Pew’s 2025 survey found 37% of U.S. adults use TikTok, rising to 63% of adults under 30, and U.S. users will spend about 57 minutes a day on the app in 2026. Brands earn the highest engagement of any platform Quid benchmarks (a 2.01% median per post), and TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales grew 108% in 2025 to $15.82 billion. Below are 40 TikTok marketing statistics for brands, each linked to the source we checked, with the period it covers.
Key takeaways
- Survey data says 37% of U.S. adults use TikTok; TikTok’s ad tools show 55.7% of adults reachable.
- The median brand posts 2.0 TikTok videos a week, yet accounts posting 11+ times a week get up to 34% more views per post than weekly posters.
- Small accounts are losing views: profiles with 1K to 5K followers fell from 860 to 350 average views per post from 2024 to 2025 (see how to grow a brand account from zero).
- TikTok’s own data says creator ads drive a 70% higher click-through rate than non-creator ads at the same CPM.
- TikTok requires labels on realistic AI content and says the label won’t hurt organic engagement for eligible posts.
How many people use TikTok in 2026?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37% of U.S. adults use TikTok, up from 21% in 2021 and 33% in 2023 and 2024 (Pew fact sheet). | Pew, Feb 5 to June 18, 2025 |
| 2 | By age: 63% of U.S. adults 18 to 29, 44% of 30 to 49, 30% of 50 to 64, 12% of 65+. | Pew, 2025 survey |
| 3 | U.S. use is higher among women (42%) than men (30%), and among Hispanic (57%) and Black (53%) adults than White adults (28%). | Pew, Feb 5 to June 18, 2025 |
| 4 | 24% of U.S. adults are daily TikTok users. | Pew, Feb 24 to Mar 2, 2025 |
| 5 | 68% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, and 61% visit it daily. | Pew, Sept 25 to Oct 9, 2025 |
| 6 | TikTok says more than 200 million Americans and 7.5 million businesses use the platform. | TikTok Newsroom, Jan 23, 2026, self-reported |
| 7 | TikTok’s ad tools reported 153 million U.S. users aged 18+, equal to 55.7% of U.S. adults. This is ad reach, not measured use. | DataReportal, late 2025 data |
| 8 | TikTok’s reported adult ad reach exceeds the adult population in 35 countries (164% in Saudi Arabia). | DataReportal, Apr 22, 2026 |
| 9 | Active use of TikTok’s mobile apps fell roughly 10% between September 2025 and February 2026. | DataReportal, citing Similarweb, Apr 22, 2026 |
Stat 7 is ad reach, not a user count, and can exceed a country’s adult population (stat 8); for U.S. usage, cite Pew.
How much time do people spend on TikTok, and why do they open it?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | U.S. TikTok users will spend 57 minutes a day on the app in 2026, behind YouTube (61) and ahead of Instagram (37). | EMARKETER, forecast, May 27, 2026 |
| 11 | Worldwide, the typical user spends 1 hour 37 minutes a day in TikTok’s Android app (about 14% more than the typical YouTube Android user) and opens it about 10 times a day. | DataReportal, citing Similarweb, worldwide Android data, August 2025 |
| 12 | 21% of U.S. teens say they are on TikTok “almost constantly,” up from 16% in 2022. | Pew, Sept 25 to Oct 9, 2025 |
| 13 | 62% of U.S. adult TikTok users say looking at product reviews or recommendations is a reason they use it. | Pew, published June 12, 2024 |
| 14 | 57% of U.S. TikTok users use its search, and 23% search within 30 seconds of opening the app. | TikTok for Business, TikTok internal data, U.S. users, June 2024 |
| 15 | Among U.S. TikTok searchers, 38% start on a traditional search engine before turning to TikTok, and 34% start on TikTok before switching to search engines. | TikTok for Business, TikTok-commissioned WARC study, 2025 (U.S. results) |
Stats 10 and 11 use different methods, devices and geographies, so never average them. For brands, stat 13 matters most: product reviews rank third among reasons U.S. adults use TikTok, behind entertainment (95%) and connecting with people who share their interests (65%), per Pew.
Which TikTok formats, cadences and posting times perform best?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Videos earn a median engagement rate of 3.39% on TikTok, 77% higher than carousels and photo posts (1.92%). | Buffer, 45M+ posts, Mar 19, 2026 |
| 17 | The median brand earns 2.01% engagement per TikTok post (by followers), the highest of any platform benchmarked; Instagram fell to 0.30%. | Quid, 2025 data, Mar 5, 2026 |
| 18 | The median brand publishes 2.0 TikTok videos a week, unchanged for a second year, versus 3.7 Instagram posts. | Quid, 2025 data |
| 19 | Versus posting once a week, 2 to 5 posts a week bring up to 17% more views per post, 6 to 10 up to 29%, and 11+ up to 34%. | Buffer, 11.4M posts, Oct 8, 2025 |
| 20 | Median views per post stay near 500 at every cadence, but top-10% posts grow from 3,722 views (1 a week) to 14,401 (11+). | Buffer, same study |
| 21 | Views fell 23% year over year. Average views per post for 1K to 5K follower profiles dropped from 860 to 350; 100K to 1M profiles rose from 25,198 to 34,900. | Socialinsider, 2024 vs 2025 |
| 22 | Engagement rate by views fell 8% to 3.85% in Q2 2026, after five quarters between 4.20% and 4.30%. | Socialinsider, Q1 2025 to Q2 2026 |
| 23 | Saturday is the best day to post on TikTok and Sunday 9 a.m. the best single slot. | Buffer, 7.1M posts, Sept 14, 2026 |
| 24 | The best TikTok posting times are Tuesday to Thursday, 2 to 6 p.m. local time; weekends are worst. | Sprout Social, Nov 27, 2025 to Feb 27, 2026 data |
Volume buys breakout odds more than a better typical post: the median barely moves while the top 10% nearly quadruples (stat 20), and that spread drives the per-post gains in stat 19. Video out-engages photo posts (stat 16), but slideshows need no filming, so test angles with them and remake the winners as video. Stats 23 and 24 disagree, so test posting times on your own account. For a cadence plan, see how often a brand should post on TikTok.
What do the numbers say about TikTok ads and Spark Ads?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue reached an estimated $14.03 billion in 2025 (growth of 14.2%), with 22.3% growth forecast for 2026. | EMARKETER, Dec 29, 2025 |
| 26 | Marketers named TikTok the #1 platform where they plan to raise ad spend in 2027, for the fifth year running, and 84% currently advertise there. | TikTok for Business, citing Kantar, Sept 29, 2026 |
| 27 | Spark Ads (boosted organic posts) had a 134% higher completion rate and a 157% higher 6-second view-through rate than standard In-Feed Ads. | TikTok for Business, 2022 internal test |
| 28 | Running Search Ads alongside In-Feed Ads brought 20% more conversions on average, at a similar or better CPA. | TikTok for Business, July 2024 internal data |
| 29 | TikTok says 79% of purchases driven by TikTok are not attributed to it, and measuring only click-and-buy undervalues its conversions by 73%. | TikTok Newsroom, Oct 7, 2024, citing TikTok studies from 2022 and 2023 |
Stats 27 to 29 are TikTok’s own research, so treat them as directional. The clearest signal: ads run from organic posts beat standard In-Feed Ads (stat 27), the case for turning organic TikToks into Spark Ads once a post proves itself.
How much do creators and UGC matter on TikTok?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | The most active 25% of U.S. adult TikTok users produce 98% of public videos from U.S. adults. | Pew, August 2023 data |
| 31 | Creator ads drive a 70% higher click-through rate and a 159% higher engagement rate than non-creator ads at the same CPM. | TikTok for Business, content posted Feb 2024 to Jan 2025 |
| 32 | Ads posted to a creator’s account have a 59% higher engagement rate and a 16% higher six-second view-through rate than ads that are not. | TikTok for Business, published Nov 24, 2025 |
| 33 | Micro-creators (66%) and nano-creators (61%) are the creator types most marketers plan to invest in, ahead of macro (48%) and mega-influencers (42%). | Kantar, Media Reactions 2026, Oct 2, 2026 |
Stats 30 and 31 point the same way: most people on TikTok watch and few post, and TikTok’s own data shows creator ads outperform non-creator ads. More in AI UGC vs creator UGC.
How big is TikTok Shop in 2026?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales grew 108% in 2025 to $15.82 billion (after 407% growth in 2024), giving it 18.2% of U.S. social commerce. | EMARKETER, Dec 9, 2025 |
| 35 | TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales are forecast to pass $20 billion in 2026 and $30 billion in 2028, with its share of U.S. social commerce reaching 24.1% by 2027. | EMARKETER, Dec 9, 2025 |
| 36 | TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales topped $500 million over the four-day 2025 Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend. Across the full campaign (Nov 12 to Dec 1), brands and sellers hosting livestreams grew sales 84% versus the 2024 campaign. | TikTok Newsroom, Dec 3, 2025 |
| 37 | Two-thirds of U.S. TikTok Shop users have discovered a new brand there, and 72% of the brands they newly discovered in the past year were small businesses (under $15 million in annual revenue). | TikTok Newsroom, citing GlobalData research commissioned by TikTok Shop, May 19, 2026 |
TikTok doesn’t publish annual U.S. Shop sales, so stats 34 and 35 are analyst estimates; stats 36 and 37 are TikTok’s own or commissioned figures. For Shop sellers, see TikTok content for ecommerce brands.
What are the numbers and rules for AI-generated content on TikTok?
| # | Statistic | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | AI content showing realistic-looking people or scenes must be disclosed; the label can’t be removed after posting, and TikTok says it won’t hurt organic engagement for eligible posts. | TikTok Creator Academy, updated September 2026 |
| 39 | Ads with significantly AI-edited or AI-generated media must carry the AIGC label or a clear disclaimer. | TikTok Advertising Policies, updated April 2026 |
| 40 | A study using TikTok’s AI disclosure rule as a natural experiment found disclosures can reduce audience engagement with content and identification with creators. | Marketing Science Institute working paper, Dec 20, 2024 |
Stats 38 and 40 conflict: TikTok says the label won’t hurt reach, while research suggests viewers engage less with disclosed AI content. Disclose anyway: TikTok says it may take down AI-generated content that’s not labeled. See TikTok’s AI-generated content rules.
How were these statistics collected?
We compiled this list on October 8, 2026, checked each statistic on the page linked next to it, and flagged TikTok’s own and commissioned research in the source column. We left out figures we couldn’t trace to a primary source, such as “1.8 billion monthly active users” (TikTok’s public claim is “more than 1 billion users”).
What do these statistics mean for your TikTok plan?
Read together: the median brand posts about twice a week (stat 18), a higher cadence lifts top-post views far more than the median post (stat 20), and in TikTok’s own data, creator ads beat non-creator ads (stat 31) and ads run from organic posts beat standard In-Feed Ads (stat 27). To test a higher cadence, you need the posts.
Relay makes TikTok slideshows and videos for your brand from formats getting views in your niche. You swipe to approve, and Relay sends each approved post to your TikTok inbox on its day. As of October 2026, the Growth plan sends up to 60 posts a month to your TikTok for $99/mo after a $45 first month. Turn on TikTok’s AI-generated content setting when you post any draft with realistic AI imagery, plus the content disclosure toggle where it applies.
When should a brand skip Relay?
- You need Instagram or YouTube posting. Relay’s self-serve plans work with TikTok only.
- Your plan centers on TikTok Shop LIVE or affiliates. Relay makes slideshows and videos, not livestreams or affiliate programs.
- You want paid campaigns run for you. Self-serve Relay doesn’t manage ad spend; Relay’s managed service makes the ad creative, and a media buyer or agency runs the account.
- Your founder on camera is the brand. If growth depends on your face, film those posts yourself.
If volume is the bottleneck, paste your website at relaystudio.ai to start ($0 today, 1-day trial, card required; converts to the paid first month unless cancelled), or read how Relay handles TikTok content for brands.