TikTok Overtakes Netflix as the Most Popular App with Under 35s in the USA

TikTok has leapfrogged Netflix to become the second most popular service in the USA, with only YouTube retaining the crown for under 35s viewing, according to Omdia. The service remains heavily skewed by age and occupies sixth place for those above 35 years old.

In the UK and France, TikTok does not enjoy the same level of popularity, being the fifth most watched video service overall, falling below iPlayer, Netflix, and Amazon in the UK, and TF1 services, Netflix, and 6Play in France. Overall, YouTube remains the most watched platform in these markets while for the over 35s TikTok does not feature in the top ten.

On social media platforms, the time spent viewing video content increased by 9 minutes in 2021 to an average of 60 minutes per person per day across nine markets analyzed by Omdia which included: the UK, USA, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Australia. The survey further highlighted that Facebook was the leading platform for social media video viewing time in 2021, with average viewing reaching 18.7 minutes across all nine combined countries; this was a drop on the previous year though as Facebook saw its MAUs (monthly active users) stall through most of the year. Its competitor TikTok in contrast recorded the fastest growth rate for a social media platform in 2021, increasing by 6.4 minutes to reach 18.1 minutes, and as such is almost certain to overtake Facebook for video viewing in 2022.

Video viewing has become an increasingly dominant feature on social media platforms. Facebook has confirmed that video now accounts for half of the time people spend on its platform and will, therefore, be a key source of revenue in the coming years. TikTok has become the most popular social media platform for viewing in the USA. TikTok itself grew by 56.6% (+9 minutes) in 2021, an increase on the previous year’s growth of 43.2%, with the rapid rise in its MAU (monthly active users) driving this.

The growth of TikTok has been a significant factor in Facebook's decline, with its MAUs largely stalling over the year, partially because of the platform’s growth. To combat this, Meta has already announced a re-focus on younger users, partnering with several high-profile TikTok creators to put a more light-hearted, trending spin on their rebranding effort, while also adding to its service. TikTok’s viewing time continued to boom in 2021, with a 77.3% increase to reach 22.4 minutes per person, per day. TikTok thus overtook Facebook as the platform with the highest viewing time during the year.

Instagram also registered steady growth in 2021 with a 3-minute increase from the previous year. Snapchat and Twitter, in contrast, remained relatively flat. Instagram is set to bring another TikTok-inspired feature to its app in the coming year, with the company reportedly testing vertical scrolling in its stories, as opposed to the current way of accessing them, which is by tapping or swiping horizontally.