Global TikTok Ad Revenues to Top $30 Billion

Advertising revenues on TikTok are projected to reach $32.4 billion this year, WARC says, as the social video site continues to take up a greater slice of consumers’ media time.

A potential U.S. ban on the ByteDance-owned video-sharing platform—the service was given a 75-day reprieve by President Donald Trump—is causing uncertainty among marketers and creators, WARC says. Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media and author of the report, noted: “On January 18, U.S. TikTok users were unable to access the video-sharing app for more than 12 hours due to regulation banning the app on the basis of national security concerns. A 75-day deadline extension to April 5 by President Donald Trump does little to dispel the uncertainty around TikTok as an ongoing staple in many brands’ marketing plans.”

TikTok would lose out on some $12 billion in ad revenues if the U.S. ban proceeds. If it can continue to operate in the U.S., its ad revenues will rise by almost 25 percent this year to $32.4 billion, putting its growth rate well ahead of Facebook (9.3 percent) and Instagram (19 percent) and giving it an 11 percent share of the global social media market. While the U.S. is TikTok’s biggest market, its share of ad revenues is expected to slip from 43.3 percent in 2022 to 34 percent by 2026.

TikTok is taking up an increasing share of users’ watch time. It is the fifth most-used mobile app globally and the second most popular app for women aged 16 to 24. There are 136 million active TikTok accounts in the U.S. Globally, the average user spends more than 35 hours on the app each month. In the U.S., it’s almost 44 hours per month on TikTok.