Wow, TikTok sure is hell-bent on following in the footsteps of its Chinese sister. TikTok really wants to make live-stream commerce a thing, eventually turning the short-form video app into an online money market for various users and creators.
Doing It Like Douyin
Douyin generated $119 billion worth of product sales via live broadcasts in 2021, a 7x YoY increase, while the number of users engaging with eCommerce live streams exceeded 384 million, which is close to half the platform’s entire user base. Given this, it’s quite clear that this is also where TikTok is headed, which could facilitate better revenue share and keep more creators aligned with the app.
This is the same reason why TikTok recently commissioned a new survey by Ipsos to provide more perspective on why brands should be looking to live-stream commerce in the app. So far, this is what the survey has discovered:
- 1 in 5 live streaming users watches TikTok LIVE. 62% of this group watch it daily.
- Users on TikTok are 50% more interested in branded LIVE content than non-TikTok users.
- 50% of TikTok users have bought something after watching TikTok LIVE.
The data and statistics are compelling, and while it remains to be seen whether or not Western audiences will ever be as receptive to live commerce as the Chinese and most other Eastern markets have, we can’t deny that there’s an opportunity here for those that can get it right.
To make the data more ‘ingestible’, TikTok compiled the findings in this infographic. Where we would usually compress information to shorten things, making them easier to read and understand, we might have to do the opposite today and expound a bit, at least on certain points, if only to improve context.
TikTok’s LIVE viewership is said to deepen connections with brands. 52% of users are somewhat/very interested in LIVE content from either a brand or sponsor, with 1 in 3 LIVE users saying that TikTok is the go-to platform to connect with brands.
TikTok LIVE drives shopping and is said to even improve trust, as proven by the following numbers:
- Users are 1.7x more likely to watch branded LIVE to buy products.
- Users are 1.6x more likely to watch branded LIVE to discover brands.
- Users are 1.5x more likely to learn more about brands that they know.
- Users are 2x more likely to say that LIVE is the most trustworthy to use when shopping.
- Users are 1.5x more likely to say that TikTok is the most trustworthy platform to make a purchase on.
The Wrap
The last section is essentially a breakdown of how trial and error will best determine the effectiveness of using branded LIVE content, which, for the most part, produces an average that hovers closely around 75 to 77%, which does hold a certain weight to it.
Again, these are mainly insights, and they speak highly of the results that TikTok, with its branded LIVE integrations, has been able to achieve thus far. At least on TikTok, live-stream shopping seems to really have a chance to pick up.
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