TikTok ranks fourth for non-game app downloads in 2019

Bytedance’s short-video app TikTok, along with its Chinese version Douyin, is projected to be the fourth most-downloaded non-gaming app in 2019, surpassing Facebook’s Instagram, according to a report from analytics firm App Annie.

Why it matters: Despite recent and intense scrutiny from US lawmakers over privacy and security risks, TikTok continues to post strong growth globally. Parent company Bytedance is focused on boosting its expansion in oversea markets, where the competition is less fierce than its home turf.

• Combining download count for both Douyin and TikTok, different versions of the same app, underscores the uphill battle that Bytedance faces as it works to separate the two in the eyes of Washington, D.C.

Details: Annual downloads for TikTok and Douyin are led only by Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Whatsapp.

• The App Annie report, however, counts only downloads from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, omitting those from third-party Android stores in China.
• The only other Chinese non-gaming app in the top 10 is live-streaming company YY’s short-video platform Likee, which beat Snapchat, Netflix, and Spotify, to rank seventh.
• As a new entrant on the list, Likee focuses on markets such as India and Brazil, and has more than 100 million monthly active users as of December, according to the report.