TikTok beating YouTube if you dismiss 60% of users

If we're looking at monthly average time per user, and we're watching the USA and UK first, TikTok just surpassed YouTube. Video viewing time changed the way social media was handled, and while YouTube was (and remains) the defacto go-to name for video online, TikTok's meteoric rise reached YouTube levels for the first time over the past half-year. The year 2020 contributed to the most giant growth in use of social apps in recent recorded history – not least of all because users wanted to watch videos while sitting at home.

According to an Infogram showing data collected by App Annie, hours spent in social and communications apps were up significantly in the first half of the year 2020, then equally high in the second half. A small but significant drop in hours recorded on social and communications apps was shown in the first half of 2021. This might be attributable to people attempting to go outside and play after spending an entire year quarantined from friends and family.

The same study showed major growth in hours spent in the top 5 social apps by users worldwide (outside of China). Between 2018 and 2019, Live Streaming surpassed the Photo & Video category of social apps, and both categories have stayed well ahead of chat apps for the past several years. While Chat and Photo & Video apps seem to have seen slowing growth between 2020 and the first half of 2021, Live Streaming apps continue to grow in popularity by leaps and bounds.

Unfortunate for us, reading App Annie reports do not include Android usage hours in China for TikTok or YouTube. The company's report DOES include a "Tom Markets by Hours Spent in Social Apps" chart that makes the comparisons of TikTok and YouTube in the USA and UK seem insignificant.

If the most massive amount of social app hours are spent by China, India, and Brazil, it becomes difficult to really place any worldwide significance on charts showing use of TikTok or YouTube in any other country. So if you ONLY look at the USA or UK, TikTok is making serious moves. Elsewhere, the gains are still significant, but not nearly so pronounced.