As of January 2024, the United States is the country with the largest TikTok audience to date, with approximately 150 million users participating in the popular social video platform. Indonesia followed, with approximately 126 million TikTok users. Brazil is in third place, with around 99 million users watching short videos on TikTok.
From reels to shorts: social short videos are taking the internet by storm
In 2021-2022, some of the most popular social media platforms added short video features following the popularity of TikTok. YouTube Shorts, which was rolled out to the global market in June 2021, reached his 2 billion monthly active logged-in users in 2023. By comparison, Instagram's short video format Reels, released in August 2020, had higher viewership than regular videos. From June 2021 to June 2022, it received a higher like rate on the platform than any other content type on Instagram.
TikTok's business model
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, along with short video app Douyin (TikTok's version for the Chinese market), video platform Xigua, and popular news app Toutiao. Products intended for consumption in the domestic market operate in China's digital ecosystem, and while there are multiple established monetization methods, such as live shopping events hosted by famous influencers, TikTok's main The source of income comes from online advertising. In 2022, TikTok is estimated to have generated approximately US$4 billion worldwide through online advertising.
