TikTok sister app remains major money spinner for ByteDance

While TikTok continues dominating the social media space as the fastest-growing app in the market's history, its sister app, Douyin, remains the major money spinner for Chinese tech giant ByteDance.

According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, as the highest-grossing iPhone app globally, Douyin grossed $372 million in July or nearly 30% more than TikTok.

TikTok sister app Douyin grossed 4x more revenue than YouTube and 5x more than Tinder

Launched in 2016, before TikTok, Douyin instantly became a viral sensation in China. The app was initially created for sharing music videos, and its powerful algorithm became the foundation for TikTok.

Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance owns both apps and though similar, they play by starkly different rules. Moreover, content creators popular on Douyin are unknown outside China, and vice versa. Globally popular TikTok accounts have no followers in China. On top of that, Douyin rakes far more revenue through in-app tipping and livestreaming.

According to Statista and AppTweak data, Douyin was the top-grossing iPhone app worldwide, generating roughly $372 million in revenue in July. TikTok closely followed, with $324 million in revenue that month. Japanese comic reading app Piccoma came in third, with over $228 million in revenue. Honor of Kings and Tencent Videos followed, with roughly $165 million in revenues from iPhone users.

Douyin's monthly revenue is even more impressive when compared to other apps in the social media space. YouTube grossed $89 million in the App Store the same month, or four times less than Douyin. Statistics show that the monthly revenue of ByteDance's video-sharing app was also five times that of Tinder, which grossed roughly $72 million in the App Store in July.

The world's fifth largest social media platform with 715 million users

Douyin's impressive revenue figures result from its constantly growing user base. According to the Digital 2023 Global Overview Report, the app hit a whopping 715 million users this year, ranking as the fifth-largest social media platform globally, behind Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

That puts the Chinese short-video app far ahead of other top social media platforms. In comparison, Snapchat hit 635 million users in 2023, or 40 million less than Douyin, while Twitter had almost 160 million fewer users, or 556 million as of this year.