Teens And Tweens Watch An Average Of 91 Minutes Of TikTok Per Day
The video-based social media platform has finally eclipsed the long-reigning YouTube among younger viewers.
It’s not just in your imagination. Kids around the world are spending more and more time on TikTok — and less time on other social media video websites like YouTube. In fact, according to a new analysis compiled by TechCrunch and Qustodio, kids ages 4 to 18 watch an average of 91 minutes of TikTok each day.
In addition, kids in the same age range watched an average of 56 minutes of YouTube each day, globally.
The numbers specifically in the United States are even higher. American kids watch an average of 99 minutes of TikTok and 61 minutes on YouTube.
Kids began watching more apps and streaming serves during the pandemic, especially TikTok. In June 2020, the first month when kids started watching more TikTok than YouTube, the average was 82 minutes of TikTok and 75 minutes of YouTube.
The study looked at 400,000 families from around the world that use Qustodio for its parental controls, and the numbers are based on real-time watching, not estimates or self-reported data from users.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, kids under 18 were watching 48 minutes of YouTube on average and 38 minutes of TikTok daily.
How do other streaming services compare? The same study found that kids around the world on average spent time on other apps as well: 47 minutes on Disney+, 45 minutes on Netflix, 40 minutes on Amazon Prime, 38 minutes on Hulu, and 20 minutes on Twitch.
Why is TikTok so popular with kids? Tech experts think it has to do with the shorter length of videos, which average significantly under a minute on TikTok, compared with longer and more in-depth videos on YouTube. While YouTube offers YouTube Shorts, it hasn’t been enough to lure back Gen Z and the quickly-growing Gen Alpha.
Kids are spending so much time on TikTok that they’re even using it as a primary search tool — with Google reporting that about 40 percent of young people search for information on Instagram or TikTok instead of Google Search or Google Maps.
And kids might soon have even more of a reason to hang out on TikTok: the behemoth social media app is planning to add games to its service soon. Strap in.
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