TikTok crosses 1.5 billion downloads globally, India top contributor this year
Chinese short-form video creation app TikTok has taken the Indian internet by storm in the last 12 months. The country accounts for nearly half of TikTok downloads in 2019.
TikTok continues its unprecedented march in the global app universe, crossing 1.5 billion downloads on App Store and Google Play Store.
India, one of its fastest-growing markets, accounts for 31 percent (or 466.8 million) of unique installs, according to Sensor Tower data.
In 2019 alone, India contributed 45 percent (or 277.6 million) to TikTok's 614 million global app installs. This is significantly higher than China, which generated the second highest downloads (45.5 million) or 7.4 percent, and the US, which accounted for 37.6 million installs (about six percent).
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Sensor Tower had earlier indicated that India also leads the world in overall app downloads in 2019, ahead of even the US. TikTok, of course, is a major driver of this.
The ByteDance-owned short-form video creation app has democratised social media content in India, pulling in users from even the remotest corners of the country.
TikTok is also the third most downloaded non-gaming app of the year, behind WhatsApp (707.4 million) and Messenger (636.2 million). It sits above Facebook (587 million) and Instagram (376.2 million).
"TikTok crossed 1 billion downloads in February 2019, taking just under nine months to generate a further 500 million installs. It took slightly more than seven months for the app to grow from 500 million to 1 billion global downloads," Sensor Tower reveals.
Image: Sensor Tower
Interestingly, TikTok's revenues are rising too.
In 2019, lifetime user spend on the app has hit $175 million worldwide across App Store and Google Play Store. This is primarily driven by Chinese users, who have spent $84.5 million on TikTok - more than 48 percent of all revenue.
The US ranked second accounting for $62.4 million (or 35.7 percent) of TikTok's revenues, while the UK stood at No. 3 with $6.9 million.
Despite its massive user base in India, TikTok hasn't yet been able to monetise its platform. But, that could change going ahead.
In an earlier interaction with YourStory, Sachin Sharma, Director - Sales and Partnership, TikTok India, had shared, "We have successfully partnered with various brands in the ecommerce, FMCG, BFSI, and education space. Going forward, we will continue to focus on enhancing the user experience and working closely with our partner brands to build innovative advertising solutions for their campaigns".
Until then, it's user growth FTW!
(Edited by Megha Reddy)
