
TikTok tops 3 billion downloads worldwide, the first non-Facebook app to do so
- The short video app was also the most downloaded and highest-grossing in the first half of this year
- Although installs were down in the first six months year on year, user spending soared by 73 per cent
The four other apps are WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram, all owned by the Silicon Valley-based social networking company.
TikTok was also the most downloaded and highest-grossing non-game app worldwide in the first half of 2021, reaching nearly 383 million first-time installs and about US$919.2 million in consumer spending.
Is ByteDance poised to eat everyone’s lunch in China’s internet world?
This came in June after his predecessor, former president Donald Trump, tried to ban Chinese apps from the US market in the final month of his term.
Beyond regulatory pressure and geopolitical tension, TikTok also faces increasing competition from other platforms as they try to capitalise on the latest content format.
On Tuesday, Google’s YouTube announced that it will roll its short video feature, YouTube Shorts, to more than 100 countries after it was available at launch to only 26.
Google, in its first-quarter report this year, revealed that Shorts averaged 6.5 billion daily views.
In August of last year, Facebook added a section dedicated to short videos while its photo-sharing app, Instagram, launched Reels that same month.
WeChat, the Chinese super app operated by tech giant Tencent Holdings, launched WeChat Channels in January, allowing users to share short videos.

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Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West
Other short video apps, including China’s Kwai and India’s Moj, continue to challenge TikTok’s dominance in the short video market.
