TikTok App Challenges Facebook Owned Apps for Most Downloaded Title in 2019
- By Eazi Business
- •
- 03 Sep, 2019
Don’t be too upset if you feel like you’re not down with the kids anymore. But if you haven’t heard of TikTok before, it’s a short video creation app based around the use of filters, effects and music. It’s also one of the most downloaded apps of 2019 so far, amassing almost 200million downloads worldwide in Q1 of 2019 alone. If you count iOS downloads only, TikTok was the most download app for Apple users in Q1.
The app started challenging the top download spot towards the back end of 2018. TikTok is owned by ByteDance who also own the popular app Musical.ly. TikTok is named differently in China and appears as Douyin.
TikTok is the only app in the top 5 most downloaded apps of 2019 which is not owned by the Facebook corporation. Still just topping the charts is messenger app, WhatsApp closely followed by Facebook Messenger, TikTok, the Facebook app itself and then of course Instagram.
TikTok’s success is not entirely unexpected given that the app blends social media connections and viral style sharing with short video, already well regarded as the most engaging form on digital media. The battle for the highest in demand apps has always included an ongoing battle between the major messenger apps, social media platforms and YouTube. In fact, YouTube remains the second highest iOS download earner right behind TikTok for iOS downloads in Q1 this year. This all shows that Apple users are heavy video consumers – perhaps something to keep in mind if you’re planning your own app this year.
TikTok is the first app to challenge the download dominance of the main Facebook four in the most recent 18 months and is growing month on month too.
Netflix is a top downloaded newcomer and is edging its way into the top 20 with over 55 million mobile app downloads in the same quarter. It’s beat the like of Spotify and Snapchat who occupy the two rankings below.
Twitter, Uber and Amazon all still feature in the top 20 most downloaded apps but find themselves occupying the lower end of the table.
TikTok represents one of the first truly different app types to enter the marketplace and show such rapid success and worldwide uptake, rivalling the incredible growth and download acceleration that Instagram has enjoyed in recent years. It’s unlikely we’ll see this kind of surge again on a frequent basis, but it is again a demonstration that when it comes to digital success, access to unique and frequent content really is king.
