Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

TikTok overtakes Facebook to become world’s second most downloaded app as rivals challenge its short video dominance

TikTok overtakes Facebook to become world’s second most downloaded app as rivals challenge its short video dominance

TikTok owner ByteDance still generates most its revenue from China, despite the app’s rapid international expansion. The report excluded Apple apps and Google pre-installed apps and did not include Android downloads from third-party stores
TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin ranked as the world’s second most downloaded app last year, but the short video platform operated by ByteDance is facing challenges from both upstart rivals and established players that are starting to embrace short-form content.

TikTok and Douyin amassed a combined 740 million downloads last year, overtaking Facebook and Messenger to become the world’s second most downloaded app behind WhatsApp, according to market analyst Sensor Tower.

One of its smaller rivals, Likee, a short video platform owned by Singapore-based Bigo, made its debut among the top 10 with over 330 million installations, half of those from India, according to Sensor Tower, whose report included worldwide downloads for iPhone, iPad and Google Play but excluded Apple apps and Google pre-installed apps. It also did not include Android downloads from third-party stores mostly used by Chinese because Google Play is blocked in China.

“Short video has been popularised by TikTok for sure, but bigger social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram are aware of it and are doing something about it,” said Meenakshi Tiwari, an analyst at technology market research firm Forrester, who pointed to Instagram’s TikTok-like video-music remix feature “Reels” launched in Brazil two months ago.

Another challenge for TikTok is WhatsApp, which has not yet monetised its user base but might do so this year, Tiwari said.

TikTok, owned by ByteDance, has its own monetisation challenges because most of its Beijing-based parent’s revenue is generated in China, despite the app’s rapid international expansion.

For example, Beijing-based Chenjin Culture operates an account featuring a pair of twins on both Douyin and TikTok. The Douyin account, with nearly 5 million followers, earns between 50,000 yuan (US$7,248) and 100,000 yuan for each short video ad it produces for clients wanting to associate their product with the account, but the TikTok version has not been able to generate any income despite having more than 1.6 million followers, said Joey Wang, Chenjin’s co-founder and chief executive.

A TikTok spokeswoman did not comment on the app’s monetisation strategy.

TikTok is reportedly looking at luring advertisers by launching a new feed that would include curated content from TikTok users or original videos created by professional publishers, mimicking rival Snap that has a specific channel that supports video advertisements, according to a Financial Times report on the weekend citing sources familiar with the matter.

TikTok’s efforts may placate the concerns of brands and advertising agencies that worry their commercials could run alongside distressing or even illegal user-generated content on the platform. TikTok was also thinking about allowing users to shop directly from links embedded in brand advertising, Blake Chandlee, head of the platform’s US ads partnership programme, told the Financial Times in December.

In a response to the report on the new monetisation plan a US TikTok spokeswoman said it was “exciting to see the creativity coming from our publisher community and the successes they’ve experienced creating custom and native content for TikTok. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with them as this community grows”.

Besides competition, another major challenge facing TikTok is the resistance shown by US lawmakers over privacy and security issues. In response, the app has made efforts to distance the platform from politics, including implementing a ban on political ads and overhauling community guidelines, which spell out the type of content considered “misleading”.

TikTok chief executive Alex Zhu was expected to talk with US lawmakers in the second week of December to address these concerns, but the meetings were cancelled at the last minute and no new time has been scheduled.

Although TikTok is trying to be apolitical, its users in India are doing the opposite. During ongoing protests against the country’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, related hashtags like #caa have amassed more than 47 million views, with young people using the app to express their political opinions.

In TikTok’s first ever transparency report published in late December, the app operator revealed that the most requests to remove or restrict content in the first half of 2019 came from India.

Tiwari said operating in the India market can present a big challenge for social media companies given the country’s diverse culture and religion.

In response, the TikTok spokeswoman said the app’s users “can post videos on whatever is interesting and expressive to them, aside from things like hate speech or other violations of our community guidelines”.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Spain Scraps F-35 Jet Deal as Trump Pushes for More NATO Spending
France Faces Largest Wildfire Since 1949 as Blazes Rage Across Aude
French Senate Report Alleges State Cover‑Up in Perrier ‘Natural Mineral Water’ Scandal
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Britain's Online Safety Law Sparks Outcry Over Privacy, Free Speech, and Mass Surveillance
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
UK's Online Safety Law: A Front for Censorship
Parents Abandon Child at Barcelona Airport Over Passport Issue
Bus Driver Discovers Toddler Hidden in Suitcase in New Zealand
Switzerland Celebrates 734 Years of Independence Amid Global Changes
China Enforces Comprehensive Ban on Cryptocurrency Activities
Grok 4 Video plus Voice, can identify wildlife!
George Soros tells the World Economic Forum: "President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist, who wants the world to revolve around him."
Hamas are STARVING the hostages.
The UK Does Not Have a ‘Far-Right’ Problem
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
JD Vance Warns Europe Faces “Civilizational Suicide” Over Open Borders and Speech Limits
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
×