Is TikTok Here to Stay?

It’s no secret that video has become consumer's preferred form of digesting online content. Since its launch in late 2017, TikTok has gained immense popularity. The platform of short-form, user-generated content has become a staple of our online video consumption during the past 12 months. In March 2020 alone, over 745,000 people downloaded the app in the UK.

TikTok was soaring, that was until autumn last year when concerns over the security of the application were raised by numerous countries. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance was accused of giving the Chinese government access to user data, this led to the application being banned for a short time in India and the United States, until it was past-sold to American companies Oracle and Walmart.

This was initially incredibly damaging to the app, which lost almost 200 million global users overnight. But with the world forecast to emerge from various lockdowns and return to normal life, will TikTok stick around?

Coronavirus helped TikTok find its voice

When the UK was told to stay home, we searched for new ways to keep us entertained and connected – enter TikTok! The week before lockdown was announced, 278,000 UK users downloaded the app. For the week of 23rd March when lockdown was first enforced UK installations surged by 34% (Sensor Tower).

The reality of the global pandemic made TikTok the perfect app for being stuck at home, it was built for short user-generated videos, videos of pranks, dances and people messing around at home went viral.

TikTok has helped shape video trends for 2021

The start of lockdown in March 2020 became a pivotal moment for online video. Consumption was about to rocket due to the increased time people were spending on social media, and TikTok became a staple of online video.

Alongside the growing popularity of TikTok, it brought with it a new video trend – user-generated video. To win at video marketing in 2021, short-form, faced-paced and energetic videos are trends to focus on when planning your video content for this year.

The shelf life of TikTok

After experiencing rapid growth triggered by COVID-19, many video marketers predicted TikTok’s reign of online video to be only a phase. However, one year on the app is still growing, and other social media giants have launched additional TikTok-like features to their platforms.

When it comes to the user-generated, short-form video trends that we are seeing for 2021, TikTok is undoubtedly king. That was until Instagram launched an additional feature to their platform – reels.

Typically, Instagram is the platform for being out and about, sharing snaps from parties, walks and holidays – however when lockdown was imposed and we were all stuck at home, our insta-worthy content diminished! Reels is Instagram’s answer to the short-form video style that swept the internet during lockdown.

Similar to TikTok, Reels enables users to create 15 second videos with customisable music, text and special effects as well as a platform to host it on with Instagram’s over a billion monthly users. Since Reels can do everything that TikTok does on a bigger platform, could this be the end of TikTok?

Is TikTok here to stay?

We asked our Ideal Insight followers on Instagram whether they think TikTok will stick around – here’s the results:

• 64% of our followers use TikTok at least once a week.

• 31% of Ideal Insight followers used TikTok that day.

• 19% have made their own TikTok on the app, the remaining 81% use the platform to watch other people’s videos.

• 42% used TikTok less in March of 2021 compared with March 2020.

• 51% think TikTok is here to stay, with 49% predicting TikTok to become a dead platform.

After growing rapidly in March 2020, many video marketers predicted that the platform would fall out of favour. However, one year on, TikTok is still growing. Has TikTok had it’s time?

The world of video marketing is fast-paced, when it comes to winning with your video content you should align your content to the recent trends. This is where we come in – we are Ideal Insight, a team of creative videography experts. Do you have an idea for a video? We’ll do the rest, from strategy to production you will be assigned an account manager who will take care of your project.