TikTok-owner ByteDance said to be on track to rake in US$27bn in advertising revenue by year-end

TikTok-owner ByteDance is on track to generate at least 180 billion yuan (US$27.2 billion) in advertising revenue in China this year, which will cement its No. 2 spot in China’s digital ad market, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company’s overall revenue goal for 2020 is around US$30 billion, Reuters previously reported, so the latest figures mean it is performing in line with its plan.

While TikTok is what ByteDance is best known for globally, the app contributes little to the Chinese company’s revenue overall. It relies on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, for nearly 60 per cent of ad revenue, followed by news aggregator Jinri Toutiao for 20 per cent and long-form video platform Xigua for under 3 per cent, according to one of the sources.

ByteDance declined to comment.

The group is one of only a few Chinese companies with global reach, but it is currently battling plans to force it to divest TikTok’s US operations because of Washington’s national security concerns over the data of more than 100 million US users.

ByteDance overtook Baidu to become China’s second largest digital ad player in the first half of 2019 with 23 per cent (US$7.6 billion) of the total digital ad spend in the country, according to consultancy R3, with Alibaba Group in first place, raking in US$10.9 billion, or 33 per cent of total spend.