WIll Bytedance head towards bankruptcy when Tik Tok gets banned in india(if it even happens)?

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

TikTok Revenue and Usage Statistics (2020)

MANSOOR IQBAL
UPDATED: JUNE 23, 2020

TikTok, known as Douyin in its home market, was launched in China in September 2016. It was pushed out globally as TikTok the following year.

The TikTok app allows users to create 15 second videos, soundtracked by music clips. Sounds simple enough, but it’s a wildly popular concept. Depending on who you ask, the app was the world’s second-most or fourth-most downloaded non-gaming app of 2019 (only behind various Facebook entities in either case).

TikTok/Douyin parent company ByteDance also owns hugely popular Chinese AI-powered news aggregation platform Toutiao, created by CEO Zhang Yiming at the age of 29 in 2012. Notably, he was not backed by either Alibaba or Tencent. TikTok has succeeded where the latter failed with WeChat – success beyond China.

This was a strategic triumph. In November 2017 ByteDance acquired the popular (also China-based) would-be rival app Musical.ly app for a reported $1 billion. TikTok was merged with Musical.ly in August 2018, with app users’ accounts migrated to their TikTok accounts. This was seen as a way for the Chinese app to enter the US market – with Musical.ly already boasting a considerable American audience.

TikTok/Douyin (and formerly Musical.ly) users use the app largely to create, share, and view content based around lip syncing, dancing, comedy skits, and other physical activities. Clearly, this is something that appeals to young people (and quite a few older ones) around the world, with app snowballing in popularity over 2018 and 2019. Despite only being released in 2016, it was one of the most-downloaded apps of the 2010s.

As of 2020, TikTok is one of the world’s best-loved apps (for those under a certain age at least), its success powered by some of the world’s most sophisticated AI.

That said, it has not been without its controversies. In 2019, it was briefly banned in India for “morality issues”, with pornographic content and predatory behaviour a concern. It has been accused of not adequately safeguarding young users’ data. It is also being investigated in the US over national security concerns. ByteDance has released a transparency report to deal with these accusations, and has moved to ringfence TikTok from the rest of its operations.

Nonetheless, as of early 2020, TikTok seems like the app to beat. Scroll on to read our collection of TikTok stats from around the web.

Key TikTok Statistics

• TikTok MAUs estimated at 800 million
• TikTok downloaded 738 million times in 2019,
• Total TikTok downloads over 1.5 billion – making it the seventh-most downloaded app of the 2010s
• It is estimated that 57% of the TikTok/Douyin userbase is based in China
• India top market for TikTok downloads in 2019 (if we exclude Chinese Android downloads), with 323 million
• 46 million US TikTok downloads in 2019
• Only 9% of US internet users have used TikTok, with 5% more interested in using it; this rises to 49% for teenage users
• ByteDance reports 400 DAU of Douyin in China, and claim 68% of Chinese social media users/59% of smartphone users are Douyin users
• Musical.ly counted 100 million users at time of August 2018 merger with TikTok
• Singer Loren Gray is the most-followed person on TikTok, with close to 40 million followers
• On Douyin, the most-followed account belongs to actor, model, and singer Dilraba Dilmurat, with around 55 million followers
• Android TikTok users spent 68 billion hours using the app in 2019
• China accounts for eight out of every 10 minutes viewed on TikTok
• Average daily time on TikTok estimated at 45 minutes
• US users open TikTok an average of eight times a day, with sessions averaging just under 5 minutes
• Indian users spend 38 minutes daily using TikTok
• TikTok one-week retention rate stands at 26%
• A late 2018 Global Web Index study found 55% of TikTok users uploaded a video in the last month, compared to 68% who had watched one
• TikTok 2019 revenue came to $176.9 million (excluding non-iOS Chinese revenue)
• ByteDance controls 23% of the Chinese digital app market
• ByteDance became the world’s most highly-valued private startup, with a valuation of $78 billion after a SoftBank-led $3 billion investment round

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

*Edited* I deleted a sigficant portion of the artcle, cos it's too long . link is here: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/

at this point, i just realise the article is TOO long n my fingers r getting tired, so i will get to the conclusive part:

TikTok Revenue Statistics
TikTok revenue statistics from Sensor Tower show that TikTok brought in $176.9 million in revenue over 2019. TikTok is still in the early days of revenue generation, having slowly brought in ads over the course of 2019 (see below for more detail). 2019’s total, therefore, while relatively small, still accounts for 71% of all-time TikTok revenue.

Q4 2019 represented by far the best quarter for TikTok revenue to date, with quarter-on-quarter growth standing at 100%, and year-on-year growth at a stunning 500% (albeit from a relatively low base). TikTok is still in the early stages. If we look at equivalent stats for other apps that shared the same sense of global virality in the early stages, we see a similar story.

TikTok revenue 2018-2019

These figures, however, doesn’t account for revenue generated outside of the app store (Google Play Store and iOS App Store) ecosystem. This means we’re not seeing the impact of third-party Android revenue – which would most likely account for lion’s share of Chinese TikTok revenue.

Nonetheless, China is still biggest source of TikTok revenue through iOS users alone. $122.9 million of TikTok 2019 revenue comes from its home market; 69% of the total. The US comes in second place, with its $36 million contribution accounting for 20% TikTok 2019 revenue. The UK, contributing 2% ($2.4 million), was in third place.

Before introducing the ads, TikTok revenue was generated from in-app purchases, such as emojis and digital gifts. As of October 2018, these were bringing in $3.5 million per month. This represented a 275% increase over October 2017 revenue.

Around 42% of revenue up until this point – or $1.5 million – came from the US, where the increase in spending measures 144%. This just outstrips spending in China, which at $1.4 million represents 39% of the total. Notably, however, Chinese Android users were not included in the total, so we can safely assume that ByteDance’s home country is the number one source of revenue. In total, users had spent $50 million on TikTok as of the end of October 2018.

TikTok advertising

Initially TikTok did not feature paid advertising. It has been slowly opening itself up. It was reported that ads were being tested by the platform in January 2019. A beta version of a ‘managed service platform’ – bringing TikTok into the biddable ads space followed in April 2019.

Notably, VP Blake Chandlee used to be head of advertising at Facebook. Chandlee has been working on building relationships with major US advertisers. Brands like the NFL, the NBA, Nike, Burberry, Samsung, HP, Chipotle and Walmart were mentioned by Chandlee in a public talk in September 2019.

The FT reports that one 24-hour TikTok campaign ran by Guess logged a CTR of 16% compared to a 4% average. The app was also reportedly introducing a service through which brands could be introduced to influence. Unlike other platforms, however, TikTok does not offer much by way of audience segmentation.

As of November, however, The Verge still described TikTok ads as the Wild West. Self-serve ads on the platform deliver CPM of $10 – which compares negatively to Instagram’s $8.

Back in February 2019, Digiday reported that in-feed TikTok ads were retailing at $10/impression, with a minimum campaign spend of $6,000. Brand takeover ads were available for $50,000 per day – with a guaranteed 5 million impressions.

In China, TikTok advertising has been available for much longer, though we do not have clear figures on revenue generated outside of the app store environment.

Short-form video has been earmarked a key revenue generator in China. iResearch Consulting Group estimate that around $2 billion in revenue was brought in by these apps over 2018 (RMB 14 billion). This would represent 521% growth over 2018. They predict we’ll continue to see strong growth over 2019 and 2020, albeit at a more sustainable rate of 134% and 71% respectively. This would generate revenue of $4.8 billion and $8.2 roughly.

ByteDance commanded 23% of the Chinese digital ad market in the first half of 2020 – making it the second-biggest player in the country.

While ByteDance and TikTok have improved their generation of revenue, it might be noted that creators’ share of TikTok revenue has been judged to be unsatisfactory – with money often taking some time to materialise.

TikTok shopping functionality is also seemingly on the cards (something Chandlee is also working on), allowing brands to attach a shoppable component added to a sponsored hashtag challenge. This sees an added ‘discover’ tab added to the hashtag landing page. Clicking on an item here will lead directly to a shopping cart on a brand mini site.

The first brand to embrace this form of TikTok advertising was retail brand Kroger, who ran a #TransformUrDorm challenge. This attracted close to 477 million views across hundreds of videos over the course of a week or so.

ByteDance revenue

ByteDance is reported have brought in $2.5 billion of revenue in total over 2017, rising to $7.2-7.9 billion in 2018 (around 50 billion yuan). This was the lower end of its revenue target for the years.

ByteDance’s revenue target for 2019 was to double this to $14.8 billion. In September 2019, it was reported that it was well on the way to meeting and beating this target, with revenue in the range of $7 to $8.4 billion (50-60 billion yuan) generated over the first half of the year.

ByteDance has denied reports that it hit $20 billion revenue in 2019.

ByteDance valuation

As well as TikTok/Douyin, parent company ByteDance owns the Chinese AI-powered news aggregator Toutiao. Toutiao could lay claim to 120 million daily active users (as of September 2017), and is alone valued at $20 billion.

Accordingly, ByteDance earned the rank of the world’s most-highly valued private startup, with a valuation of $78 billion in late 2018 (creeping past Uber’s pre-IPO valuation of $72 billion).

An IPO was touted for some point in 2019. This did not materialise. Q1 2020 has been rumoured to be the new target for a ByteDance IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. ByteDance itself has strongly denied that this will be the case.

ByteDance funding rounds

ByteDance’s huge valuation came on the back of a funding round which saw investors led by SoftBank invest $3 billion in October 2018. ByteDance was reported to get a syndicated loan worth $1.3 billion in April 2019, from a group dominated by Wall Street Banks.

Final thoughts

TikTok is one of those apps that separates the old from the young – one of those which inspires a spate of explainer articles. No doubt, many older users will have been left scratching their heads at the rise of this mysterious app.

While its appeal is not limited to younger users, this is a Generation Z app. The short format seems to lend itself perfectly to the irreverent sense of humour of the first generation of true digital natives. One commentator notes that this is part of the appeal of TikTok to these younger users. Tired of the perfect bodies and perfect lives as shown on Instagram, they are looking for something a little more down-to-earth, more, dare we say…authentic…

As we’ve seen with Snapchat – prior to its recent recovery – however, no bubble is immune to bursting – or having 10-figure sums wiped off its value following a celebrity tweet. Whether this momentum can be sustained in light of rivals that may not have even launched yet remains to be seen. TikTok will also have ensure that it avoids scandal. Addressing safety concerns will be paramount. This includes making sure to avoid any issues arising around the advanced AI that lies behind much of ByteDance’s success.

The other challenge, as with all highly-valued startups rated on growth and potential, is profitability. With no clear monetisation strategy in place, how ByteDance approaches this in the run up to any IPO will be of great concern to industry observers and potential investors. Fortnite has, however, shown that apps can thrive on essentially meaningless in-app purchases.

This, of course, will put it in direct competition with domestic rivals Alibaba and Tencent. With growth in the Chinese market slowing, this has the potential to severely damage the prospects of one of the three online behemoths.

ByteDance has one thing over its better-established rivals, however, and that is that it is the first to have succeeded in getting a foothold overseas. Acquiring a previously-established brand in Musical.ly looks like a masterstroke in this regard, and no small amount of credit is due for successfully consolidating the brands without losing users.

This internationalisation may prove a crucial advantage as well as a backup plan if it comes out of this contest badly – or, indeed, it falls foul of Chinese authorities.

Challenges are, of course, par for the course for any app that aspires to dominance. On this evidence, TikTok certainly belongs to that category.

















this means that even though India has the highest number of users of tik tok(outside china), it is'nt generating the highest amount of revenue for bytedance.

Rather the US takes the 2nd position(1st position = China)

Nonetheless, China is still biggest source of TikTok revenue through iOS users alone. $122.9 million of TikTok 2019 revenue comes from its home market; 69% of the total. The US comes in second place, with its $36 million contribution accounting for 20% TikTok 2019 revenue. The UK, contributing 2% ($2.4 million), was in third place.

so what does this means?

the customer base in India isnt generating enough revenue when compared to the US or UK market .

1)US, UK = way lesser users, but generating higher income

2)India = way more users, but generating lesser income

From a business standpoint, it all depends on the type of user/customer base aka 'market quality'(lol).

it's the same trend as to why the premium-priced iphone has only a tiny market share of the gigantic Indian market(in terms of smartphone users).

So from all the 'tik tok-boycotting' in the news, 1 would have thought Bytedance would be inccuring substantial losses to its earnings.

Now from the data gathered here gathered, would Bytedance be losing alot of money, or even be heading towards any serious financial trouble- just because of the Indian market boycott??

Make your conclusion.

 

[Figaro]

Bankruptcy? How valuable does India actually think it is lol ...

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Bankruptcy? How valuable does India actually think it is lol ...

if u're a gamer, u would notice the predominating trend that P2P games(pay-to-play) always have lower revenue generated from developing countries.

an example is dota 2 and PUBG mobile with ingame items that can be purchased with real money. these type of games always have very high number of users from india, philipines, indonesia- but makes a disproportionate amount of money(little) from them.



i dont have the exact formula, but it's not hard to see this being applied to advertising-generated model for apps like tik tok as well.

this is 'market quality'.

 

[PakGuns]

if u're a gamer, u would notice the predominating trend that P2P games(pay-to-play) always have lower revenue generated from developing countries.

an example is dota 2 and PUBG mobile with ingame items that can be purchased with real money. these type of games always have very high number of users from india, philipines, indonesia- but makes little money from them.

this is 'market quality'.

if game hacks were a terrorist.. Philippine would be the mothership of this terrorism.. lol... every game i have been there's no game on earth where Filipinos didn't surprise me.. its an isolated poor country, so you can say they constantly demand domination somewhere so they hack to dominate in online games..lol

 

[SuperStar20]

If India is not profitable/potential market, TikTok would have pulled out from App Store.
Instead they were advertising and donating money and now crying after ban.
Pick one, don't be like headless chicken.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

if game hacks were a terrorist.. Philippine would be the mothership of this terrorism.. lol... every game i have been there's no game on earth where Filipinos didn't surprise me.. its an isolated poor country, so you can say they constantly demand domination somewhere so they hack to dominate in online games..lol

like which?? im a gamer myself

If India is not profitable/potential market, TikTok would have pulled out from App Store.
Instead they were advertising and donating money and now crying after ban.
Pick one, don't be like headless chicken.

i didnt say it's not making money. i highlighted from the article that the Indian market for tik tok is generating lesser money than the US or UK; both which have a massively lower demographic dividend base than India.

u can spin n spin n spin all u want- im merely quoting the data from the article:

Nonetheless, China is still biggest source of TikTok revenue through iOS users alone. $122.9 million of TikTok 2019 revenue comes from its home market; 69% of the total. The US comes in second place, with its $36 million contribution accounting for 20% TikTok 2019 revenue. The UK, contributing 2% ($2.4 million), was in third place.

Tik tok source of revenue:

69% = China
20% = US
2% = UK
9% = all others combined

remember im refering to a business standpoint, n that is the value of a market. by user base, India no doubt takes the crown(outside china).

India has 120 million tik tok users, but generates less revenue for the company than the UK- this is utterly pathetic

https://musically.com/2019/06/11/tiktok-now-has-120-million-monthly-active-users-in-india/


in other words, the market quality for tik tok in india- is extremely low.

if i have to invest so much, but make so little money- i would rather pull out of that market.

 

[Oracle]

number of user will impact ... there is no doubt about it
however , india dont know if there are no chinese stakes in india
then china will not blink to strike hard , as there will be nothing to loose then

 

[TNT]

Indians are stupid. By these silly tactics of bans and boycotts and custom issues, its only increasing hatred. It is also exhausting its potential future options as well. They are basically giving chinese very good idea about how to manage future relations and make sure no leverage is given. China will further shield itself from all these measures and giving no options to india in future. It only leaves the military option open and we all know how that will end up.

 

[Rollno21]

Now the Chinese mobile phone makers in India will be nervous.who knows they could be next ,5g gone,apps gone .....

Samsung will be laughing

 

[masterchief_mirza]

If India is not profitable/potential market, TikTok would have pulled out from App Store.
Instead they were advertising and donating money and now crying after ban.
Pick one, don't be like headless chicken.

Rubbish. Tik Tok won't get "pulled from the Indian store" by its owners just because it's making less profit in India compared with in China, US and UK. It's not making a loss in India is it? However, the damage of an Indian boycott to its overall profit lines appears to be negligible.

India needs to ask its quad buddies to adopt the same tactic as India's genius strategy planners in the dept of bhaktonomics. If India can convince USA to ban TikTok, then it gets a bit more interesting. I'm sure USA will oblige if India asks its quad buddy right?

I mean here you have a palpable method of exerting economic pressure on the enemy USA is sending you dotards in to battle with on its behalf - surely they should as a minimum ban the same app you lot are banning as part of your united economic front?

Or is it just going to be meaningless SCS military drills to win bhakt votes for another decade?

Like I already said - Modi has zero interest or intention to actually fight China or punish China for 20 soldiers' deaths. But you fanboys will keep clapping and banging pots when he sails some ships in the SCS and any other time he tells you to.

 

[SuperStar20]

Rubbish. Tik Tok won't get "pulled from the Indian store" by its owners just because it's making less profit in India compared with in China, US and UK. It's not making a loss in India is it? However, the damage of an Indian boycott to its overall profit lines appears to be negligible.

India needs to ask its quad buddies to adopt the same tactic as India's genius strategy planners in the dept of bhaktonomics. If India can convince USA to ban TikTok, then it gets a bit more interesting. I'm sure USA will oblige if India asks its quad buddy right?

I mean here you have a palpable method of exerting economic pressure on the enemy USA is sending you dotards in to battle with on its behalf - surely they should as a minimum ban the same app you lot are banning as part of your united economic front?

Or is it just going to be meaningless SCS military drills to win bhakt votes for another decade?

Like I already said - Modi has zero interest or intention to actually fight China or punish China for 20 soldiers' deaths. But you fanboys will keep clapping and banging pots when he sails some ships in the SCS and any other time he tells you to.

Well fight is not over yet. You need to wait and watch. India will punish/inflict pain whatever way possible/capable.

 

[obj 705A]

like which?? im a gamer myself



i didnt say it's not making money. i highlighted from the article that the Indian market for tik tok is generating lesser money than the US or UK; both which have a massively lower demographic dividend base than India.

u can spin n spin n spin all u want- im merely quoting the data from the article:





Tik tok source of revenue:

69% = China
20% = US
2% = UK
9% = all others combined

remember im refering to a business standpoint, n that is the value of a market. by user base, India no doubt takes the crown(outside china).

India has 120 million tik tok users, but generates less revenue for the company than the UK- this is utterly pathetic

https://musically.com/2019/06/11/tiktok-now-has-120-million-monthly-active-users-in-india/


in other words, the market quality for tik tok in india- is extremely low.

if i have to invest so much, but make so little money- i would rather pull out of that market.

LMAO wait a minute so the UK which contributes just 2% is actually in third place when it comes to revenue? wow then India contributes less than 2% to the revenue! That is very sad and pathetic how the Supa Powa can't even lay a scratch on some video company

 

[hualushui]

Indians always think they are important, but statistics show that India is really not important

 

[kankan326]

If India is not profitable/potential market, TikTok would have pulled out from App Store.
Instead they were advertising and donating money and now crying after ban.
Pick one, don't be like headless chicken.

So China needs to do something to stop India's economic growth. India's economic growth will do more harm than good to China. China should implement some measures to weaken its economy.