The TikTok network is now competing with Netflix in terms of the time that American adults devote to watching it, after it had previously outperformed YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in this field, according to a study released Thursday at a time when the government and Congress intend to completely ban this popular application of a Chinese company.
A report by the “Insider Intelligence” company indicated that the platform owned by the Chinese “ByteDance” group, which previously attracted teenagers, has also become the subject of widespread interest from adults who have come to follow it, especially during the pandemic phase.
The report stated that “TikTok users between the ages of 25 and 54 years old - + millennials + and + generation X + - will spend (this year) more than 45 minutes per day following the application, much more than the time spent by users in the category age in following other social networks.
And TikTok advanced in 2021 in terms of the time adults spend on each platform, on YouTube (Google), the giant in this sector.
Insider Intelligence predicted that TikTok users over the age of 18 would spend an average of more than 58 minutes a day watching the app in 2024, less than Netflix (62 minutes) and more than YouTube (48.7 minutes).
The study noted that the efforts of American social networks to compete with the service of short video clips from TikTok did not fully achieve the desired results.
YouTube shorts "didn't get things moving". As for the “Rails” clips from “Meta” (Facebook and Instagram), they have reaped some success, but the time that users devote to watching them reduces the time that they devote to other services on the two networks, namely the main newsletter and “Stories”, which include more ads and thus generate more revenue for the group.
The report also touched on the "second screen" phenomenon, noting that "Netflix viewers often follow TikTok while watching Netflix." And she believed that "advertisers considering buying ads on Netflix should realize that some viewers' attention may be distracted to the point of stopping watching the program" on the streaming platform.
This statistical data shows the importance of this application in the United States, where the number of its users exceeds 100 million, according to what he confirms.
However, the network's connection to ByteDance is of concern to many US lawmakers who fear that Beijing will use it to obtain confidential data or influence public opinion.
TikTok has been denying this for years, but the tension between the two countries and the recent dropping of a Chinese balloon believed to be intended for espionage have sparked calls to stand firm against China.
On Wednesday, a US House of Representatives committee voted in favor of a bill that would make it easier to ban TikTok in the House of Representatives.
On Monday, the White House ordered federal agencies to block TikTok from their employees' phones and devices within 30 days.