The battle for the short-form video crown is still ongoing, with TikTok, Instagram and YouTube all battling for eyeballs.
According to research published in our Video Streaming App Report, TikTok and Instagram Reels are neck and neck in terms of app users. Both platforms handle about 1.5 billion active users a month.
Short-form video active users 2023 (mm)
TikTok was the original short-form video app, ballooning in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic. This led to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and a few others to launch their own versions of short-form video, some of which have already been canned.
YouTube and Instagram Reels are the two main competitors to TikTok. YouTube Shorts, which is integrated into the YouTube app, has been accessed by two billion users, although we are not sure how many actively use Shorts in a similar way to TikTok and Reels.
Snapchat Spotlight is the other short-form video platform, although because of Snapchat’s smaller userbase it is not at the same level as the other three. It had about 350 million active users.
In terms of future growth, Instagram Reels has the advantage of the Indian market, where TikTok is banned. YouTube may also be able to add more users with a dedicated Shorts app, although it may be worried about splitting the YouTube audience.
TikTok is growing at a faster rate in mature countries, but faces potential future restrictions in the United States and other countries, as tensions with China continue to escalate. YouTube and Instagram, already banned in China, do not face these same pressures.
For YouTube and Instagram, the worry of diverting audiences from highly lucrative ad markets – in YouTube’s case longer form videos and in Instagram’s from Stories – has been placated by advertising industry’s interest in short-form video.
TikTok generated about $16 billion in 2023, primarily from advertising. Instagram Reels made close to $20 billion. YouTube has not broken down its advertising revenues by type, but we expect Shorts is a multi-billion dollar segment of it.
Want to learn more about the video streaming app industry? Check out our Video Streaming App Report
