TikTok Becomes First Non-Gaming App To Reach $10B in Consumer Spending

TikTok, the successful video platform that was built to help imaginations thrive, has made history by becoming the first non-game mobile app to turn over $10 billion in consumer spending across Google Play and the Apple App Store together, data.ai reports.

It’s been a great year for the platform, as the report also reveals that TikTok stepped into 2023 with over $6.2 billion in consumer spending — it then added a further $3.8 billion across the year, hitting an all-time high.

“By surpassing the $10 billion gross revenue milestone, TikTok has become one of just five mobile apps to have done so, and the first that wasn’t a mobile game to do so. It sits atop the market alongside mobile greats Candy Crush Saga from King/Activision Blizzard, the all-time top earner at more than $12 billion, Honor of Kings from Tencent ($11B), Monster Strike from XFLAG/Mixi ($10.6B) and Clash of Clans from Supercell ($10.2B),” according to data.ai.

The platform achieved this spending milestone via in-app purchases of “coins,” which is a virtual currency allowing users to give gifts to their favorite content creators on the platform. These gifts go to the creators as a reward for their content and can be cashed out and used as real money, with TikTok receiving 50% of the gifts as commission.

The app’s primary in-app purchase is a $19.99 bundle of 1,321 coins, which makes up around 25% of its revenue. Even though TikTok also monetizes from e-commerce and advertising through TikTok Shop, these were not taken into the scope in data.ai’s report, according to TechCrunch.

data.ai says that “U.S. consumers and iOS users in China accounted for the majority of the in-app spending that pushed TikTok to the $10 billion milestone, as both markets drove approximately 30% of the revenue on their own, or 60% of the total, when combined. Following are other markets, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, the U.K. and Japan, which combined accounted for 13% of the app’s in-app purchase revenue.”

The report highlighted that TikTok might be the only non-game app to reach $10 billion, but other non-game apps have also hit over a billion in consumer spending. TikTok’s closest competitors are YouTube and Tinder, which currently trail the platform by between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Lexi Sydow, head of insights at data.ai, said, “TikTok is poised to become the highest earning mobile app ever — approaching the $15 billion milestone in 2024. Consumers are spending over $11 million per day tipping their favorite content creators, propelling TikTok past the world’s most lucrative mobile game to date: the addictive and beloved Candy Crush Saga.”

The trusted source of mobile market trends predicts that TikTok’s turnover will grow further in 2024, hitting $15 billion in consumer spending.