TikTok has exploded in popularity over the past few years, becoming one of the most used social media platforms globally. As of 2022, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide (source). In the US alone, over 125 million people use TikTok every month (source).
With such a massive audience, TikTok creators want to know who is viewing their content. TikTok provides some analytics for creators to see overall view counts. However, users don’t have an easy way to see exactly who has watched their videos. This article will explore the limited options creators have to estimate their TikTok viewers and why they may want this visibility.
Enabling View Counts
By default, TikTok has view counts disabled for user profiles and posts. This means other users can view your profile or posts without you being notified or able to see that data in analytics. To start tracking views, you first need to enable view counts in your TikTok account settings.
To enable view counts for your profile:
- Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Me” tab.
- Tap on the three-line menu in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings and privacy.”
- Tap on “Privacy.”
- Toggle on “Collect profile view history” to start tracking profile views.
To enable view counts for your posts:
- Go to your profile and tap on a video.
- Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner.
- Select “Privacy settings.”
- Toggle on “Collect video view history” to start tracking post views.
Once enabled, you’ll be able to see view counts for your TikTok profile and posts.
Seeing Viewers in TikTok Analytics
TikTok provides detailed analytics for each of your posts so you can see who exactly has viewed it. To access this, open the TikTok app and go to your profile page. Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “Creator Tools”, then choose “Analytics”.
This will bring you to your TikTok analytics dashboard. Here you can view data for your overall account, as well as drill down into metrics for each individual video post. Select a specific video to see analytics just for that post.
In the overview, you’ll see total views, likes, comments, shares, and more. Scroll down to view the demographics of who has watched your video including follower status, country, device, gender, age, and interest categories. This allows you to see the exact makeup of views for each post (TikTok Creator Portal).
Using the TikTok analytics dashboard, you have access to detailed data on who is viewing each of your video posts. Monitor this to better understand your audience and fine-tune your content strategy.
Using LIVE View Counts
LIKE view counts show the number of viewers watching your TikTok LIVE video in real time. This allows you to see exactly how many people are tuned in at any given moment during your broadcast.
Monitoring the LIVE view count can provide useful insights into your audience. You can see when the most people are watching to understand when your followers are most engaged. The view count may spike at certain times, like when you mention a giveaway or during a guest appearance.
Watching the view counts fluctuate can help you tailor your LIVE videos in real time. For example, you may repeat or expand on content that led to a surge in viewers. You can also monitor the chat to see how viewers are reacting and make adjustments to keep them tuned in.
By paying close attention to your LIVE view count, you can better optimize the timing, content, and length of your TikTok LIVE videos. This helps you maximize viewership and keep fans engaged from start to finish.
Estimating Views with Likes
There is a correlation between the number of likes a TikTok post receives and the number of views it gets. While the ratio varies, in general more popular posts tend to have a higher like to view ratio. According to BeProfit, an average like to view ratio on TikTok is around 4% or 4 likes per 100 views. This means that typically, for every 100 views a post gets, it will receive around 4 likes.
You can use this average ratio to estimate the number of views your post received based on the like count. The formula is:
Estimated Views = Likes ÷ 0.04
So for example, if your post received 40 likes, you could estimate it got around 1,000 views (40 ÷ 0.04 = 1,000). This can provide a rough sense of viewership and is one metric to help gauge how well your content is performing.
Third-Party Analytics Tools
While TikTok provides some basic analytics within the app, many users turn to third-party tools for more advanced analytics and insight. These tools can provide valuable data on views, followers, engagement, competitors, and more. However, they come with some limitations.
Tools like Keyhole, Socialinsider, and Analisa allow you to track real-time data on views, likes, comments, followers, demographics, popular content, and more. Most offer free plans with limited functionality and paid subscriptions for advanced features. While extremely useful, third-party tools only provide estimates based on available data, not official numbers from TikTok.
These tools excel at tracking performance over time, benchmarking against competitors, identifying viral content, optimizing hashtags, and analyzing audience demographics. However, they cannot access private metrics only visible to profile owners within TikTok’s internal analytics.
In summary, third-party analytics tools provide valuable insights, but have blindspots regarding private data. They complement, but do not replace, TikTok’s native analytics.
Insight from Comments
Comments on your TikTok posts can provide valuable insight into who viewed and engaged with your content. When a user leaves a comment, their profile photo and username are displayed. This gives you a sense of your audience demographics like age, gender, and interests.
There are several ways to encourage more comments and interaction on your TikTok posts:
- Ask open-ended questions related to your content – this invites viewers to share their thoughts.
- Respond to comments and have conversations – this shows you value viewer engagement.
- Ask viewers questions about themselves or their opinions.
- Run contests and giveaways for commenters.
- Ask explicitly for feedback, reactions, suggestions, or critiques.
The more comments your posts generate, the better sense you’ll have of who is watching your content on TikTok. Comments allow you to identify your most engaged followers and understand what resonates with them.
Using View Counts Strategically
Once you start getting view data on your TikTok posts, you can use that information strategically to optimize your content and grow your audience. Here are some tips:
Pay attention to which types of videos get the most views. This could be based on sounds, effects, topics, etc. Then create more content in those popular categories so you can continue engaging that audience. As this article mentions, you may notice certain topics or trends do particularly well for your niche.
Look at peak viewing times and consider the best times to post new videos. Your strongest viewership might be in the evenings or on weekends, for example. Posting during your followers’ most active hours can help get more eyes on your content.
Review the completion rate on longer videos to see if you’re keeping audience attention. If view drop off spikes halfway through, aim for shorter, snappier videos in the future.
Consider collaborating with creators who have an overlapping audience for an added exposure boost. Viewers intrigued by their content may discover you in the process.
Engage commenters and encourage viewers to follow you for more. Building relationships with your audience makes it more likely they’ll actively watch new videos you release.
Analyze which videos quickly gain traction. Replicate the successful formulas like visuals, effects, captions, etc. in future videos.
Privacy Considerations
While view counts can provide helpful insights, it’s important to keep viewer privacy in mind. TikTok has received scrutiny over data privacy and security concerns. According to Time, TikTok has a history of privacy issues, including employees improperly accessing user data. And a PBS article notes that TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company raises unique data concerns.
When looking at view counts, remember that individual viewers may have their profile set to private. You can only see aggregated data, not profiles of who watched your video unless they engage with your content. It’s best to avoid making assumptions about individual viewers. Also consider the ethics of tracking views at all. While metrics can be helpful, focus on creating quality content vs optimizing just for views. Respect viewer privacy and data collection concerns.
Conclusion
In summary, there are a few different ways to estimate who has viewed your TikTok posts. The TikTok app itself does not have an exact view count, but the analytics provide some insight into top viewers. Going live also shows real-time viewers. Likes give a general sense of views, and third-party analytics tools can provide estimates. Comments sometimes reveal viewers as well.
While helpful to understand your audience, view counts should not be the sole focus. Engaging content that resonates with viewers is more important for building a following than big view numbers alone. Focus on creating captivating videos that people want to watch, share and interact with. Satisfying your audience should be the priority.
