During the second quarter of 2024, the monthly active users (MAU) of video platform Rumble reached an average of almost 53 million. This represents a decrease of approximately 20 percent compared to the 67 million MAU reached on average during the last quarter of 2023. Rumble is an online video platform launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube. The platform quickly became part of the Alt-tech scenario in North America and went public via SPAC merger in the second half of 2022.

During the second quarter of 2024, global users of video platform Rumble watched approximately 8.5 billion minutes of content on the platform per month. This represents a small decrease from the first quarter of 2024, when the time spent on the platform's content was 8.6 billion minutes watched on average per month. Rumble is an online video platform launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube. The platform quickly became part of the Alt-tech scenario in North America and went public via SPAC merger in the second half of 2022.

During the second quarter of 2024, online video platform Rumble reported around 13,342 hours of content uploaded per day. This represents an increase from the 12,429 hours of content uploaded by users on the platform during the first quarter of 2024. Rumble is an online video platform launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube. In the second half of 2022, the company went public via a SPAC merger.

Rumble is an online video platform launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube. In the second half of 2022, the company went public via a SPAC merger with CF Acquisition Corp. During the second quarter of 2024, the company reported revenues of approximately 22.5 million U.S. dollars, up by approximately 30 percent from the 17.7 million U.S. dollars generated during the first quarter of 2024.

Dan Bongino, a former NYPD officer turned TV personality and content creator, hosts the most popular show on video platform, Rumble. During the second quarter of 2024, the Dan Bongino Show on Ruble saw approximately 50,000 viewers on average. Slap fighting show Power Slap ranked second with approximately 49,300 average viewers, while Conservative commentator Steven Crowder ranked third with 74,300 average viewers. Online video and live streaming platform Rumble was launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube, went public in September 2022 via SPAC-merger.

Between 2020 and 2022, the revenues generated by online video platform Rumble in the United States experienced a constant increase, reaching 37.4 million U.S. dollars. Canada was the second largest market for the platform, generating 502 thousand U.S. dollars in 2021. Rumble is an online video platform launched in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube. In the second half of 2022, the company went public via a SPAC merger with CF Acquisition Corp.

As of June 2022, the British social media personality Andrew Tate ranked first as the most popular Rumble streamer, with its broadcasting reaching 433 thousand viewers at its peak. Rumble is an online video and online hosting platform known in the alt-tech online galaxy, as well as hosting personalities that have been banned from mainstream online platforms. The Right Side Broadcasting Network ranked second, with 110 thousand viewers at its peak broadcasting.

A May 2022 study of alternative social media platforms found that on average, 15 percent of prominent users of the examined alt-tech platforms had been indefinitely or permanently suspended, banned or demonetized on other social media platforms. Overall, more than a third of the most-followed BitChute users were banned on other sites, and approximately 22 percent of prominent Rumble users had also been banned elsewhere.

According to a 2022 report, 67 percent of users that regularly receive news on Rumble were very or somewhat satisfied with getting news on that platform. Truth Social ranked second, with 57 percent. More mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook represented a less positive consumer experience, with 41 and 30 percent of respondents stating that they were satisfied with receiving news on these platforms.

As of May 2022, over half of surveyed alternative social media news consumers stated they found in online spaces such as Truth Social, Parler, or Rumble news and information that they did not find on any other platform. Only 16 percent of respondents reported they rarely or never see news they wouldn't have seen somewhere else on alternative social media platforms.

According to data collected in April 2022 in the United States, Telegram was the alternative social media platform that claimed to provide necessary privacy settings and a conscious approach to handling user data. Rumble appeared to have none of the mentioned online privacy control options among all the platforms. Gab and Parler were relatively neutral, claiming they wouldn't sell user data or have targeted third-party ads at the time of the research.

According to a 2022 survey of social media users in the United States, 38 percent of Americans had heard of Parler, making it the most popular among selected alternative and alt-tech platforms. Truth Social and Telegram ranked second, with 27 percent of respondents stating they had heard of them. Rumble followed with a 20 percent awareness among respondents. Overall, 56 percent of the respondents indicated that they had heard of at least one of these platforms.

A May 2022 survey found that 69 percent of consumers in the United States who reported getting their news regularly from alt-social media platform Rumble reported that discussions they saw on the site were mostly friendly. Overall, 61 percent of regular news consumers using alt-tech social networking service Parler felt the same, as did 59 percent of Truth Social users who regularly got their news from the platform.

According to a June 2022 study, an average 19 percent of prominent accounts on alt-tech platforms in the United States have asked for donations and called for subscriptions. Among these platforms, around 57 percent of accounts on BitChute performed this type of activity, when 39 percent did the same on Rumble. Additionally, around 15 percent of prominent users of the examined alt-tech platforms had been indefinitely or permanently suspended, banned or demonetized on other social media platforms.

As of January 20, 2023, former United States president Donald J. Trump had approximately 87.73 million followers on his Twitter accounts, registering his biggest audience across all social media platforms. Trump's profiles on Facebook and Instagram followed with 34.49 million and 23.3 million followers each. Meanwhile, his profile on his own platform Truth Social, created after he was banned from mainstream social networks at the beginning of 2021 due to inciting violence, amassed an audience of around 4.83 million followers.

Trump’s own vessel adrift

Although similar alt-tech platforms like Gab and Rumble already existed, the ban of Donald Trump from mainstream social media and the creation of his own network Truth Social were significant but brief boosts for the proliferation of alternative social platforms, which started targeting users who felt displaced or were also banned from traditional platforms. Even though receiving moderate attention during its launch, Truth Social is currently at its lowest popularity so far, with even less relevance in the public debate.

The sprawl of alt-techs

Focused on providing spaces for right-wing publics and their respective discussions, alt-tech platforms have so far only managed to gather niche audiences and limited reach. Parler’s unique monthly visitors shrank from 12.3 million in January 2021 to around 137 thousand in August 2022. Founded by Trump’s former political advisor Jason Miller, Gettr only had mild success at its start in the United States, although recently amassing more followers in countries like Brazil, especially due to its usage by supporters of former president Jair M. Bolsonaro during its last federal elections’ campaign.

Launched in 2017, DLive is a social video and live streaming platform known to position itself in the alt-tech online panorama and to have hosted several personalities such as Nick Fuentes (whose account results suspended from the platform as of January 2023) and Patrick Casey. Between April 2020 and February 2021, Nick Fuentes was the leading streamer among alt-right creators on DLive, earning 93,897 U.S. dollars from the platform. Patrick Casey ranked second, with almost 80,000 U.S. dollars, while the account OwenBenjaminComedy ranked third with 79,711 U.S. dollars earned from the content hosted on the platform.

According to a June 2022 study, an average of 19 percent of researched prominent accounts on alt-tech platforms belonged to individuals with no stated organizational affiliation. Among these platforms, 92 percent and 90 percent of online profiles on Truth Social and Gab belong to individuals with no affiliation. Telegram had the largest count of organizational profiles, with 33 percent of its analyzed accounts belonging to a group. On the other hand, Rumble, Parler, and Gettr each accounted for 21 percent, 15 percent, and 14 percent of its profiles belonging to individuals with organizational affiliations. Additionally, around 15 percent of prominent users of the examined alt-tech platforms had been indefinitely or permanently suspended, banned or demonetized on other social media platforms.

The largest social media IPO seen in the last 15 years was Facebook, which went public in May 2012 with a valuation of 104 billion U.S. dollars. Snapchat ranked second, with a valuation of 24 billion U.S. dollars in March 2017. Twitter – later known as X after its 2023 acquisition and subsequent delisting – went public in with a valuation of 18 billion U.S. dollars. Former U.S president Trump's social media app Truth Social went public on March 26, 2024, after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Digital IPOs in the U.S. The year 2021 was characterized by the highest number of IPOs recorded in the U.S. since 2000, with over a thousand companies entering the public market. During the first years of the COVD-19 pandemic, the digital and tech sectors enjoyed stellar development thanks to the increase in usage and inflated adoption trends of digital solutions among global users. In comparison, 2022 was characterized by an unusually quiet public market. Snap Inc and Meta, as well as other social media platforms, reported a loss in expected revenue driven by a slowing advertising spending trend.

While social video and streaming platform Rumble filed to go public via SPAC merger in September 2022, market volatility dragged IPO plans for others. At the end of 2023, the market appeared to be in recovery for digital companies. Fast-fashion brand Shein entered the U.S. public market in September, followed by Instacart in November.

Reddit’s IPO Reddit's entrance into the public market is expected to be the largest social media IPO since 2019, when Pinterest became a public company with a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars. Reddit, which is expected to go public in March 2024, is reportedly seeking a valuation of 6.5 million U.S. dollars. The company had previously reached a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars, after securing 410 million U.S. dollars in its Series F funding in August 2021. In February 2024, Reddit gave potential investors a peek into its financials, by releasing the company’s S1 registration statement: the company was not yet profitable in 2023, with a negative EBITDA of 70 billion U.S. dollars. Despite not having released a planned price for its stocks, Reddit invited some of its users to pre-register and grab the possibility of buying into Reddit.