According to reports, Instagram has become the most downloaded app in the world, surpassing TikTok. In 2023, Instagram’s total number of app downloads grew by 20% yoy to 768 million, while TikTok’s downloads increased by only 4%, to 733 million, in the same period.
Abraham Yousef, Senior Insights Manager at Sensor Tower, cited the popularity of Instagram’s reel feature, as the reasons behind the app’s success.
TikTok’s algorithm enables anyone to go viral, which attracts content creators looking to achieve overnight success with the app’s Creator Fund. In contrast, Instagram does not pay creators through a company fund but provides them with the opportunity to post brand partnerships and sponsored posts at a rate of their choosing, usually determined by their followers and engagement rate.
Users on TikTok spent an average of 95 minutes on the platform in the 4th Q of 2023, compared with 62 minutes on Instagram, 30 minutes on X and 19 minutes on Snapchat. TikTok’s unique ability to feed users with content that targets their preferences is the reason for this. The app’s Creator Fund awards eligible creators as much as 40 cents for every 1,000 views, meaning a creator part of the payment program whose video gets 1 million views is in for a $400,000 windfall.
Instagram welcomed 13 million new monthly active users in the last three months of 2023 alone, while TikTok saw 12 million users leave the platform. As a result, the platform ended 2023 with 1.12 billion monthly active users.
