TikTok overtakes Facebook to become world’s second most downloaded app as rivals challenge its short video dominance
- TikTok owner ByteDance still generates most its revenue from China, despite the app’s rapid international expansion
- The report excluded Apple apps and Google pre-installed apps and did not include Android downloads from third-party stores
TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin ranked as the world’s second most downloaded app last year, but the short video platform operated by ByteDance is facing challenges from both upstart rivals and established players that are starting to embrace short-form content.
TikTok and Douyin amassed a combined 740 million downloads last year, overtaking Facebook and Messenger to become the world’s second most downloaded app behind WhatsApp, according to market analyst Sensor Tower.
“Short video has been popularised by TikTok for sure, but bigger social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram are aware of it and are doing something about it,” said Meenakshi Tiwari, an analyst at technology market research firm Forrester, who pointed to Instagram’s TikTok-like video-music remix feature “Reels” launched in Brazil two months ago.
Another challenge for TikTok is WhatsApp, which has not yet monetised its user base but might do so this year, Tiwari said.