TikTok's Popularity in the US Shows No Sign of Fading: "Will Surpass Facebook in 2 Years"

TikTok Usage Time to Surpass Facebook in 2025
Rapid Growth in the US Since 2019... Already Ahead of Instagram

The video platform 'TikTok,' which gained global popularity through short videos, also known as 'shorts,' is expected to soon become the largest social networking service (SNS) in the United States based on usage time.

According to the U.S. economic media outlet 'Business Insider' on the 28th (local time), the U.S. market research firm Insider Intelligence recently published a report forecasting that "TikTok will become the largest SNS platform in the U.S. by 2025." Currently, Facebook is the number one SNS platform in the U.S.

The report estimated that in 2025, the total daily TikTok usage time among U.S. adults aged 18 and over will reach 5.19 billion minutes, slightly surpassing Facebook's 5.023 billion minutes.

TikTok has experienced rapid growth in the U.S. In 2019, TikTok users in the U.S. spent 684 million minutes on the platform, which was only one-eighth of Facebook's 5.314 billion minutes and less than one-third of Instagram's 2.494 billion minutes.

Short-form video platform 'TikTok'
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

However, TikTok grew to 3.997 billion minutes last year, increasing its usage time more than fivefold in three years. It also surpassed Instagram, which had 3.545 billion minutes.

This year, TikTok's usage time reached 4.428 billion minutes, narrowing the gap with Facebook's 5.209 billion minutes. The report predicts that if TikTok maintains its current growth rate, it will easily surpass Facebook within two years.

In contrast to TikTok's growth, Facebook's usage time peaked at 5.82 billion minutes in 2020 and has been gradually declining since. This decline is presumed to be due to some users migrating to Instagram.

TikTok is a service operated by the Chinese IT company ByteDance. Western governments, including those of the U.S. and the European Union (EU), have previously expressed multiple concerns about TikTok.

In March, the U.S. Senate bipartisanly introduced the 'Information and Communications Technology Risk Management Act,' which would allow the forced removal of services that pose a threat to U.S. security. This bill is widely viewed as targeting Chinese online services, including TikTok.

Meanwhile, the report stated that in terms of advertising revenue, U.S. SNS platforms still hold an advantage over TikTok. The report explained, "This year, the expected hourly advertising revenue per adult user in the U.S. is six times higher on Instagram than on TikTok," attributing this to Instagram's integration with Meta's product suite, including Facebook and WhatsApp, which makes it more preferred by advertisers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.