Over 1.6 million Australians already using TikTok
TikTok is the hot new social network and the latest Roy Morgan data shows over 1.6 million Australians already visiting the TikTok website or using the app in an average four weeks – equivalent to 7% of the population aged 6 years and older.
TikTok has proven especially popular with women and girls – who comprise over two-thirds of the current TikTok user base. Over 1.1 million women and girls (9%) now use TikTok compared to just over 510,000 men and boys (4%).
TikTok popularity highest among Generation Alpha & Generation Z
TikTok is also far more popular among younger Australians than older Australians. Over a fifth of Australians in the youngest Generation Alpha (21%) are now using TikTok – a total of 537,000 Young Australians. Generation Alpha comprises those born from 2006 until today.
There is also a significant TikTok user base among the slightly older Generation Z born 1991-2005 with over 670,000 Australians (14%) in this age group now using the new short video service.
The rate of TikTok usage then drops off significantly with only 6% of Millennials (308,000), 2% of Generation X (88,000) and less than 1% of either Baby Boomers or Pre-Boomers using TikTok.
These results are based on in-depth Roy Morgan Single Source interviews with more than 25,000 Australians aged 14+ over the 6 months to December 2019 and over 1,000 interviews with Young Australians aged 6-13 years old during the same time period.
Australians visiting TikTok website or using TikTok app by Gender & Generation* – Dec. 2019
Source 1: Roy Morgan Single Source, July – December 2019, n=6,816. Base: Australians aged 14+. Source 2: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey, July – December 2019, n= 1,047. Base: Young Australians aged 6-13 years old. *Generations: Pre-Boomers (born before 1946), Baby Boomers (born 1946-60), Generation X (born 1961-75), Millennials (born 1976-90), Generation Z (born 1991-2005), Generation Alpha (born since 2006).
TikTok second only to YouTube for Young Australians in Generation Alpha
Young Australians aged 6-13 years old are a tech-savvy generation and around 2 million of this still growing Generation Alpha (76%) use some type of social media or online community in an average four weeks.
By far the leading service used by Generation Alpha is the Google-owned video site YouTube with nearly 1.9 million (72%) using YouTube in an average four weeks. Unlike other top social networks and online communities YouTube is generally used without requiring an online account for access.
Other leading social networks and online communities such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook generally require registering an account to gain access to the full capabilities of the service.
Amongst these services TikTok is now used by 537,000 (21%) in Generation Alpha and is just ahead of well-known photo and video sharing site Instagram used by 490,000 (19%). Both are over three times as popular as Facebook (163,000) and Pinterest (153,000) amongst Generation Alpha.
Drilling down further into Generation Alpha reveals that 420,000 (31%) of 10-13 year olds now use TikTok compared to almost 120,000 (9%) of the younger 6-9 year olds.
Generation Alpha: Top 5 Social Networks & Online Communities – December 2019
Source: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey, July – December 2019. Base: n= 1,047 Young Australians aged 6-13 years old and also known as Generation Alpha (born since 2006).
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says TikTok is the newest social media community on the block and its appeal is strongest amongst those just starting to use digital media:
“In the increasingly inter-connected and seamless digital world in which we all live perhaps the most reliable constant we can observe is never-ending change – and it is with this in mind that we bring you news of the new social media network on the block, TikTok.
“TikTok is no doubt an unknown quantity to many Australians, but it is increasingly popular amongst the ‘digital natives’ of Gen Z (born 1991-2005) and Gen Alpha (born since 2006). Already over 1.6 million Australians are using TikTok in an average four weeks and this includes nearly 540,000 in Gen Alpha and over 670,000 in Gen Z – over 1.2 million across these two youngest generations.
“In fact amongst Gen Alpha TikTok is more widely used than the well-known Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Only the ubiquitous YouTube is more widely used and the videos on YouTube are more readily accessible without the need for signing up for an account.
“The usage of TikTok is also noticeably skewed to young women and girls. Women and girls make up over two-thirds of those who use TikTok overall and over 40% of girls aged 10-13 years old now use TikTok compared to under 20% of boys the same age.
“Roy Morgan closely tracks the evolving new media space including Social Networks and Online Communities. To learn more about how different Australians choose to engage with social media as well as legacy media industries and what business models will succeed in our increasingly inter-connected and digitized world be sure to contact Roy Morgan for our unmatched qualitative and quantitative analysis based on in-depth interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
