TikTok beats YouTube in average watch time in the US and UK, according to a new report

TikTok has been growing in popularity in recent years with its short-video format, and now, a new report shows it has surpassed its rival YouTube in a key metric: average watch time in the US and UK, reports The BBC.

It seems users are spending more time on TikTok than on YouTube

The report comes from app monitoring firm App Annie, and it indicates that the average time per user spend on TikTok is higher than on YouTube, which indicates there is a high level of engagement. The firm has stated TikTok has "upended the streaming and social landscape".

Despite that, YouTube still holds the top spot for overall time spent, but not per user, but on average, which is quite understandable given the fact YouTube has more users overall. According to estimations from YouTube, it has two billion monthly users, while TikTok's most recent numbers suggested it had about 700 million towards the middle of 2020.


The report shows that in the UK, TikTok surpassed YouTube back in June 2020 for the "time spent" metric, and has since maintained its lead. On the other hand, in the US, TikTok and YouTube have traded places several times last year, and finally, TikTok emerged on top in April 2021. On top of that, other metrics, taken into account in App Annie's report, further suggest that TikTok has growing importance as a video platform.

Live streaming platforms fuel surge in money paid to creators

Another important aspect the report notes is that apps that come with a live-streaming feature, including TikTok, are making users spend more money on creators. The report indicates that apps, bragging with a main feature of live-streaming have accounted for three-quarters of money spent in the top 25 social apps for the first half of this year.

For example, the popular gaming website Twitch lets viewers purchase "Bits", a form of virtual currency, which they can use to "cheer" streamers on the platform during a live stream. Additionally, viewers can also purchase a subscription to the creator's channel, where they can get subscriber-only benefits and content.

TikTok also lets viewers tip creators with "coins", which is in a way similar to Twitch's "bits", and YouTube also has similar tipping solutions for its live streams.

Livestreaming allows the engagement for these social apps to grow, and therefore sets users up for more spending, adds App Annie. Additionally, the report has highlighted another winner in the past year, and it is Snapchat, which saw its downloads outside the US grow by nearly 30% since the previous year and by 45% from two years ago.

TikTok's popularity and feature set is growing

TikTok has been updating its social media platform with features recently, and the most recent one we reported on was a possible longer video limit for uploaded videos. According to social media consultant Matt Navara, the company is currently working on adding a 5-minute duration for videos, and 10-minute videos could also be possible soon, according to him.

All this leads us to believe TikTok is aiming high and trying to beat its competitor YouTube. Recently, it also became the world's most downloaded app.