TikTok – The World`s Most Valuable Startup!

3 min read

Bytedance, the owner of short videos app TikTok, has surpassed Uber Technologies Inc. to become the world’s most valuable startup, according to CB Insights, with the valuation of $75 billion.

THE RISE OF TIKTOK

TikTok is a social media video app for creating and sharing short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos of 3-15 seconds. It was launched in 2017 by ByteDance, for markets outside of China.

ByteDance has previously launched Douyin (抖音 in Chinese) for the China market in September 2016, that has caused a huge sensation within a short time. Although TikTok and Douyin both use the same software, they maintain separate networks to comply with Chinese censorship restrictions.

SensorTower reports that TikTok added 188 million new users in the first three months of this year, and the company ranks the app as the Number One Top Performer in Apple’s iOS app stores for Q1 2019, surpassing Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, as shown in the graph below.

Even though the app doesn`t appear to differ much from other video-sharing apps, it has captivated its users with a tendency of binge-watching. Users typically spend around 52 minutes per day on the app.

In the western countries, the popularity is constantly increasing especially in the United States with 26,5 million monthly active users. In India, there were 88.6 million new users installed the app in the first quarter this year. This was 8.2 times increase form the same period last year.

Many of the senior marketers, journalists, even the world`s biggest investors, believe TikTok is “the Next Big Thing” in the world of Social media. It is not a surprise based on the fact that Bytedance has announced more than 500 million active users and more than a billion downloads.

#InMyFeelings, a popular challenge last year that appeared predominantly on Instagram, became a hit on TikTok and gathered 5 million videos compared to Instagram’s 1.7 million.

Most importantly, more and more brands have realized the remarkable success and seize the opportunity of launching influencer marketing. For instance, Jimmy Fallon’s #TumbleweedChallenge created 8,000 videos with over 9 million views in seven days.