What can data tell us about TikTok’s US audience—2024 edition

In recent years, TikTok disturbed the social media industry in the US in more ways than once.

In between those disturbances, it continued to grow and entertain. 

And a lot of US adults would agree with the “entertainment” part. Why? Because we know they’re probably on TikTok as well. 

If you read this report, you’ll probably start thinking that way too. And you’ll learn why you might want to dive into TikTok advertising as well. 

So let’s start with the most important fact…

TikTok’s US reach is massive

If you’re advertising on TikTok, you can potentially get in front of a third of all US adults. 

That is according to a recent finding by Pew Research Center, who also said that more than a half of US adults aged 18-36 say they use the platform. 

In fact, another report from DataReportal estimates that the US has the largest TikTok audience in the world. 

The entirety of the US population amounts to around 341M according to Worldometer. You can do the math. 

Combined with the platform’s algorithm, this is a huge audience pool ripe for the taking.

Now let’s break this audience down a little bit…

What interests and hobbies do US TikTok users have?

Most TikTok users fall into the millennials and Gen Z categories and the prevalent hobbies align with their interests:

As you see, cooking, gaming, pets, and general lifestyle activities are all high on the list. 

Now as we mention hobbies, why don’t we look at the interests as well: 

Not far off hobbies—food and dining, fashion, beauty, travel, are all ranking quite high.

Which means that if your product or service falls into one of the categories above, you might find success advertising on the platform. 

Or even better, get a micro influencer from said categories to advertise for you.

And why would you want to do this? Or advertise on TikTok at all? Let’s dig a bit deeper…

TikTok users are more receptive to ads

According to data, of course.

And here’s what we mean:

Over a third of this survey’s respondents don’t mind advertising for free content. 

Which could mean they are less likely to get frustrated by ads interrupting them while they swipe through the feed. 

Makes sense, as TikTok ads are less intrusive than, let’s say, YouTube mid-roll ads. 

Also, almost the same amount of TikTok users say they’ve bought products because celebrities or influencers promoted them. 

Which confirms TikTok influencer collabs are more than just awareness raisers—and can bring some serious ROI. 

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is incredibly potent

Take the stuff you learned above and sprinkle in the following data from Pew Research:

What does it tell us? TikTok has a super efficient formula to keep their users on the platform and serve them content they actually like to see.

For marketers, this means that not only can it target well, but it will also place your ads in front of content that “sticks.”

If your ads are native-like and interesting, they will naturally attract attention and bring returns.

And then there’s the last piece of the puzzle: 

Most TikTok users are lurkers and not creators. 

Which means that you are essentially placing short-form content in front of users who are already anticipating it. And that makes TikTok ads pretty darn effective. 

Bottom line: Make things Tik while everybody Toks

What we’ve learned today? TikTok’s US audience in 2024 presents a big opportunity for marketers to tap into a vast pool of engaged users—primarily millennials and Gen Z. 

With a significant portion of users receptive to ads and influenced by content creators, advertising on TikTok can help you reach a highly targeted audience who are not ad-averse.

Which, you have to admit, is a pretty rare sighting these days.

Sources

The report sourced data from the following:

• Statista
• DataReportal
• Pew Research Center