Amid reports that TikTok’s growth has slowed significantly, which has seen the app resort to cash incentives to get more creators across, the latest EU usage numbers for the app show that it’s still gaining more users, at a steady rate.
As per the requirements of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), all large online platforms need to share their European active user counts every six months, providing oversight into their ongoing reach. And last week, TikTok shared its latest update on the average amount of monthly actives that it saw between February and July this year.
According to TikTok, it served 150 million EU monthly active recipients in the period.
That’s up from the 134 million it reported in August last year, and the 142 million that it reported in February, with the app growing in EU at a stable pace.
I mean, it’s not seeing a meteoric rise anymore. But with other large platforms plateauing in Europe (including Snapchat, Facebook and X, which has actually seen a decrease in EU actives), an extra 8 million more users per report is relatively good, in isolation from other regional stats.
Though it’s exactly 8 million additional users, for three consecutive reports. Which is a little odd.
Europe has become a bigger focus for TikTok in recent months, due to the lingering sell-off bill in the U.S. TikTok’s challenging the bill in court, but if it is enacted, that’ll see TikTok either sold to a U.S. company, or banned in America from early next year.
TikTok’s Chinese ownership remains opposed to a sell-off, so a ban, at this stage at least, seems likely, though TikTok may still be able to delay the bill, and buy more time to negotiate.
But with that in play, that also means that TikTok’s set to lose around 170 million U.S. users. Which is why Europe is now a more critical consideration, and TikTok’s been looking to initiate new programs in the EU region, including a bigger in-stream shopping push, and more incentives for creators in the app.
TikTok reportedly has a billion total active users around the world, though its usage splits are different to other apps.
Right now, TikTok’s main usage markets are:
- 170 million users in the U.S.
- 150 million users in Europe
- 130 million users in Indonesia
- 100 million users in Brazil
- 77 million in Mexico
- 70 million in Vietnam
These six regions make up more than half of TikTok’s global audience, and are the key opportunities for the app.
It’s worth noting too that TikTok is still banned in India, where many other social apps are seeing big growth.
As you can imagine, based on this, TikTok is set to lose a lot if it chooses to oppose the U.S. sell-off, which is why it’s now looking to shift its attention to other markets, in order to soften the blow where it can.
But no matter what it does, losing the U.S. will be a major blow for the company.
That doesn’t mean that TikTok will collapse, but it will be a much different proposition, which will change the entire approach of the app.
Which is why it’s good news for the app that it’s still growing in EU, and you can expect TikTok to make a bigger push on EU usage in the coming months.
