. On average, the international version had a relatively older user composition than its Chinese sister app – a third of users aged below 34 years registered on TikTok versus half of Douyin users were under 31 years. In some countries like the United States, TikTok has achieved a high penetration rate among young adults.

In a survey conducted across six Southeast Asian countries in October 2022, 78 percent of the respondents in Singapore stated to have used TikTok to search for places to eat or drink. In Thailand, beauty products were the most popular search category among the surveyed TikTok users.

As of February 2025, South Korea had the highest social media penetration rate in the Asia-Pacific region, at around 95 percent. This was followed closely by Singapore with about 88 percent. In comparison, Afghanistan had a social media penetration rate of around 9.4 percent that year. Social media in APAC While Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia have relatively high social media penetration rates, the number of active social media users in the Asia-Pacific region paints a very different picture. China dominates the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in terms of the number of active social media users, surpassing the one-billion mark. This far exceeds the number of users in second-placed India. In comparison, during the same period, South Korea had about 48.9 million social media users, while Singapore had only around 5.2 million.  What are the most popular social networks? Facebook boasted an enormous number of monthly active users in the Asia-Pacific region, cementing itself as a firm favorite among Asia-Pacific social media users. While global platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube enjoy widespread popularity across the region, many markets have their own preferences for local social media platforms due to cultural relevance, government censorship, and tailored features. For instance, in China, WeChat dominates as an all-in-one app for messaging, payments, and social networking, while Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has the highest monthly active users among short-form video apps in China. In South Korea, KakaoTalk is widely used for messaging, as well as integrated services like mobile payments, gaming, and even ride-hailing. KakaoTalk’s monthly active users in South Korea has consistently increased in the past years.

According to a survey conducted among internet users in Vietnam by Decision Lab in the third quarter of 2023, the share of TikTok users among Generation Z reached over 80 percent. By comparison, around 77 percent of internet users in this age group used TikTok in the first quarter of 2023.

TikTok on the rise in Vietnam

Introduced to Vietnamese internet users in 2019, TikTok quickly scaled up to be one of the most used social media platforms across the country and has been especially popular among Generation Z. As of January 2023, Vietnam had the second-largest TikTok audience in the Asia Pacific region, with almost 50 million users engaging with the social video platform. More than just a short video-sharing channel, TikTok has recently extended its functionality to become a social commerce platform in Vietnam, which was easy, convenient, and entertaining to use according to online shoppers in the country.

Social media in Vietnam

While TikTok has seen significant growth in usage in Vietnam in recent years, Facebook remained the leading social media app in the country. Apart from globally known platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, the made-in-Vietnam app Zalo has consistently been the second most used social networking channel among Vietnamese internet users of all generations. In general, the popularity of social media platforms varies slightly among different age groups across the country. For instance, TikTok and Instagram were used much more by Gen Z, while Gen X internet users had the highest usage rate for Zalo.

In 2024, the bulk of TikTok Shops are concentrated in Asia, with Indonesia taking the lead globally at 20.5 percent. Following closely are Thailand and Vietnam, at 18.3 percent and 17 percent, respectively. The United States constitutes 11.8 percent of total TikTok Shops, with the United Kingdom representing just over six percent.

According to a survey among Gen Z consumers from 2023, the most used social media platform type was instant messengers in China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Social networks like Facebook were the most popular among Gen Z in Vietnam and Thailand, with 83 and 78 percent of the respondents using it regularly in 2023. About Gen Z consumers in Asia Gen Z consumers are one of the largest cohorts of consumers worldwide. According to a survey, social media websites and apps were widely used product research sources for Gen Z consumers. In China, various consumer electronics were popular among Gen Z consumers, and nearly 87 percent had smartphones in 2022. Popularity of TikTok among Gen Z TikTok is a video-sharing app based in China and saw a massive growth in the number of users in the Asia-Pacific region. About 29 percent of Gen Z respondents in Thailand had spent more than two to four hours a day on TikTok. The advertising reach of TikTok in Asian countries was relatively high, especially in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. With the rise of social commerce, shopping on TikTok is also gaining traction. However, most consumers in the Asia-Pacific region still research inside and outside the app or switch apps while shopping.

As of January 2024, India had a total of 362 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 169 million users, and Brazil had 134 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Brunei is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 92 percent of the population using the social media service. Guam came in second, with a penetration rate of 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands ranked third, with 78.8 percent, followed closely by Kazakhstan, Iceland and Montenegro. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of May 2021, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of December 2021, roughly a third of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of February 2022 with over 470 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 401 million followers on the platform and media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 309 million followers. National Geographic (@natgeo) had over 206.9 million followers, sharing educational content through its renowned photojournalism.

As of February 2025, Australia had the highest potential Instagram ad reach rate in the Asia-Pacific region among the reported markets, at about 65.4 percent of the adult population. In comparison, Instagram advertising in China had a potential reach of about 0.3 percent among the population aged 18 years and over. The rise of social media advertising Digital advertising had the highest ad spending in the Asia-Pacific region, with brands increasingly prioritizing online presence and engagement. Social media advertising has become a major focus, as platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WeChat offer access to a wide audience. Among APAC markets, China and Japan lead in social media ad revenue, reflecting large user bases. Next to paid advertising, social media influencers and bloggers have emerged as key players in shaping consumer preferences. Their recommendations are often perceived as trustworthy, in contrast to traditional brand ads, making them an essential part of modern digital marketing strategies. Influencer marketing: Driving purchases in Asia Influencer marketing plays a crucial role in the shopping behavior of consumers. In Southeast Asia specifically, the top product categories purchased due to influencer recommendations include beauty and fashion, with influencers often setting trends and creating demand for new products through their content. Consumers in Southeast Asia engage with influencer content primarily for entertainment, but many also seek purchase inspiration. As influencer marketing continues to evolve, brands are increasingly investing in partnerships with content creators to enhance their reach, credibility, and connection with consumers.

Asia leads the ranking of biggest e-commerce markets worldwide. The total revenue of online retail in Asian countries added up to nearly two trillion U.S. dollars in 2024. This was approximately 500 million U.S. dollars higher than the e-commerce revenue reached in the Americas. Australia, Oceania, and Africa achieved far lower e-commerce revenues in 2024, with values below 50 billion U.S. dollars. Asia’s leading position can mostly be ascribed to China, which achieved a revenue of over 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. How dominant is Asia in e-commerce? The e-commerce market is highly developed on the Asian continent, and will continue to grow. For instance, India is among the countries with the highest Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for its e-commerce market. Between 2024 and 2029, the market value is forecast to grow with over 11 percent annually. The Latin-American e-commerce market is also forecast to grow quickly in the coming years. Large Asian e-commerce markets have a strong influence over the rest of the world. A concrete example of an Asian e-commerce channel that is being adopted in the West is the TikTok Shop, connecting social media and e-commerce to form social commerce.

It comes as no surprise that the largest social network in Singapore is the messenger app WhatsApp and the social media giant Facebook. With Singapore home to one of the fastest internet connection speed in the world, the convenience of using these social networks on a daily basis has driven the growth of online content. There are over 5.5 million social media users in Singapore As of 2024, Singapore’s population has reached over six million people. These are, however, on an island with an area of only 719.9 square kilometers. The high technological standard has led to the internet penetration being extraordinarily high compared to other Southeast Asian countries. A high Internet penetration rate is usually a first indication that social media has great importance for the country too. In this case the general number of social media users amounted to 5.55 million people, reaching 88.7 percent of the population. While WhatsApp is still the most popular social media channel in Singapore, it seems like Facebook is currently losing their younger users. Young Singaporean social media users would instead be flocking to Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok.