Countries with the most TikTok users 2023

As of January 2023, the United States was the country with the largest TikTok audience by far, with approximately 113 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. Indonesia followed, with around 110 million TikTok users. Brazil came in third, with almost 82 million users on TikTok watching short-videos.

From Reels to Shorts: social short video takes the internet

Between 2021 and 2022 some of the most popular social media platforms have been adding short-video features on the heels of TikTok’s popularity. YouTube Shorts, which rolled out to the global market in June 2021, reached 1.5 billion monthly active logged-in users one year after its launch. In comparison, Instagram’s short-video format Reels, which launched in August 2020, presented a higher view rate than regular videos on the platform between June 2021 and June 2022, as well as a higher likes rate than other content types on Instagram.

TikTok business model

TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, along with the short-video app Douyin (TikTok’s version for the Chinese market), video platform Xigua, and popular news app Toutiao. While the products intended for domestic market consumption operate in the Chinese digital ecosystem and have a plurality of established monetization methods such as a live-shopping events hosted by famous influencers, TikTok’s main revenue stream comes from online advertising. In 2022, TikTok was estimated to have generated around four billion U.S. dollars worldwide via online advertising.