Since its initial debut in Sept. 2016, ByteDance's TikTok has captured the hearts and minds of the youth across the globe through simple short videos, wherein insights, hilarity, music, and imagination can all coalesce in a mere 60 seconds. Still, while TikTok has slowly evolved into the new age media consumption hub, it's still lagging behind in some areas, most prominent among them being teen watch time in the United States.
According to a report published by Pew Research Center, a whopping 95% of teens in the US utilize YouTube versus 67% of whom watch TikTok content. This staggering number paints a brilliant picture of the newfound landscape in social media. It's important to note that YouTube hosts a wide array of varied types of content, whereas TikTok solely leverages short-form content. The research focuses on US teens aged between 13 and 17, with other social media apps, like Snapchat and Instagram, rated only slightly below TikTok with 59% and 62%, respectively.
The poll even disclosed specific watch time parameters, as 19% of teens relayed watching YouTube "almost constantly," while 41% said they use it "several times a day." As to whether or not their time is being used accordingly, pollees responded rather positively, with 55% saying they spend the right amount of time on social media and 36% considering they spend too much time across varied applications and sites.
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It's clear by Pew's research that both Twitter and Facebook have dramatically lost their value in the minds of US teens, as those that responded to the poll used these apps the least. In regards to Facebook, a mere 32% of respondents said they use the social media site, a dramatic fall from 2015's 71%. Twitter was used only by 23% of pollees, proving that even Elon Musk's buyout attempt did little to sway outward usage in the young masses.
But YouTube's dominance seemingly doesn't extend across the pond, as reporting out of Financial Times proves that TikTok is the most valuable app for young adults in the UK. The story focuses on Ofcom's annual consumption trends survey, wherein presented data shows that the majority of 16 to 24-year-olds consume only an average of 53 minutes of broadcast television a day, due in large part to other more readily available content streams (ie TikTok).
Ipsos, a polling company, was enlisted by Ofcom to perform a study that estimated the average time spent daily on the social media site TikTok. The firm's calculation came back with a total of 57 minutes for those aged between 15 to 24. Although it's not by much, the four minutes of time on TikTok over the traditional broadcast TV still proves that social media is the clear outlier when it comes to content consumption. The report out of Ofcom also highlights that "Less than half of 16 to 24-year-olds watched at least 15 minutes a week of programming," meaning that traditional television has lost its presence for the younger generation.
While it may not be the ideal place for young adults to acquire certain insight and knowledge, TikTok has shown that it can draw in and keep its users occupied through a sophisticated algorithm. Despite its shady dealings in user data collation, ByteDance's social media application will assuredly remain at the forefront of young adults' watch time.
