Kids are spending about as much time on TikTok as they do on YouTube

YouTube might be one of the biggest websites and video-serving platforms in the world, but TikTok continues to experience a meteoric rise, especially in younger markets. According to a new report by digital safety and parental control app maker Qustodio, kids four to 15 are spending more time than ever on the social networking app.

As reported by TechCrunch, children in the age bracket mentioned above spend approximately 85 minutes per day watching YouTube, compared to 80 minutes per day on TikTok. The data from Qustodio highlights use from February 2019 to April 2020.

Because TikTok is considered a social platform, it also means that this time spent on the app is driving up kids’ social media use in a big way, up 100% from 2019 and 200% in 2020.

This also means that stay-at-home restrictions and school closures due to COVID-19 have played a factor in these stats.

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This data from Qustodio also shows that kids simply aren’t using YouTube Kids. In the US, 69% of all children use the main YouTube app, while only 7% of them use the dedicated YouTube Kids app. These stats are echoed in the UK, but in Spain, the Kids version of YouTube is basically nowhere to be found.

In a world where TikTok has now passed two billion downloads, it’s not that surprising that TikTok is becoming a major competitor in drawing eyeballs in from both kids and adults. Maybe the most surprising part of this study from the company is that in the US, 54% of kids play the mobile game Roblox.

What do you think? Surprised TikTok is taking up such a large percentage of children’s screen time? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Editors’ Recommendations:

• Privacy-focused messaging app Signal now has a tool to automatically blur faces
• Google’s new Read Along app promotes reading while your child is stuck at home
• YouTube is working on a TikTok competitor called Shorts – launching by end of year
• TikTok, of all places, is banning political advertising from its platform

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.