SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram is reeling in new users, while TikTok’s growth slows

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram platform grew its downloads by 20% last year, versus only a 4% increase for TikTok, report says.

Instagram is fighting back against TikTok’s rising dominance in short-form video with its own Reels short-form offering – so much so that Instagram overtook TikTok in new app downloads in 2023. It is the first time this has happened since 2020.

Photo by Cottonbro Studio from Pexels

According to a report in London’s Financial Times newspaper, which quotes research market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Instagram downloads grew by 20% last year. In comparison, TikTok’s downloads grew by 4%.

“Instagram has outperformed TikTok in adoption over the past few years, driven by the popularity of its Reels feature along with legacy social media features and functions,” said Abraham Yousef, Senior Insights Manager at Sensor Tower.

The Reels feature on Instagram is said by some social media experts to be a “copycat” of what TikTok offers for short video clips, but has taken some time to gain traction with audiences.

TikTok momentum slow for first time since 2016

There are now signs TikTok’s growth has begun to plateau for the first time since it was launched in 2016, the Financial Times notes.

“Instagram’s monthly active users reached 1.47-billion, with a rise of 13-million in the final quarter of 2023, according to Sensor Tower. TikTok’s active users reached 1.12-billion, with a decline of 12-million in the final three months of last year.

“However, TikTok continues to gain better engagement from its more than 1-billion active users worldwide. Users spent an average of 95 minutes on TikTok in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 62 minutes on Instagram, 30 minutes on X and 19 minutes on Snapchat,” the newspaper states.

According to the news website Mashable, which reports on digital culture, “TikTok is becoming increasingly less fun and more focused on e-commerce. With the emergence of TikTok shop, it feels like every other video on the For You Page is a promoted or sponsored post. The TikTok experience is changing, and it might not be for the better”.

You can read the full Financial Times article here.

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