TikTok Beats Facebook in Time Spent Per User

For the first time users are spending more time on TikTok than Facebook as per data from a new report on app usage.

App Annie reports that time spent on TikTok is up 325% year-over-year, which means it’s now beating Facebook in terms of hours spent per user per month.

Average time spent is up for nearly every app in every market, but few are up by as much as TikTok.

TikTok ranks in the top 5 by time spent, and the rate at which it grew over the past year outpaces nearly every other app analyzed in the report.

It ranks #1 in the list of top breakout apps in 2020, which ranks apps by growth in monthly active users over the past year. TikTok is on track to hit 1.2 billion active users (MAU) in 2021.

In social media, the 1 billion MAU club is an elite group of apps consisting of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, and China’s WeChat. It’s no small deal that TikTok is projected to land itself a spot amongst these apps before the year is out.

TikTok is in a league of its own when it comes to revenue, ranking as the #2 non-gaming app in terms of consumer spend. While many social media apps monetize through ads, TikTok monetizes through ads and allowing users to purchase digital goods.

To be sure the exponential growth of TikTok is one the top trends in social media to keep track of in 2021. But what else do marketers need to be aware of?

Let’s take a look at other key highlights from the report.

Report Highlights: State of Mobile in 2021

Mobile Grows 3 Years in 12 Months

Mobile adoption is said to have advanced 2-3 years in the past 12 months. Downloads of mobile apps hit a new high of 218 billion in 2020, up 7% year-over-year.

Americans spent 8% more time on their mobile device than watching TV in 2020 – 4 hours per day on mobile compared to 3.7 hours of TV.

The growth of mobile bolstered the ad industry in 2020 – growing to $240 billion in mobile ad spend and projected to reach $290 billion in 2021.

Mobile ad placements grew 95% year-over-year in the US. Video ads saw tremendous growth last year but were outpaced by the growth of interstitial ads.

App Annie’s report shows growth in all categories of apps such as gaming, shopping, food delivery, and subscriptions streaming services. But along with entertainment and commerce apps, the growth of business apps soared in 2020.

Time spent in business apps grew 275% year-over-year and is expected to remain high as companies continue to provide remote working options.

Users Watch YouTube 4x More Than Netflix

While there’s more data to discover in the report, the last set of stats I’ll leave you with are related to the growth of YouTube.

YouTube is the top video streaming app by average time spent per user, and it’s not even close. YouTube see over 4x time spent per user compared to the next closest app (Netflix).

Users spend an average of 23 hours a month watching content on YouTube. For comparison, Netflix sees an average of 5.7 hours per user per month.

As a marketer, content creator, advertiser, or publisher – the level of audience engagement on YouTube is something that cannot be ignored.

If you’re looking to ramp up your content marketing efforts this year, consider paying more attention to YouTube thinking about how it can fit into your marketing mix.

Source: App Annie