TikTok overtakes YouTube in terms of average watch time in US and UK

According to a new report, TikTok users now spend more time each month watching content than YouTube users.

According to app analytics firm App Annie, in the US, TikTok first overtook YouTube in August last year and as of June 2021, its users watched over 24 hours of content per month, compared with 22 hours and 40 minutes on YouTube.

In the UK the difference is even starker as TikTok overtook YouTube in May last year and users there now reportedly watch almost 26 hours of content a month, compared to less than 16 on YouTube, reports The Verge.

The figures only include viewership on Android phones, however, so may not be representative of mobile users as a whole, the report said.

But caveats aside, they show the extent of TikTok’s meteoric rise over just a few short years, and are even more impressive given the three-minute maximum of most of its videos, compared to the 10-minute format preferred by many YouTube’s, it added.

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Not to mention the fact that for much of 2020, TikTok faced continued threats that it would be banned in the US amidst chaotic negotiations.

YouTube is still ahead in time spent overall, no doubt because of its two billion users compared to TikTok’s roughly 700 million, BBC News notes.

Again, excluding iOS users and users of the app renamed Douyin in China, YouTube is still number one in terms of time spent on Android phones among “Social and Entertainment Apps” as of the first half of this year, with TikTok in at number five behind three Facebook apps — Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

Users also spend more money on YouTube than TikTok across both iOS and Android worldwide (excluding Android users in China), according to App Annie’s data.

Last year, the Indian government said it was banning 59 apps developed by Chinese firms, including ByteDance’s TikTok over concerns that these apps were engaging in activities that threatened national security.