20+ Essential TikTok Revenue Statistics

Launched in 2016 by the Chinese startup ByteDance, TikTok, or the international version of Douyin, has been growing at lightning speed and shows no signs of slowing down.

In 2017, TikTok had 65 million users. By 2023, that number rose to 1.1 billion MAU worldwide despite restrictions by countries such as India and Indonesia.

Unsurprisingly, TikTok’s unprecedented growth came with substantial financial gains, which we will examine below.

Key TikTok Statistics for 2024 - Editor’s Choice

• TikTok reported a record-breaking 1.1 monthly active users in 2023.
• TikTok made nearly $2 billion in worldwide in-app purchases by Q3 2023.
• TikTok has more than 150 million active users in the United States in 2023.
• By Q3, TikTok saw 769.92 million new downloads in 2023.
• ByteDance was valued at $223.5 billion in October 2023.
•  In 2023, TikTok users spend an average of 1,680 minutes per month on the platform.

How Many People Use TikTok?

TikTok is an international phenomenon that attracts millions of monthly users who engage with the platform’s short-form videos on a daily basis. Here are the TikTok user numbers you need to know. 

TikTok has more than 1.1 billion monthly active users in 2023.

(Statista)

In January 2017 and just a few months after the launch of TikTok, the platform had 65 million users. Since then, the number of users has been growing steadily. In 2023, the platform reported 1.1 billion monthly active users globally, and 1.7 billion total users worldwide, up by 66% compared to 2020.  

TikTok was the first non-Meta social media platform to reach the three-billion downloads mark globally.

(SensorTower)

TikTok isn’t Facebook and is still far from reaching the record-breaking numbers reported by Meta apps. Nevertheless, the growing popularity of the platform cannot be taken lightly. Recent numbers show that TikTok broke through the three-billion-download ceiling in 2021, making it the first non-Facebook app to achieve this milestone. 

TikTok users spend an average of 1,680 minutes per month on the platform in 2023.

(Insider Intelligence)

TikTok offers a diverse range of content with its snappy and highly engaging short-form videos. As such, it isn’t surprising that the platform enjoys some of the highest engagement levels across all social media networks. 

In October 2019, TikTok users were spending an average of 442 minutes on TikTok per month. Three years later, the average monthly minutes per visitor quadripled to 1,680. It’s also worth noting that active monthly users engage with the platform multiple times a day.

TikTok has more than 150 million active users in the United States in 2023.

(TechCrunch)

The latest numbers have shown that the active user count in the US has grown by 50 million compared to 2020, and that TikTok now hosts more than 5 million businesses in the country.

In the first three quarters of 2023, the TikTok already had 769.92 million new downloads.

(Statista)

The latest data shows that TikTok continues to grow in popularity, as the total number of new downloads has grown by almost 120 million compared to the same period in 2022, when the app had 659.99 downloads.

TikTok Market Penetration and Engagement

Since 2016, Douyin has been gaining popularity to become one of the most in-demand social media networks in China. Following the success of its sister company, TikTok delivered the short-video social network format to many other countries across the world. While the two companies have certain things in common, each of them caters to a specific market.

76% of American Gen Zers use TikTok in 2023.

(YPulse)

If Millennials are the main target audience for Facebook, TikTok has been attracting younger social media users. The number of Gen Z TikTok users has grown from 69% in 2022 to 76% by Q2 2023. Out of all the Gen Z users in the United States, 63% of them use TikTok daily.

The US has the highest number of TikTok users in 2023 (143 million), followed by Indonesia (106 million) and Brazil (95 million).

(Statista) 

The US is home to the largest population of TikTok users. The platform is also popular in Southeast Asia, with countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam reporting millions of active users each month. 

Before the 2020 India ban that took down TikTok alongside dozens of other Chinese apps, the country was the biggest overseas market for TikTok, where the platform had more than 200 million users. 

Entertainment is the most popular content category with 535 billion hashtag views.

(Statista)

As TikTok continues to evolve, the short-form videos the platform is famous for cover everything from dancing and tutorials to education, sports, and DIY. Among the many content categories, entertainment accumulated more than 535 billion hashtag views, followed by the dance category, which received 181 billion views. 

TikTok is active in more than 150 countries and is available in 75 languages.

(Wallaroo Media)

Despite the various bans and restrictions imposed by countries such as India, TikTok continues to grow and accumulate users. Today, the platform is active in 154 countries and is available in 75 different languages.

How Much Does TikTok Make?

Now that you know more about the global reach and user penetration of TikTok, let’s take a  look at the most important TikTok revenue numbers.

In 2021, nearly 80% of TikTok’s revenue came from China, while 8% was generated in the US.

(SensorTower)

To better understand the data and statistics about TikTok financials, it’s important to acknowledge the impact the Chinese market has on TikTok’s revenue. In February 2021, TikTok was the top-grossing non-gaming app globally and was recording over $110 million in user spending. An estimated 79% of this profit was from Douyin and Chinese users. 

ByteDance is valued at $223.5 billion in 2023.

(Reuters)

Both TikTok and Douyin belong to ByteDance. In the last few months of 2023, the company had a 26% lower valuation than the year before, when it was valued at $300 billion.

Bytedance turned $6 billion in profit by Q2 2023.

(Yahoo!)

The latest data showed that the total profits have doubled compared to 2022, even though the TikTok parent company was valued less than the previous year.

TikTok revenue in the United States is expected to be around $6.19 billion in 2023.

(Oberlo)

This will represent a 23.1% increase compared to 2022, and TikTok is expected to have and ad revenue in the US that will be more than X (Twitter), Reddit and Snapchat combined. Projections for the next couple of years see TikTok's US revenue growing to $9.51 billion by 2025.

TikTok made nearly $2 billion in worldwide in-app purchases by Q3 2023.

(Statista)

The latest data shows that TikTok made almost $681 million in in-app purchases in Q3 alone, showing an incredible growth compared to 2021 when the company made $407 million during the third quarter.

TikTok Advertising & Influencer Marketing

Marketing on TikTok is still in its infancy, especially when compared to tools made available to social media giants from the Meta family. Still, the number of influencers receiving a TikTok income is growing, and the platform is becoming increasingly useful for businesses and marketers. Here’s an overview of the TikTok advertising and influencer market. 

In 2023, TikTok’s micro-influencers have an engagement rate of 12% compared to 3.5% on Instagram and 3% on YouTube.

(Grin)

Every creator or influencer on social media platforms strives for engagement. And while some social networks are already saturated, TikTok continues to report the highest engagement levels for micro-influencers and mega influencers across a range of industries and sectors. 

For example, nano-influencers report an average engagement rate of nearly 18% on TikTok, while engagement stands at 5% on Instagram and just over 3.5% on YouTube. For influencers with a massive following, engagement rates can be as low as 1% on Instagram and 1.5% on YouTube, while reaching highs of nearly 4% on TikTok. 

TikTok influencers with more than one million followers can earn an estimated $2,500 per post.

(Influencer Marketing Hub)

The amount of money that influencers earn per post depends on a number of factors including their social media platform. Influencer marketing is well established on platforms such as Instagram, and while TikTok is relatively new to the influencer game, there are still ways that people can earn money on the platform. 

TikTok influencers with more than a million followers can earn more than $2,500 for a post. However, the rates for nano- and micro-influencers are much lower, ranging between $5 and $125 per post. On Instagram, mega-influencers can make over $10,000 per post while their nano and micro counterparts earn anywhere between $10 and $500.     

92% of users worldwide react after watching a TikTok video. 

(TikTok For Business)

A large number of followers is undoubtedly important for influencers and businesses alike, but these high numbers don’t always translate into engagement or conversions. 

While the click-through rate or CTR varies from one social media platform to another, the average CTR across all platforms was 1.3% in 2020. However, thanks to the snappy and highly engaging videos on TikTok, the platform reports a 92% engagement rate with posts that include a call to action (CTA)

In 2020, TikTok users spent over $300 million on Google Play and the App Store.

(Statista)

While TikTok makes money by leveraging ads and collaborations, it’s important not to overlook the profits generated from in-app spending. TikTok ad revenue is as high as ever, but the company also reported a total of $300 million in lifetime user spending in February 2020. A year earlier, the app recorded more than 1.5 billion downloads. 

TikTok in 2024 and Beyond: What Does the Future Look Like?

The aforementioned TikTok facts show us that this social network has become a global phenomenon. But what does the future look like? While the app’s full potential is still being explored, there are a few useful expert forecasts on what to expect in the coming years. 

TikTok is expected to have almost 2.6 billion users by 2025.

(HigherVisibility)

While future projections aren't set in stone, the data from HigherVisibility sees TikTok continuing to grow rapidly over the next years, and possibly surprassing 5 billion by 2035.

TikTok ad revenue is expected to surprass YouTube in 2024.

(Insider Intelligence)

TikTok's revenue from advertisements has grown rapidly in the past couple of years, and is soon expected to amount to the 3% of total ad revenue on the internet, surprassing YouTube in the coming months.