In January 2022, video sharing app TikTok had over 15.54 million daily active users via Android devices worldwide, up from 13.47 million DAU in December 2021. TikTok is one of the most downloaded apps in the Google Play store.

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.

In January 2022, video sharing app TikTok had approximately 29.7 million daily active users via iOS devices worldwide. TikTok is one of the most downloaded entertainment apps in the Apple App Store.

In Italy, the number of daily active users of the Tik Tok app peaked at the end of 2019. In December 2019, according to Airnow, the number of android daily active users amounted to over 763 thousand. On iOS devices, the peak was reached in January 2020, when the number of daily active users reached over 267 thousand.

In 2023, social video app TikTok had approximately 102 million users in the United States. This figure is projected to increase by over five percent year-over-year, reaching 107.8 million users in 2024. TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the United States and especially popular with younger digital audiences.

Bite-sized video format has taken social media usage to another level. Douyin, TikTok’s sister app, is the Chinese household name for short-form videos. In September 2024, the app had amassed 766.5 million monthly active users in the country. Douyin’s supremacy Sophisticated algorithms, engaging features, a user-friendly interface, and a robust content ecosystem have given Douyin’s an edge in digital entertainment. Its closest local rival, Kuaishou – targeting app users from small towns and villages – only managed to secure 497 million monthly active user mark in November 2024. Other contenders, such as Xigua Video and WeSee, were far behind with less than 100 million users each. When it comes to monthly user time spent, Douyin and its speed version were leading the pack by at least seven hours. More than a social media Such massive app usage makes the bite-sized video app an effective channel for e-commerce and brand marketing. By 2024, the most-used Chinese online shopping platform was set to expand its retail sales by 40 percent. Countless brands are leveraging the platform for product promotion and consumer engagement. Automotive manufacturers Chery and Toyota, and high-end fashion houses Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton have created the most successful brand profiles on Douyin.

How many active users are on Instagram? In 2023, the photo sharing site is projected to reach 127.2 million monthly active users in the United States, up from 114.6 million users in 2020.

Social network reach

The internet has brought about many changes in how people around the world communicate, especially through one of its most powerful inventions: social media. According to a recent study, internet users worldwide spend an average of over 145 minutes per day on one of the many social media platforms. Such websites and apps are increasingly used not just for social sharing, but also as means to building reputation, finding career opportunities or monetary income. As of January 2021, an estimated 54 percent of the world’s population was using social networking, with West and Northern Europe having the highest penetration rate – 79 percent of the respective region's populations. Eastern Asia placed first in a global ranking of mobile social media penetration according to geographical region.

Industry leaders

Facebook is by far the most popular social network with over 2.8 billion global monthly active users but Instagram, the mobile photo and video-sharing application launched in 2010, is quickly growing in popularity. Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012. As of June 2018, there are an estimated 1 billion Instagram monthly active users worldwide. There are an estimated 115 million Instagram users in the United States alone, a number which is forecast to grow to over 127 million in 2023.

According to the company, the secret to their success is their unique visual storytelling approach to social media. Users registered with the platform can upload pictures and videos, to which they can also apply filters, frames and other effects. They can also attach captions, tags of other people/accounts, whether friends, celebrities or companies and hashtags, which make the media easy to find if one is looking for specific subjects. There are a reported 60 million photos uploaded to Instagram every day.

Douyin - the original Chinese version of the short-video app TikTok - amassed about 345 million daily active users in China as of March 2020. Chinese app users spent an average of around 88 minutes per day on Douyin - higher than the most-used app WeChat.

The video-sharing service TikTok was used by 70 percent of teenagers in Japan in fiscal year 2023. TikTok enables users to create and share short music and lip-sync videos. While a majority of teenagers and people in their twenties used the service, the penetration rate was lower among older age groups.

This statistic presents the most used iPhone entertainment apps in Germany during October 2020, ranked by daily active users (DAU). The number one app by DAU was TikTok, with approximately 388.3 thousand iPhone users using the services daily.

This statistic presents the most used iPhone entertainment apps in Switzerland in February 2020, ranked by daily active users (DAU). The number one app by DAU was TikTok, with approximately 58.6 thousand iPhone users using the services daily.

This statistic displays the leading mobile social app titles in the Google Play Store in Finland in October 2020, by daily active users. In the period under survey, the American social media and social networking app Facebook had over 109 thousand daily active users. TikTok (approximately 24.9 thousand DAU) and Instagram (roughly 23.8 thousand users) ranked second and third respectively.

This statistic displays the leading mobile social app titles in the Google Play Store in Norway in October 2020, by daily active users. In the measured period, the American social media and social networking app Facebook had more than 100.8 thousand daily active users. TikTok (approximately 24.8 thousand DAU) and Snapchat(roughly 24 thousand users) ranked second and third respectively.

This statistic presents the most used iPhone entertainment apps in Great Britain during October 2020, ranked by daily active users (DAU). The number one app by DAU was TikTok, with over one million iPhone users using the services daily.

In June 2022, Netflix was the leading entertainment app for iPad users in France based on a number of 33.5 thousand of daily active users (DAU). TikTok ranked close behind in second position with around 33.2 thousand daily active users, while myCANAL followed with more than 18 thousand daily active users on iPads in the examined period.

During the 2020 Chinese Spring Festival holiday, when the mojority of Chinese people were confined to their homes due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the use of mobile internet apps experienced a strong increase. The short video category, which includes apps like Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and Kuaishou, saw its daily active user (DAU) number increase by around 82 million in comparison to the period prior to the epidemic.

According to a survey conducted in January 2022, 63 percent of Instagram users in Ireland were daily active users (DAU). Overall, 58 percent of TikTok users were DAUs, as well as 55 percent of Facebook users. Just four percent of Pinterest users in Ireland were on the platform daily.

La aplicación TikTok para Android tenía más de 30 millones de usuarios activos diarios durante el primer semestre de 2020. Destaca especialmente el mes de marzo de ese año, cuando la cifra de usuarios superaba la barrera de los 36 millones. Sin embargo, durante el segundo semestre de 2020, comenzaron a descender los usuarios que interactuaban diariamente en esta red social de publicación de vídeos de corta duración, situándose por debajo de los 13 millones en enero de 2021.

La aplicación TikTok para iOS contaba con más de 14 millones de usuarios activos diarios durante el segundo y tercer trimestre de 2020. Destaca especialmente el mes de junio de ese año, cuando la cifra de usuarios superaba la barrera de los 15 millones. En este escenario no sorprende que el número de usuarios activos de esta red social de publicación de vídeos de corta duración en septiembre de 2020 ascendiera a 14,95 millones.

One week after the 2020 Chinese Spring Festival holiday, when the majority of Chinese people continued to be confined to their homes due to the COVID-19 epidemic starting shortly before the holiday, the use of certain mobile internet apps experienced a strong increase. The productivity/office category, which includes apps such as DingTalk and WPS Office, saw its daily active user (DAU) number increase by almost 40 million in comparison to the holiday period. That time, the increased use of entertainment apps such as Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) was witnessed.