Trends, popularity and usage of TikTok in 2026

Background: why discovery matters

A TikTok video can reach someone who has never heard of its creator. That makes the app useful for introducing an account, a skill or a product to new people. It also means each video needs to make sense to a viewer arriving without any background.

The For You recommendation system is central to this. TikTok says it considers user interactions, content information and user information. For most users, interactions such as watching or skipping a video generally carry more weight than other factors.

How the platform got here

In August 2018, musical.ly and TikTok came together, bringing existing accounts, videos and followers into a shared app. Music and easy video creation were already part of the experience.

By September 2021, TikTok reported more than one billion people using the app each month. Since then, search and in-app shopping have given creators more ways to help viewers do something after watching.

The download milestones behind TikTok’s early growth

• Q1 2020: Sensor Tower estimated more than 315 million installs, a record quarter at the time.
• July 2021: Sensor Tower reported that cumulative installs had passed three billion.

The estimates cover the App Store and Google Play, include Douyin on iOS and exclude third-party Android stores. Downloads count installations, so they don’t tell us how many different people use TikTok. Source: Sensor Tower.

For your own account, start with the viewer’s situation. Someone learning a recipe needs to see the step that is easy to get wrong. Someone comparing a product needs to see it in use. The platform’s size gives you context; the video still has to answer that person’s question.

2025: a broader audience and more shopping

Two company announcements add context to the survey findings: TikTok reported a larger European monthly audience and higher US Shop sales.

Europe passes 200 million monthly users

In September 2025, TikTok reported more than 200 million monthly users in Europe, up from 175 million a year earlier. The measure covers 32 countries: the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. TikTok’s European update gives the regional scope.

US Shop sales rise

On 13 June 2025, TikTok reported US Shop sales 120% higher than in the same period of 2024. This was a company-reported year-to-date comparison. It describes marketplace sales, with no breakdown of how the growth was distributed among sellers. Read the sales update.

If you sell through TikTok, look beyond the video’s views. Check whether people visit the product page, place an order and keep the item. Those steps tell you where interest turns into a useful business result.

2026: a large audience, with more ways to reach it

DataReportal reports 2.21 billion potential adult advertising reach in April 2026. In the same report, Similarweb estimates that active app use fell roughly 10% between September 2025 and February 2026, while GWI’s adoption data stayed broadly stable over two years. The report compares these measures and explains why they can tell different stories.

Get to know the people watching your videos. Your analytics and comments can help you choose what to make next. The audience definitions in our statistics reference explain what each headline number counts.

Three changes worth knowing about

• More European Shop markets. Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland joined from 15 June 2026, alongside France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK. The announcement reported more than 100,000 businesses across the five existing EU markets. Check the rollout details.
• A new US joint venture. TikTok announced USDS Joint Venture LLC on 23 January 2026, with responsibilities for US data protection, algorithm security and content moderation. Read the announcement.
• More AI tools for advertisers. TikTok announced another set of updates on 6 October 2026. The new tools give advertisers more options to try in their campaigns. See the product update.

For a seller, Shop availability determines where an in-app purchase is possible. If you advertise, try a new tool in a small campaign and see whether it helps bring the clicks, enquiries or sales you’re looking for.

Choose a market that fits your business

TikTok’s audience is spread across many countries. DataReportal’s Digital 2026 country reports show large potential adult advertising audiences in Indonesia, the US and Brazil. These observations were collected in late 2025.

Selected markets: potential advertising reach, ages 18+

Market	Potential reach
Indonesia	180 million
United States	153 million
Brazil	131 million

Source: the linked DataReportal reports, using TikTok’s advertising resources. These are selected markets and advertising estimates, with their own reporting dates.

Research the people you want to reach. When planning content for a market, think about:

• Language: can the intended viewer follow your explanation?
• Relevance: does the example fit their interests and circumstances?
• Availability: if you sell something, can they buy it and receive it?

Use our country comparison tool to find the markets you’d like to explore and compare their audience estimates.

Your audience may be older than you expect

Young adults had the highest adoption in Pew’s 2025 US survey, but the app also reached substantial shares of older groups:

• Ages 18–29: 63% said they used TikTok.
• Ages 30–49: 44%.
• Ages 50–64: 30%.
• Ages 65 and over: 12%.

Pew’s March 2026 review summarises the 2025 findings. Across all US adults, adoption rose from 33% in 2023 and 2024 to 37% in 2025.

US adult use: 2023 to 2025

Share who say they ever use TikTok

2023

33%

2024

33%

2025

37%

0%50%100%

In a separate February–March 2025 survey, 24% of US adults said they used TikTok daily. The app can be a regular destination as well as somewhere people visit occasionally. Pew’s frequency findings distinguish those habits.

Build the video around a person’s needs. A first-apartment recipe and a family-meal tutorial may need different examples, even when they teach the same dish. Research and understand your audience: look at your TikTok analytics, read the comments and listen to the questions customers ask. Use what you learn to choose examples they’ll recognise.

TikTok also sits alongside other platforms. Pew’s 2025 survey found YouTube use among 84% of US adults, Facebook among 71% and Instagram among 50%. People could use several, so the percentages overlap. See the platform comparison.

Give people a reason to watch and trust you

A video can entertain, explain something or help someone make a decision. Research on news and music, together with TikTok’s learning features, shows how varied the context around a video can be.

News needs a date and a source

The share of US adults regularly getting news on TikTok rose from 14% in 2023 to 17% in 2024 and 20% in 2025, according to Pew’s survey tables.

Pew’s January 2025 analysis found that fewer than 1% of accounts followed by US adults belonged to journalists or news outlets. News could arrive through creators who also posted entertainment or humour. Read how news reaches viewers.

If you discuss a developing story, show the date and link the original reporting. Give someone who encounters the clip later a way to check whether it is still current.

See how regular news use changed from 2023 to 2025

Regularly getting news on TikTok

Share of all US adults, by survey year

2023

14%

2024

17%

2025

20%

0%50%100%

A popular sound still needs a suitable video

A Luminate report commissioned by TikTok, published in February 2025 using 2024 data, found that 84% of songs entering the Billboard Global 200 first had a period of high engagement on TikTok. The finding shows how closely music discovery on TikTok and chart activity can be connected.

For your own video, choose a sound that fits the demonstration or mood. Use the beat to support the pacing and leave room for your message to come through.

A useful lesson gives viewers somewhere to continue

TikTok began a European STEM-feed rollout in the UK and Ireland in April 2024, with videos reviewed by two independent organisations. Its launch announcement explains how the educational feed works.

Teach the key step, then give viewers somewhere to go next. Show the part of the skill they need to see, then link to a full tutorial, guide or the evidence behind your explanation. An interested viewer can keep learning after the short video.

Make the video someone would search for

Adobe’s 2026 study found that 49% of surveyed US consumers had used TikTok as a search engine, compared with 41% in its 2024 survey. That is an eight-percentage-point difference between separate samples. Read Adobe’s search research.

Searching on TikTok

US consumers surveyed who used TikTok for search

2024

41%

2026

49%

0%50%100%

Only 4% of Gen Z respondents in that study said they were more likely to rely on TikTok than Google. A person can use TikTok for a demonstration and another service for a different question.

A simple brief for your next tutorial or demonstration

1. Start with a real question. Look at your comments or the questions customers ask before buying.
2. Name the subject early. Use plain words in the opening and caption so a viewer can recognise the answer they need.
3. Show the important detail. For a product, that might be its size, how it fits or what it looks like in use.
4. Notice what people still ask. Use those questions to improve the explanation or make a follow-up.

Try this brief with a question your viewers already ask. You can explore the research behind it in our search and usage tables.

Give your next video a clear job

More videos are being published, while each video gets fewer views on average. In Metricool’s May 2026 study, the number of videos rose 72.1% and average views per video fell 31.3% between January–February 2025 and the same months in 2026. For creators and businesses, that means more competition for attention. Posting more alone may not be enough to stand out.

Try an idea, measure it, then decide whether to repeat it. Pick one idea to test, such as a product demonstration or a how-to. Choose what you want it to achieve, then compare it with similar videos on your account.

What Metricool measured

The study analysed 2,314,756 posts from more than 92,000 accounts worldwide. Average reach fell 28.73% and interactions fell 31.17%. The For You feed accounted for 72.7% of video views.

The averages cover the accounts and posts in this study. Use them as context, then compare your own recent videos to see which topics and openings work best. Search and the For You feed give viewers different ways to find you.

Choose what to measure before you post

Match the measure to the video’s purpose

What you want the video to do	What to check
Introduce your account	Reach and viewing behaviour
Help someone learn	Saves and useful follow-up questions
Generate interest in a product	Product clicks and enquiries
Support a sale	Completed orders, returns and production costs

Try a different opening on your next video. Compare it with recent posts on a similar topic, giving each the same time to find viewers—for example, seven days. That makes it easier to see what helped.

Our creator and brand benchmarks provide context for the studied accounts. Use the engagement calculator to understand a rate’s formula, and the baseline worksheet to record your own results.

If you run promotions or use paid services, record when they started alongside your content changes. Add a note beside the video’s results so you can remember what changed. Track follower growth alongside views, comments and clicks to see how your account and videos are doing.

A look back at early brand research

InVideo’s brand report, dated 6 May 2021, examined 317 brands and nearly 650 videos. Its title now says “2026”; these findings are historical.

• Brand presence: nearly half of the brands studied had no TikTok account or had not posted.
• Industry performance: Tech & IT brands averaged more than 2.3 million views per post, followed by Food & Beverages, Gaming and Media.
• Music: almost 80% of the videos studied contained music; 62% used upbeat music.

The analysis focused on each brand’s five most-viewed videos. These were selected successful posts, so their results don’t describe the average creator.

How we checked the research

We reviewed published studies and TikTok announcements in October 2026, checking the date, population and definition behind each figure. We bring the findings together here and link to the original work beside each figure.

Read the methodology and measurement definitions

Which evidence we use

• Population surveys. Pew’s adoption series used web and mail in 2023, then added phone responses in 2024–2025. Its news series used online responses in 2023 and added phone interviews in 2024–2025; fieldwork ran in September–October 2023, July–August 2024 and August 2025. Pew’s 2025 adoption study surveyed 5,022 US adults between 5 February and 18 June, using web, mail and phone responses with population weighting. Its separate news study surveyed 5,153 adults on 18–24 August. Both surveys describe US adults. See the adoption methodology and news study.
• Advertising estimates. DataReportal compiles figures from TikTok’s ad-planning resources. They help describe potential advertising audiences, but coverage and reporting methods change. We preserve each snapshot’s date and flag the 2024 change in country coverage.
• Consumer and creator studies. Adobe’s search findings describe separate samples of US consumers; its 2026 consumer sample included 807 people. Metricool’s results describe the accounts and posts in its study. Each result keeps its sample and reporting period alongside it.
• Platform announcements and commissioned research. TikTok is the primary source for product launches and its own sales disclosures. We identify company-reported figures and commissioned studies, including Luminate’s music report, so readers can judge them in context.
• Historical brand research. InVideo analysed brands and their most-viewed videos. The original article described this as a Celebian survey of creators; the attribution and sample description are corrected here.

What the measurements mean

Monthly use and survey adoption

A monthly activity measure and an answer to “do you ever use TikTok?” describe different levels of participation. We keep them separate.

Advertising reach and video views

Potential ad reach is an estimate for planning campaigns. Video views count plays, not necessarily distinct people. Use the measure that fits the question you want to answer.

Downloads and sales

Installations can include returning users or additional devices. Shop sales describe purchases through the marketplace, not TikTok’s own revenue or a creator’s profit.

For year-to-year comparisons, we retain the original population, question and reporting period wherever possible. We identify methodology changes, avoid calculating growth from incompatible snapshots, and distinguish publication years from measurement years. Several “Digital 2026” country reports use late-2025 data.

Figures are rounded as in their sources. Charts use labelled scales and show reported observations only. The 2027 section shares our ideas about what could come next. Forecasts keep their original dates and labels.