Have you been obsessively scrolling TikTok this quarantine? You’re far from alone.
The micro video platform, owned by Chinese internet giant Bytedance, added more than 12 million unique U.S. visitors in March, for a total of 52.2 million, per a recent eMarketer report, citing figures from Comscore. This includes desktop visitors to TikTok ages two and up, as well as mobile viewers ages 18 and up. From January to March, when coronavirus lockdowns began wide implementation, TikTok’s unique U.S. visitor count climbed 48.3%.
Time spent on TikTok — including both app and site users (including desktop and mobile) — has also grown steadily in recent months. U.S. visitors spent an average total of eight hours on the app during the month of March — a 10.8% increase over time spent January. This is also heads above competitor Instagram, per eMarketer, where users spent an average of five hours on the platform all March (including the Instagram app and on the web).
eMarketer attributes TikTok’s recent ascension to several key factors: teens and young adults are spending more time surfing while schools and colleges are shuttered; the fact that TikTok videos can easily be shared to other platforms like Twitter and Instagram, thus driving brand awareness and traffic; users need not create an account to view videos; and TikTok’s growing emphasis on its livestreaming capabilities, which contributes immensely to watch-time.
Recent ventures on the live front include and a weeklong prom-inspired event, and a star-studded stream dubbed Happy At Home: #OneCommunity that is slated to take place from May 5 to May 9. The latter #OneCommunity stream is part of TikTok’s ongoing $250 million pledge to support coronavirus relief efforts.
You can check out a chart tracking TikTok’s monthly visitor and watch-time growth since Oct. 2019, courtesy of eMarketer, right here:
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