TikTok statistics (2025): The social network’s users, key figures, & trends

The story goes that the basic concept of the app was related to learning and education, especially for translating song lyrics into sign language, according to the Musical.ly Wikipedia page.

The use of the application rapidly shifted to dance and singing content: users filmed themselves either to participate in choreographies that went viral or to create short “karaoke” or “lip-sync” videos involving music lyrics or dialogue from movies or comedians.

In 2015, the application was launched in the US, and very quickly, users showed their enthusiasm, especially in terms of longer usage time than on other platforms by teenagers.

Then, 2016 marked the birth of a new application, Douyin, in China, created by the Chinese company Bytedance.

One year after its creation, this social network had 100 million users and expanded internationally in 2017 under the name TikTok, but it still remains known as Douyin in China.

In November 2017, Bytedance bought Musical.ly for an estimated $1 billion, though we don’t know the exact figure of this transaction.

Using TikTok is not the same as other social media networks. The collaborative and instantaneous aspect as well as the various challenges have quickly won over a global audience.

Influencers, often from other platforms, and celebrities have accelerated this growth, attracting even more users. Today, TikTok is used by billions of people and has established itself as a social networking staple.

With its constantly evolving data, TikTok has even launched premium formats to appeal to a wider audience, while remaining a global benchmark in terms of video content creation.

How does TikTok work?

TikTok is based on sharing short videos. Video content was originally limited to a few seconds, but now it's possible to share videos of up to 10 minutes. This extension has had a significant impact on audience statistics, with followers becoming more engaged with longer videos.

Initially, choreography, songs, and jokes were popular content, if not the only real performers on the platform, according to data achieved via statistical analysis. These trends were clearly reflected in TikTok's monthly statistics.

Then, in 2019, the first popular TikTokers began to appear, offering new and diverse content. Brands also started on the social media platform, understanding the challenges of using the app to reach a wider audience. 

They began to integrate TikTok into their social media strategies, bringing in TikTok ideas for new content, analyzing their data and statistics to optimize their impact.

Source: Chewy

This approach led to a diversification of products and advertising strategies on the app, towards a wider and more diverse audience.

TikTok revenue 

Since its launch, TikTok has been bringing in an increasing amount of money every year. Here’s a list of how much total revenue TikTok has earned each year since 2017:

Source: Business of Apps

In terms of growth, TikTok generated a 138% increase in revenue between 2017 and 2018, 133% between 2018 and 2019.

However, the boom was created between the year 2019 and 2020: a growth rate of 643% for the Chinese application, an international explosion that’s only just beginning at this key moment, an impressive statistic of public engagement and a growing interest in TikTok content and its applications.

Key TikTok user demographics

How many TikTok users are there today? 

History: in Q3 2021, TikTok passed the billion-user mark worldwide, marking an important milestone in social media statistics.

According to Business of Apps data, in Q4 2024, TikTok had 1.736 billion monthly active users, a considerable audience. This meteoric rise, detailed in quarterly statistics, nevertheless required a few steps before shattering the follower record.

Between Q1 2018 and Q3 2021, for example, the number of users grew by over 855% in 3 years, a feat never before achieved in the world of social networks, as shown by all the monthly statistics and audience analyses.

At the start of 2018, the app was still at the beginning of its adventure and didn’t feature 100 million users. However, TikTok’s user count quickly increased, reaching nearly 200 million users in the third quarter of the same year, a crucial milestone for the app’s audience.

What age group uses TikTok the most?

It’s no secret that TikTok is known for its young audience. In fact, more than half of TikTok users are under the age of 25. 

Global audiences were broken down as follows in 2024:

Source: Business of Apps

However, despite the typical age of TikTok users initially being rather low, with the app being most popular with Gen Z and millennials, TikTok is in a phase of mutation and is attracting an increasing number of people in the higher age groups.

TikTok gender statistics

When it comes to the gender of people using TikTok, there’s currently a slightly higher percentage of female users than male users on the platform, with the gender breakdown in 2024 being as follows:

Source: Business of Apps

Countries with the most TikTok users

Although India previously held the top spot in terms of countries with the greatest number of total active TikTok users, India launched a complete ban on the app in 2020, removing it from the running. 

As of July 2024, Indonesia had the most TikTok users, with 157.6 million people using the social network, according to Statista.

The United States and Brazil came in second and third place, with 120.5 million users and 105.2 million users respectfully.

In just a few years, TikTok has established itself as a sensation, achieving over 800 million downloads worldwide in 2024 alone, based on Statista data.

TikTok’s download popularity compared to other apps

Furthermore, TikTok was the #1 downloaded app globally in 2024, boasting 825.48 million downloads and coming in just ahead of Instagram, which was downloaded 817.49 million times. 

Here’s a more detailed look at the top 10 mobile apps in terms of downloads in 2024:

Source: eMarketer

How people use TikTok

Although TikTok is primarily known as a platform for watching and sharing videos for entertainment, a growing number of people are using the app for news, particularly users based in the US. 

A 2024 study by Pew Research determined that 39% of American TikTokers aged 18 to 29 get their news from the social media platform on a regular basis… A 50% increase from the percentage of users who stated the same in 2022!

That being said, only 19% of TikTokers aged 30 to 49 get their news from the app on a regular basis, followed by 9% of users aged 50 to 64 and 3% of users 65+.

Another TikTok use that’s quickly increasing in popularity is the use of the platform as a search engine. 

According to Adobe, more than 40% of Americans have used TikTok as a search engine, looking to source new recipes, new products or services, music, fashion tips, DIY advice, workout routines, movie recommendations, etc. 

Gen Z and millennials are most likely to use the app for this purpose, with 64% and 49% of them respectively having already done so.

In fact, Adobe also reports that almost 10% of Gen Zers would rather turn to TikTok than Google for their searching needs.

Preferred content on TikTok

When it comes to the types of content people like to see on TikTok, it seems that humor is the winner with active users.

In a recent GWI survey, 60% of respondents said they enjoy watching funny content on TikTok. Creative and relaxing content are also in demand, with 45% and 37% of users wanting to view these kinds of videos on the social media platform.

Source: @khaby.lame

Here are the rest of the active TikTok users rounding out the Top 10 accounts with the highest number of followers worldwide:

Source: Social Blade

Conclusion

Unlike Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Snapchat, TikTok is a unique platform in that it’s based only on video. None of the other social networks allows such freedom: the algorithm, very open, still allows content creators to share spontaneous videos, in line with the times, without having to sponsor their posts to have the chance to be visible.

Although timing does play a role in a user’s success on TikTok, as it’s important to share videos when other users in your target audience are more apt to be active, the main condition for a Tiktok video to work is to have strong and original content. 

The easiest way to perform well on the platform is to be present and interact with your followers.

So, if you want to add TikTok to your brand’s marketing strategy to expand your reach, connect with more active users, and boost your total number of followers, you will have to stay on top of the trends and challenges to try to create and share videos at the highest rate possible at your level. 

Unlike other social media networks that require users to create photos and videos using very specific regulations, the creation on TikTok is freer: take advantage of it for your brand’s marketing efforts!