TikTok surpassed Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat & YouTube in downloads last month – TechCrunch
What happened: ByteDance’s short video app TikTok (known as Douyin in China) has for the first time surpassed Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat in monthly installs in the US. The app made up 29.7% of this cohort of apps in September. It has since continued to increase its market share, soaring to reach 42% of downloads among the apps on October 30. The app has seen its installs increase by 237% year-on-year. However, its engagement time still lags behind its competitors.
Why it’s important: ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of teen-focused short video platform Musical.ly is paying off. It has since merged Musical.ly and TikTok into one app, bring the entirety of Musical.ly’s user base onto Tik Tok. International expansion has been a priority for the company for some time. Earlier this year, ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming said the company plans to have more than half of its users coming from international markets. Since then, the company has reportedly closed a $3 billion round of funding led by SoftBank, valuing it at $75 billion.