TikTok ad revenues set to triple this year

Research from Insider Intelligence predicts social video platform TikTok’s ad revenues will surpass those of Twitter and Snapchat combined this year.

Having increased by 175% last year, Insider Intelligence is confident TikTok’s revenues will grow even more – tripling year-on-year. The Chinese-owned platform specialises in short-form, mobile optimised videos and is especially popular with younger people. More than half of its ad revenue comes from the US, however, and is forecast to hit $11 billion, which will be greater than Twitter’s ($5.6 billion) and Snapchat’s ($4.9 billion) combined.

“TikTok’s user base has exploded in the past couple of years, and the amount of time users spend on the app is extraordinary,” said Insider Intelligence Analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “It has moved well beyond its roots as a lip-syncing and dancing app; it creates trends and fosters deep connections with creators that keep users engaged, video after video.

“Advertisers want to reach a passionate, dedicated audience, and TikTok can deliver that. Another factor that will drive growth in ad spending is TikTok’s unique take on social commerce. It pairs marketers with creators to help content go viral, and that can drive enormous demand for products that advertisers want to promote.”

All of these single app platforms are still dwarfed by the digital advertising heavy hitters, however. According to Insider Intelligence TikTok will increase its share of the overall global market from 0.7% to 1.9% this year. Meanwhile Google will account for 29% and Facebook/Meta for 21.4%. Having said that, the report reckons TikTok will have caught up with Google-owned YouTube in terms of ad revenues by 2024.

While just over half of TikTok’s ad revenues come from the US, it looks like growth there is slowing. Nonetheless it will account for 2.4% of the US market this year and 3.5% by 2024, and that’s in a booming market. It seems to be doing well in the UK too, forecast to triple this year and grab 2.9% of the ad market and hit 4.7% by 2024. If anyone reading this uses TikTok and can explain the appeal, we would be grateful to hear from you.

This is apparently the most popular TikTok video ever.

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