TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It launched in 2016 but exploded in popularity in 2018 and has become one of the most downloaded apps in the world. The purpose of this article is to provide a history of how TikTok became popular, starting from its launch to its rise as the number one app today.
TikTok’s Launch
TikTok originated from the Chinese video-sharing app Douyin, which was launched by the Beijing-based internet technology company ByteDance in September 2016. At the time of its initial release, the app was named A.me. However, in December 2016, just a few months after launch, the app was rebranded as Douyin (抖音) to better resonate with Chinese consumers.
Douyin gained rapid popularity in China due to its fun features like short videos, special effects, and personalized feeds driven by advanced AI algorithms. Within a year of launch, Douyin had amassed over 100 million users and 1 billion video views each day in China alone. The app’s success was an early indicator of the hyper-growth that was to come for TikTok worldwide.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok)
TikTok’s International Expansion
TikTok first launched outside of China in August 2017 under the name Douyin, initially focusing its international growth in countries like Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and the United States (TikTok Statistics You Need to Know in 2024). The app was then rebranded as TikTok the following month when it merged with musical.ly, an existing short-form video app with an international presence (The TikTok Strategy: Using AI Platforms to Take Over the World).
This international expansion allowed TikTok to quickly gain traction across new markets. By December 2018, just over a year after launch, TikTok hit 271 million monthly active users globally – a nearly 400% increase from the previous year (TikTok Statistics You Need to Know in 2024). Much of this early growth came from India and other parts of Asia, establishing TikTok’s popularity outside of China.
Key TikTok Market Growth
TikTok saw massive growth in key markets across the globe, especially in the United States. According to SensorTower, TikTok hit 2 billion downloads globally by August 2020, with 611 million downloads from the US App Store and Google Play. This accounted for 30.3% of TikTok’s total installs at the time. The US was TikTok’s largest market, followed by India at 177.6 million installs (8.8%) and Brazil at 98.8 million (4.9%).
Other major markets like Japan and the United Kingdom also contributed significant download figures. Japan hit 49.4 million downloads by August 2020, making up 2.5% of TikTok’s global total. Downloads in the UK reached 32.5 million, accounting for 1.6% of worldwide installs. TikTok’s exponential growth in these key Western markets was a major factor in its rising popularity and cultural impact.
Cultural Impact
2018 was a pivotal year for TikTok as it started to gain major traction and have a widespread cultural impact, especially among teenagers and young adults. Some of the biggest TikTok trends that year included viral challenges like the In My Feelings challenge, where users danced along to Drake’s song of the same name, often getting out of moving cars to show off their moves 1. Other popular challenges included the Mannequin challenge and the Kiki challenge. These challenges spread like wildfire on TikTok, amassing millions of videos from users around the world trying to put their own spin on the trend.
Beyond just challenges, TikTok memes and sounds also started emerging as pillars of Gen Z internet culture in 2018. Songs like “Mia Khalifa” by iLoveFriday became meme songs on TikTok, with users creating videos showcasing their reactions. TikTok sounds and audios took on a life of their own as they were used creatively in videos. Cultural commentators noted how TikTok was creating a new “attention economy” where sounds, challenges and memes could suddenly explode, capturing the obsession of millions of users seemingly overnight 2. This highlighted TikTok’s growing impact as a platform for setting pop culture trends.
By the end of 2018, TikTok had clearly emerged as a rising cultural force, widely used by young people across the world. It was just beginning to reveal its potential to birth viral sensations that could dominate the digital landscape.
Major Partnerships
In 2018, TikTok formed several major partnerships that helped boost its popularity. In November 2018, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance announced a global partnership with the NBA to deliver customized mobile-friendly content powered by artificial intelligence (ByteDance and NBA Announce Global Partnership to Deliver Customized Mobile-Friendly Content Powered by Artificial Intelligence). This partnership brought customized NBA content to TikTok globally, helping expand the app’s reach.
Earlier in 2018, TikTok also partnered with brands like Google, Nike, and Samsung for various promotions. These major partnerships helped boost TikTok’s visibility and introduced the app to new audiences.
1 Billion Downloads Milestone
In February 2019, TikTok hit a major milestone by surpassing 1 billion downloads globally across both iOS and Android devices. This achievement was reported by USA Today and other media outlets. Reaching 1 billion downloads positioned TikTok as a leading social media platform and a serious competitor to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
TikTok’s rapid rise to 1 billion downloads occurred within just a few short years after its international launch. The app had quickly become a global phenomenon with a massive Gen Z userbase across over 150 countries. Much of this early growth came from Asia, especially China and India where TikTok originated. However, TikTok saw surging downloads in 2018 and early 2019 from Western markets like the United States as well.
A key part of what propelled TikTok to the 1 billion milestone was its addictive short-form video format. The app made creating and sharing 15 to 60 second videos incredibly easy and fun. Its algorithm was also exceptionally good at keeping users engaged by recommending personalized content. These factors helped TikTok stand out from other platforms and attracted an incredibly diverse, fast-growing userbase.
Overall, crossing 1 billion downloads firmly established TikTok as one of the most popular apps in the world. It signaled the app’s future potential and paved the way for even more growth in the years that followed.
Continued Growth Into 2019
TikTok’s incredible growth trajectory continued steadily through 2019. According to Backlinko, TikTok had 167 million monthly active users by Q3 2019, up from 151 million in Q2. By Q4 2019, TikTok hit 192 million MAUs globally.
TikTok provided more detailed user numbers for the first time in August 2020, stating they had over 26 million US MAUs by February 2019. This demonstrated the app’s rapid expansion in Western markets beyond its initial success in Asia.
By mid-2019, TikTok officially surpassed 1 billion total downloads worldwide on iOS and Android devices. Downloads were concentrated among younger demographics, with 43% coming from users ages 16-24 according to Sensor Tower.
The TikTok Hype
TikTok saw a major surge in popularity around the world in late 2019, leading many to declare it “the app of the year”. While the app had already seen tremendous growth since launching outside of China in 2017, 2019 was when it truly broke through into mainstream culture.
Several factors contributed to the hype around TikTok that year. The app was perfectly positioned to capitalize on two major trends – the rise of short form video and the mainstream adoption of Stories-style vertical video. As the first social app built purely around this format, TikTok made creating and sharing fun 15-60 second videos incredibly intuitive.
TikTok also benefited enormously from network effects as its core Gen Z userbase invited friends to join and take part in the latest meme challenges. This viral growth was further amplified by TikTok’s masterfully designed “For You” feed that made it effortless to discover new creators and content.
By the end of 2019, TikTok had over 1 billion monthly active users globally and was one of the most downloaded apps across iOS and Android. Media headlines touted it as “the last sunny corner on the internet” and “2019’s app of the year”. For better or worse, TikTok had become a full-blown phenomenon that was impossible to ignore.
Conclusion
When reviewing the timeline of TikTok’s growth and expansion, it’s clear that the app became immensely popular in 2018. After launching in 2016 under the name musical.ly, the app was relaunched as TikTok in 2017 and began expanding globally that year. However, it was in 2018 that TikTok saw meteoric growth, reaching over 500 million monthly active users by the middle of the year.
Several key events marked TikTok’s rise in popularity in 2018:
- TikTok was the most downloaded app in the first quarter of 2018, surpassing established apps like Facebook and Instagram.
- The app reached over 150 million monthly active users in China alone by mid-2018.
- TikTok was downloaded over 104 million times on iOS and Google Play in the first half of 2018.
- International celebrities like Jimmy Fallon began creating content on the platform.
- TikTok surpassed 1 billion downloads globally by early 2019.
Based on this rapid growth throughout 2018 and into early 2019, it’s evident that 2018 was the breakout year that propelled TikTok to global popularity.