Tik Tok challenges Netflix in luring American adults

The TikTok network has competed with Netflix in terms of the time American adults spend watching it, after it previously overtook YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in this area, according to a study released Thursday at a time when the government and Congress intends to outright ban this popular application from a Chinese company. Insider Intelligence said that the platform owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, which previously attracted teenagers, has also become the subject of widespread interest from adults who are who have come to follow it, especially during the pandemic phase.

The report stated that “TikTok users aged between 25 and 54 – + millennials + and + generation X + – will spend (this year) more than 45 minutes a day following the application, far more than the time spent by users in the age category in following other social networks.

And TikTok advanced in 2021 in terms of time adults spend on each platform, on YouTube (Google), the behemoth of this industry.

Insider Intelligence predicted that TikTok users over the age of 18 will spend an average of more than 58 minutes a day watching the app in 2024, less than Netflix (62 minutes) and more than YouTube (48.7 minutes).

The study found that efforts by American social networks to compete with the short video clip service TikTok have not fully achieved the desired results.

YouTube shorts “didn’t get things moving”. As for the “Rails” clips from “Meta” (Facebook and Instagram), they have had some success, but the time users spend watching them reduces the time they spend on other services on the two networks, i.e. the main newsletter and “Stories”, which include more ads and therefore generate more revenue for the group.

The report also touched on the “second screen” phenomenon, noting that “Netflix viewers often follow TikTok while watching Netflix.” And he believed that “advertisers considering purchasing ads on Netflix should realize that some viewers’ attention may be distracted to the point of stopping watching” on the streaming platform.

These statistical data show the importance of this application in the United States, where the number of its users exceeds 100 million, according to what he confirms.

However, the network’s connection to ByteDance worries many US lawmakers who fear Beijing is using it to obtain confidential data or influence public opinion.

TikTok has denied this for years, but tension between the two countries and the recent launch of a Chinese balloon believed to be intended for espionage have prompted calls to stand firm against China.

On Wednesday, a committee in the US House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that would make it easier to ban TikTok in the House of Representatives.

On Monday, the White House ordered federal agencies to block TikTok from their employees’ phones and devices within 30 days.