Like all media consumption, audiences are increasingly transitioning to digital platforms, including TikTok. Watching traditional TV channels has almost stopped among younger viewers, with 90% of 18- to 24-year-olds heading straight to their favourite streaming service, according to a report by the media regulator Ofcom. Young people now watch almost seven times less broadcast television than people aged over 65. Furthermore, 16 to 24-year-olds spend just 53 minutes watching TV each day, a two-thirds decrease in the past 10 years. With streaming services charging high fees, to still have viewers bombarded adverts, are we seeing TikTok replacing television?
Content overload
On TikTok, 272 videos posted every second, 16,000 videos posted every minute, 981 thousand videos posted every hour, 34 million videos posted each day and 707 million videos posted each month. It is no wonder all this content is catching the attention of internet users, with the average TikTok user consuming content on the app for an average of one hour 53 minutes per day.
Student opinions
The Badger asked students at the University of Sussex about their time spent on TikTok. 43% reported spending less than an hour on the app, whilst 43% spend 1-3 hours, and 15% spend over 3 hours on the app. Live broadcasts on TikTok are allowing users to create their own live content, with TikTok live being able to view for 90 days after they are streamed, however to go live you need over 1,000 followers, meaning only creators with a pre-existing audience can do so. TikTok Live streams are monetizable, allowing creators to profit off of their content, with Live Gifts. However users can also make money on the app by scoring sponsorship deals, selling merchandise, and promoting affiliate products.
A new form of live entertainment
These content creators are not just streaming videos for their friends, they are creating a new form of televised content, which arguably, is replacing television. TikTok user ‘Rebbeca C’ is holding nearly nightly ‘dating show’ livestreams on the app, where she matches viewers and they date in front of a live audience – before she asks them if they ‘tik your tok’. Despite this spike in homemade live streaming content – only 15% of students at Sussex report watching TikTok live streams, with only 3% hosting them themselves. TikTok thrives on user-generated content, meaning anyone can become a creator. This democratization of content has led to a broader variety of entertainment or simply a new form of traditional content. Even broadcast television has begun showing TikTok’s, with ITV streaming 2 hours of ‘TikTok: Top 100 of 2024. Changing viewing habits has led audiences to consume smaller bite-size videos, and TikTok’s focus on short, engaging videos is appealing in an age where attention spans are increasingly shorter.
Algorithmic shifts
While TikTok still dominates for content such as live events e.g. sports, news, and big entertainment broadcasts, features on TikTok such as trends can go viral, making it a powerful form of entertainment, advertising, and marketing. While TikTok is not exactly “replacing” television, it is altering how people consume media, despite 40% of users believing that it is dominating over traditional television. This may be because it offers a faster, more personalized, and interactive experience compared to traditional TV. Your ‘For You Page’ is often scarily accurate due to powerful algorithms tracking your data online, likes, dislikes, and even location. Users can interact and engage with content directly by liking, commenting, sharing, and even creating response videos, providing a level of interactivity that television doesn’t offer. Will we see television decline further as audiences age? I do think so, but I wonder how America banning the app will change the future of the social media platform, and if the content we see will shift. I guess we will find out all in good time, maybe it’s time for The Badger to report live from TikTok.