TikTok has quickly become a favored social media platform among teens, and several Fortune 500 companies have even seen the value in engaging with customers through the app. And, while the appeal of TikTok is undeniable among America’s youngest generations, what about adults? Here’s what the latest edition of Marketing Charts’ US Media Audience Demographics report [purchase page] revealed about adult TikTok users.
1. More Than Half of TikTok’s Adult User Base is Aged 18-34
Last year, TikTok surpassed Instagram to become the second-favorite social media platform among US teens, with Snapchat holding onto the top spot for the fourth year in a row. Not only that, usage of the short-form video app among the younger generations flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adults are getting in on the action as well. Comscore data from early 2020 showed that the number of US adults using TikTok more than doubled over the same time in 2019.
And, it’s not just younger adults embracing the app. While the majority (52.7%) of TikTok’s adult users were ages 18-34, that also means that almost half (47.3%) of TikTok’s adult unique visitors in June 2020 were ages 35 and older. Not surprisingly, the bulk of those were in the middle-aged rather than older adult brackets.
The data does show that the largest share of total adult unique visitors to TikTok in June were aged 18-24 (27.8%), with that age group being more than twice as likely as the average adult to use the app.
2. TikTok Appeals to Lower-Income Adults
The report also found that although more than two-fifths (43.9%) of unique adult visitors to TikTok had a household income of more than $100K, adults from lower-income households over-index in their usage of the app.
Adults with a household income of less than $25K are 9% more likely than average to use TikTok, while those with household incomes of between $25-40K are also slightly (1%) more likely to use the app.
On the other end of the spectrum, although adults with a household income of more than $100K are 5% more likely to use TikTok than the average adult, adults in middle to higher-income households tend to be less likely than average to use the app. The most pronounced being among adults with household incomes of $60-75K who are 13% less likely to use the app.
This is in contrast to Instagram, which appeals more to higher-income adults. In fact, no income bracket under $100K over-indexes the average in Instagram usage.
3. 1 in 5 Adult TikTok Users Are Hispanic
Across the 7 social media platforms examined — Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn — Hispanic Americans over-indexed in usage versus the average adult in all but one (LinkedIn). However, it was TikTok where they over-indexed the most, with online Hispanic adults being 38% more likely than average to visit TikTok.
In fact, out of the seven platforms, TikTok was the one with the largest share of unique Hispanic adult visitors (19.9%), just edging out Snapchat (19.2%).
By comparison, the research found that about 1 in 8 (12.8%) of adult visitors to TikTok in June 2020 were Black Americans, who were only 1% more likely to use the app than the average online adult.
If you’re interested in more detailed stats about traditional, online and social media audiences, head on over here to get your copy of our report, which breaks down the reach and demographic composition of several major media audiences. The 54-page report, packed with 45 charts and tables, also provides a series of cheat sheets that compare traditional, online and social channels across demographic variables so you can quickly see which are the most likely to attract different groups.
About the Data: Findings are based on Comscore figures analyzing online US adults’ cross-platform activities (across devices and mobile sites and applications) in June 2020.
