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The artist and influencer already had a lot of followers on Instagram. And like many other friends, the 31-year-old had dismissed TikTok as an app for tweens.
But the spread of the virus in New York City forced Tsui to wait for the pandemic indoors, and he found himself with plenty of free time to try something new.
Tsui is not alone. In the past few months, hundreds of millions of people around the world have downloaded the short-form video app, as the United States, Europe, and elsewhere place strict restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
For many people, the app has become a fun escape from all the grim news about the virus and its cost.
TikTok has taken advantage of the moment, pushing upbeat hashtags like “#HappyAtHome”, which has seen many users force their parents to make TikTok videos. It’s also promoting live streams of relaxing content: On a recent Wednesday, for example, one of those streams was streaming live images from a panda sanctuary.
She said that TikTok reached out to her last year to join her platform. Richard, 31, thought he was too young for her.
Then came the coronavirus outbreak, and Richard found herself hooked on TikTok’s 15-second videos.
She also liked that more “older people, like my generation and older, join her. And many of the songs are from my generation,” he said.
The record influx of new users is a huge victory for the ByteDance app owner, who has been trying to capitalize on the global appeal of TikTok. The app is the only social media platform created by a Chinese company to gain significant traction outside of China.
But the success of the Beijing-based startup within China during the pandemic has also been enormous, and may provide clues to how TikTok hopes to become a great moneymaker in the future.
A quarterly record
ByteDance’s mobile apps raised $ 157 million from January to March, according to Sensor Tower. About 90% of that amount came from China and was driven almost entirely by Douyin, the Chinese version of the company’s killer app. It was a record quarterly tour for ByteDance, representing a 423% increase compared to the same period last year, and a 50% increase compared to the previous quarter.
Bytedance did not respond to requests for comment for this. Article.
The first week of February was Douyin’s biggest week, with users spending more than 3 billion hours on the app, 130% more than the weekly average in 2019, according to analyst firm AppAnnie.
In China, live streaming is very popular. Influencers often earn money by receiving virtual advice during live broadcasts.
“In general, in Chinese applications, there is a habit of tipping content creators,” said Wiktoria Marszałek, account manager for Nanjing Marketing Group, a company that helps foreign companies increase their brands and sales in China. .
For example, he said, Douyin users buy virtual donuts or hearts that they can give away to content creators or influencers during live streams. All of that translates to in-app revenue for ByteDance.
The company still gets most of its money from advertising. Consulting firm R3 estimates ByteDance earned around 140 billion yuan ($ 19.8 billion) in advertising revenue in 2019.
But the in-app revenue you get from Douyin and TikTok users is more than just a change.
Douyin and TikTok revenues “are skyrocketing now,” said Randy Nelson, an analyst at Sensor Tower. Sensor Tower considers TikTok and Douyin to be essentially the same app, citing the similarities in branding, marketing, and user experience.
Nelson said the app’s success in monetizing users makes it the same league as the top entertainment companies.
“It was above Disney +, it was above Netflix. And that without Android in China,” he added. Sensor Tower can only track data from App Store and Google Play store, and Play store is prohibited in China.
Some influencers are betting on the TikTok post pandemic
TikTok hasn’t seen as much windfall as Douyin, because it only started monetizing through advertising and live streaming last year, according to a TikTok spokesperson.
But Douyin provides clues on how TikTok hopes to emulate the financial success of its Chinese sister app. For example, TikTok last year made the live stream available to users with a certain number of followers.
However, it remains to be seen if the feature will take off from China.
Westerners “are not so used to the Chinese style of live streaming,” where influencers stream for hours just to sell products, said Marszałek of the Nanjing Marketing Group. “In China they only sell, sell, sell,” he said.
Giving virtual money to content creators on social media is also not a common practice: Facebook has an in-app currency that it introduced so that users can tip content creators, but it has never gained traction, according to Nelson of Sensor Tower.
Like many other social media companies, TikTok anticipates that the coronavirus will hit advertising revenue in the United States, Europe, and other markets where it operates.
It has begun to “donate” advertising credits to health organizations so they can post updates on the pandemic. TikTok will offer more free advertising space to restaurants and small businesses when they start to reopen, the spokesperson said.
Once companies start spending again, users like Tsui are betting that TikTok will be where they will waste money.
Before moving to New York, Tsui lived in Hong Kong, where he earned around $ 1,500. per month partnering with brands and advertisers to promote their products to their 74,000 Instagram followers.
Breaking into Instagram in New York has been difficult. But now, “because everyone is talking about TikTok, brands really target influencers and make ads on TikTok,” he said.
The native of New Zealand Now he’s trying to uncover TikTok’s notoriously opaque algorithm in hopes that it can develop a following strong enough to make a profit.
“I definitely believe that TIkTok is the way to go in the future in terms of advertising and product promotion,” said Tsui.
