According to a report by App Annie, an app analytics company, YouTube is threatened by TikTok and its short video format. In the US, ByteDance's app overtook YouTube for the first time last August, and as of June 2021, its users watched more than 24 hours of content per month, compared to 22 hours and 40 minutes for Google TV.
In Great Britain, the difference is even more striking. According to a report by The Verge, TikTok overtook YouTube last May, and users there now reportedly watch nearly 26 hours of content per month, compared to less than 16 hours on YouTube.
TikTok is gradually overtaking YouTube in terms of average watch time
Figures include only views on Android smartphones. However, they may not be representative of mobile users as a whole. In any case, they are enough to demonstrate the impressive growth of TikTok in just a few short years.
This is even more impressive when you consider that he has a three-minute limit on the entire video. The preferred format of YouTube users is usually around 10 minutes. If we take into account the year 2020, the growth will be even more impressive.
Over the past year, TikTok has faced constant threats of being banned in the US due to chaotic negotiations under the Trump administration. Now, apparently, it's all over, as the new president, Biden, has rescinded Trump's executive order.
YouTube was still ahead overall. Of course, the company still has a stronger base with more than two billion users. Meanwhile, TikTok is gaining 700 million users. In addition, excluding iOS users and users of the app, which has been renamed Douyin in China, YouTube still ranks first in terms of time spent on Android smartphones.
This happens when we take the Social & Entertainment Apps category. There, TikTok ranks fifth after three Facebook applications: Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. In addition, according to the data, users worldwide spend more money on YouTube than on TikTok, on both iOS and Android (with the exception of Chinese Android users).
You may be interested in the reasons behind the unprecedented success of TikTok. According to App Annie, the reason lies in the “short-form video, authentic content and streaming” that the platform offers. So it's no surprise that YouTube is using Shorts as its own competitor to TikTok's short-form video. The new feature is still in its early stages, but could become popular on the platform.
