TikTok has surpassed more than 100 million monthly active users across Europe, according to a blog post by Rich Waterworth, the company’s European general manager. In an exclusive interview with Business Insider on Sunday, Waterworth said user numbers “have been growing really well for a long time.”
“You can’t get to 100 million without growing steadily and strongly for a long period of time,” he said. “We saw during the lockdown that people were using the platform in different ways,” Waterworth said, adding that there were changes in user growth during the coronavirus lockdown, “but you are looking at a long, sustained period of growth over the last couple of years.”
Waterworth said growth was concentrated in Europe’s largest business markets, but declined to provide user numbers at a specific country level. The numbers were released before a crucial week for the app’s future in the United States, which represents about 100 million of its nearly 690 million monthly active users.
this President Trump threatened to shut down the app on Tuesday, September 15 If a sale of part of the app to a US company is not agreed upon, however, Trump’s timelines appear not to be supported by an executive order, which gives TikTok until September 20 to reach an agreement – a questionable date after a second executive order giving the ability to extend the deadline until November 12.
“TikTok’s numbers don’t surprise me at all and speak to the massive reach and growth it has seen during lockdown,” said Timothy Armo, founder of Fanbytes, a TikTok-focused agency in the UK. “The beauty of TikTok — and of course its algorithm — is that the content is tailored to you, which I expect will be a catalyst for future growth.”
At the same time, the company announced two other metrics showing its growth in Europe.
Updated figures show that TikTok’s European headcount has grown to 1,000 employees in Europe, with all but 300 of those employees working in the UK and Ireland – two countries believed to be the frontrunners for TikTok’s European headquarters and, by definition, the company’s logical base outside the US.
Ireland is home to TikTok’s European data privacy team, with the company’s Trust and Security Center for EMEA based in Dublin. Another $500 million is scheduled to be invested in a European data center in Ireland by 2022.
Waterworth said the focus on data and safety in Ireland was due to the country’s pre-existing experience in this area – although he added that Brexit played a role in the decision.
“After Brexit, it is very important to have a position in the European Union,” he said. “But basically it’s about where we can build the best team.”
Waterworth as TikTok’s European head is based in London, which was mooted as a base for the company in the event of a US ban. London is the company’s home for its monetization, sales, creator partnerships, and product teams, as well as its main marketing and communications arms.
In an interview with the Observer last month, Waterworth declined to comment on plans to headquarter the company outside the U.S. “Europe is a key part of TikTok,” Waterworth said. “Europe is a really important region,” he said. “We have intentionally created strong, cross-functional teams and strong leadership teams in key markets and ask those teams to look at the specific challenges and needs of those markets.” “This is what we do across Europe. Europe is an important and valuable market.”
TikTok also revealed that 40% of creators eligible for Europe’s $300 million Creator Fund, which was announced in late July and began paying out on September 1, have signed up to the scheme.
Source: businessinsider
