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20 TikTok Statistics Marketers Need to Know in 2022

Tricia Lim

Tricia Lim

Tricia Lim

Tricia Lim

TikTok is no longer just known as the Gen Z platform for dance challenges, recipes, and funny trends—it has grown to be more than that. The app has launched in-app shopping features to keep up with the creator economy boom and to include all kinds of niches and communities.

As businesses develop their TikTok marketing strategies, there are some key TikTok statistics to keep in mind. 

Table of Contents

1. TikTok has over one billion monthly active users worldwide

TikTok is rapidly growing and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In September 2021, TikTok reported that they had hit the one billion mark—a 45% increase since July 2020. It’s expected to reach up to 1.5 billion users by the end of 2022.

2. TikTok has been downloaded more than 3 billion times

TikTok became the first app that’s not owned by Meta (previously Facebook) to reach the 3 billion mark, as compared to their 2 billion mark less than a year before. It’s now ranked 6th among the world’s most active social media platforms, behind Facebook, Youtube, Whatsapp, Instagram, and WeChat.

3. TikTok is the 6th most popular social network globally

The aforementioned statistics are proof of TikTok’s popularity among social media users worldwide. Here’s how it stacks up against the other social media platforms:

  • Facebook: 2.9 billion monthly active users 
  • Youtube: 2.6 billion monthly active users
  • Whatsapp: 2 billion monthly active users
  • Instagram: 1.5 billion monthly active users 
  • WeChat: 1.2 billion monthly active users
  • TikTok: 1 billion monthly active users

4. TikTok's user audience base skews female

According to TikTok’s potential advertising reach data, 56% of TikTok’s global users are female, 44% are male. Brands hoping to reach younger female audiences will likely see the best results.

of TikTok users are female
of TikTok users are male

5. Gen Z make up the largest user group on TikTok

Users aged 18-24 account for the largest share of TikTok’s advertising audience. Marketers could reach 970.2 million users aged 18 and above on TikTok. That’s 12.5% of all the people on Earth today! These are the number of TikTok users in each age group:

  • 18 to 24 – 419.7 million users
  • 25 to 34 – 312 million users
  • 35 to 44 – 133.5 million users
  • 45 to 54 – 67.4 million users
  • 55 and above – 41.7 million users

 

*Note: TikTok’s self-service advertising tools allow marketers to target adverts to users aged 13 and above, but the company’s tools do not publish any advertising audience data for users below the age of 18.

6. Highly popular amongst Gen Z social media users

TikTok has surpassed Instagram and Snapchat in popularity among Gen Z users (born between 1997 and 2012). According to Statista, weekly TikTok usage has increased by 26%. Among the Gen Z users surveyed in the United States, 63% used TikTok, 57% used Instagram, and 54% used Snapchat on a weekly basis.

7. 167 million TikTok videos are watched in an Internet Minute

A lot of things happen online every minute—millions of messages are sent and hundreds of thousands of hours of content are consumed. According to Statista, 167 million TikTok videos are watched in an internet minute.

8. TikTok is the most engaging social media app

TikTok content has considerably more engagement than Instagram and Youtube. If you have watched a TikTok video before, you would be able to attest to its never-ending and engaging content.

Its average user session lasts 10.85 minutes, more than twice as long as Pinterest usage, which clocks in at 5.06 minutes per session. It’s also more than three times longer than what users would typically spend on Instagram, at 2.95 minutes per session.

9. TikTok is highly popular in Asia

  • Southeastern Asia – 248.6 million users aged 18 and above
  • Indonesia – 99.1 million active TikTok users
  • Vietnam – 45.8 million active users
  • The Philippines – 40.4 million active users
  • Thailand – 38.4 million active users 

 

These numbers only take into account users aged 18 and above, but there are undoubtedly more TikTok users younger than that.

10. Top countries TikTok is popular in

According to TikTok’s advertising audience data, the one billion TikTok users are mostly located in a few regions. The region with the largest user base being Southeast Asia with 248.6 million users, followed by North America with 148.5 million users, and South America with 123.8 million users.

These are the top 5 countries where TikTok is popular in:

  • The United States – 136.4 million active users
  • Indonesia – 99.1 million active users
  • Brazil – 73.6 million active users
  • The Russian Federation – 51.3 million active users
  • Mexico – 50.5 million active users

11. TikTok is growing FAST

Now that it’s a contender against the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube, TikTok’s expected to be the fastest growing social media platform among marketers in 2022.

Moreover, TikTok’s usage is forecasted to increase by 40% this year, compared to 32% for Instagram and 29% for Youtube. With its growing popularity and adoption of short-form vertical videos, the app is likely to still be in favor for a long time.

12. Finance TikTok grew by 255% in 2021

TikTok’s platform is filled with a diverse network of creators, from #BookTok to #MoneyTok, there’s a sub-community for everyone. According to TikTok’s What’s Next Report 2022, topics related to investing, cryptocurrency, and all things finance had a huge year. The app has become a platform for people to keep up with current financial events and markets. 

Source: TikTok

Financial tools that used to be largely inaccessible have inspired a new generation to build up their financial literacy and dependence through the platform. Hashtags like #stocktok, #crypto, and #taxes have exploded in the last year.

Today’s TikTok users are open to educating themselves through non-traditional sources. One way that brands can capitalize on this movement is to create authentic and compelling content that offers helpful insights that will engage and empower TikTok users in their financial journey. Connecting with your audience can be tricky when you’re new to the algorithm, but we provide tips on how to win the TikTok algorithm in another blog.

13. The main use of TikTok is to find funny/entertaining content

Majority of TikTok users surveyed by Global Web Index said they used TikTok to find funny/entertaining content. Here’s how they ranked among the top 3 behaviors for using TikTok:

  1. Finding funny/entertaining content
  2. Posting/sharing content
  3. Keeping up with news

14. The power of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt

Community is essential to TikTok’s success. So much so that community commerce trends like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt drives word-of-mouth marketing on the platform. This is where users get to consume genuine product hauls and reviews from creators they follow. The plus side is that these product videos tend to be entertaining to watch, given our aforementioned statistics on the importance of entertainment for TikTok users.

What you need to know about TikTok commerce:

 

Brands have seen major success in selling all kinds of products–from milk frothers to feta cheese, makeup, leggings, and everything in between. TikTok is a strong driver of purchase intent, but one of the key drivers to their success comes from their audience’s preference for authentic and genuine creators. Since 73% of TikTok users feel a deeper connection to brands they interact with on TikTok compared to other platforms.

15. TikTok shoppers are highly active and engaged

According to Insider Intelligence and eMarketer, people who shop on TikTok browse and shop more frequently than shoppers from other social platforms. 20% of TikTok shoppers worldwide said they bought goods on TikTok “all of the time”, compared to all other platforms measured.

TikTok is also rapidly releasing new features to drive more in-app buying, to integrate the shopping experience for users to hop on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt phenomenon. We expect to see more brands join in to capture more social commerce spending on the app.

16. Optimal video length is 21 to 34 seconds long

For this platform where short-form content is king, creating content with the right video length is key. In fact, according to TikTok, 1 in 4 videos have a duration between 21 and 34 seconds long. It’s the sweet spot that helps creators see a 1.6% life in impressions.

17. Boost impressions by 55.7% with captions

Captions in videos are a must-have these days. They not only boost impressions by 55.7% compared to videos that don’t add any text on screen, but help to create a seamless experience for all viewers. For example, what happens when viewers can’t play or are unable to hear the audio in your video? They won’t have any context to what you’re trying to say. That’s where incorporating video captions come into play. We’ve detailed the benefits of adding captions to your videos in this article!

18. TikTok's perceived effectiveness is growing among marketers

There’s been a big shift in marketers’ perception over TikTok’s effectiveness in reaching their business goals. According to Hootsuite’s Social Trends Survey 2022, they found that 24% of marketers considered TikTok effective compared to just 3% in the previous year—that’s a 700% increase. While it still ranks behind the advertising giants of Facebook and Instagram, these platforms have seen a drop in perceived effectiveness between 2020 and 2021; Facebook fell by 25% and Instagram by 40%. 

The ad landscape is ever changing and brands need to adapt to meet their customers where they are on each platform. TikTok has growing communities in all niches, allowing marketers to tap into their audiences with appealing, targeted content.

19. TikTok is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing

If influencer marketing is big in your brand’s marketing strategy, TikTok is where you should be. The platform has a whopping 50,000 influencers (those with over 1,000 followers).

The TikTok influencer distributions are:

  • Micro-influencers: less than 50,000 followers
  • Regular influencers: 15,000 to 50,000 followers
  • Rising influencers: 50,000 to 100,000 followers
  • Mid influencers: 100,000 to 500,000 followers
  • Macro influencers: 500,000 to 1 million followers
  • Mega influencers: more than 1 million followers 


With such impressive numbers, it’s no wonder brands choose TikTok as the second most popular platform for influencer marketing—45% of brands used it for their influencer marketing campaigns, just behind Instagram with 68%.

20. Micro influencers produce better engagement rates

Data shows that micro influencers produce the highest engagement rates compared to influencers from other tiers.

Micro-influencers receive a 17.96% engagement rate on TikTok compared to all the other influencer groups. 

  • Micro influencers: 17.96% 
  • Regular influencers: 9.75%
  • Rising influencers: 8.37% 
  • Mid influencers: 6.67%
  • Macro influencers: 6.20%
  • Mega influencers: 4.96%

 

So if your goal is to drive engagement, then micro influencers (with less than 15,000 followers) are the category you should consider. Plus, TikTok engagement is far higher for influencers of any size compared to their Instagram or YouTube counterparts.

Wrap up

Here’s a quick summary of the top TikTok statistics in 2022:

  1. TikTok has 1 billion users worldwide.
  2. The app’s been downloaded more than 3 billion times.
  3. It’s the 6th most popular social network.
  4. Most of TikTok’s audience are female.
  5. Gen Zs are the largest user group on TikTok.
  6. TikTok is more popular than other social media platforms.
  7. 167 million TikTok videos are watched in an internet minute.
  8. It’s the most engaging social media app.
  9. Tiktok is highly popular in Asia.
  10. The United States alone has over 130 million users. 
  11. TikTok’s usage is expected to increase by 40% this year.
  12. Finance TikTok grew by 255% in 2021.
  13. People use TikTok to find funny/entertaining content.
  14. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt drives word-of-mouth marketing on the platform.
  15. TikTok shoppers are highly active and engaged.
  16. Best performing videos are 21 to 34 seconds long.
  17. Captions boost video impressions by 55.7%.
  18. Marketers’ perception of TikTok’s effectiveness is growing.
  19. It’s the second most popular platform for influencer marketing.
  20. Micro-influencers produce better engagement rates.

 

We hope these statistics give you a better idea of how TikTok is performing in 2022 and what your brand can do to better market on TikTok.

If you found these statistics insightful, subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for our other content!

Are you looking to grow your TikTok presence? We’re here to help. Get in touch with us at hello@medianetic.me, or drop us a message via our chatbot below! We look forward to partnering with you.

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