Bytedance-owned short video app TikTok is increasingly shifting its focus towards monetising its app through a new advertising strategy. And it appears to have been paying off for the Chinese app.
As per the latest report, TikTok in-app purchase portion of revenue witnessed significant growth. The short video platform in-app purchases revenue touched $9 million in May, according to the Sensor Tower report. It registered a growth of over 500% in comparison to last year figure, $1.5 million.
In April, it had garnered about $7.4 million from in-app purchase.
A major share of the portion was contributed by China (65%) and the US (22%) markets. India, which is the largest market for the app, accounted for about half a percent of spending, about $45,000.
In the last couple of months, TikTok has emerged up as a popular advertising platform for consumer brands. Indan firms including online retailer Voonik, Myntra, ShopClues, Snapdeal, and Cuemath are placing ads on it.
At present, Chinese firm is looking to drive user growth in the country. In April, it had faced a two-week ban by Madras Court raising concern over its inappropriate content, which had hampered its user base growth for the month in India.
TikTok, which allows users to make and upload short videos of up to 15 seconds, emerged as a major competitor to social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Periscope soon after its launch in 2016.
In March quarter, TikTok recorded 188 million new installs, out of which 47% users belonged to India, as per Sensor Tower report. Facebook, followed it with 176 million new downloads in the same period.
At present, TikTok claims to have over 500 million users worldwide and over 200 million in India (120 million monthly active users). In a span of two years, the short video app has become one of the most popular apps in India.
Till date, the short video app has minted around $97 million globally. The Bytedance-owned app aims to cross $100 million this month.
