Growth is slowing for brand TikTok accounts as platform matures: 3 key trends

On TikTok, bigger isn’t always better. Brand accounts with large followings are seeing growth rates slow as the platform matures and the era of explosive follower gains fades.

Follower volume isn’t the only measure of a brand’s TikTok strategy success. Smaller accounts may have more niche and loyal followers. Accounts of any size can have content go viral.

For social media managers, popularity is often measured by follower count. Here are three key trends from our exclusive KPI data on brand TikTok account growth.

1. Average account growth rate is lower for bigger accounts

The average worldwide month-over-month growth rate for growing brand accounts (1,000 to 11,500 followers) was 5.7% in Q2 2024. For established accounts (11,500 to 110,000 followers), that figure was 3.6%. And for large accounts, the month-over-month growth rate was 2.8%, according to KPI data provided by Dash Hudson.

Growing accounts start from a smaller base, so it takes fewer new followers to achieve faster growth. Brands with big accounts shouldn’t be concerned if they’re not seeing exponential follower growth. But they should make sure their posts are reaching a wide audience and that views don’t waver.

2. Growth rates have been slowing for the past few quarters

In Q2 2024, average worldwide monthly follower growth for all brand accounts with followings greater than 1,000 was 3.7%, per KPI data from Dash Hudson. That’s down from 4.4% in Q1 and from 5.3% in Q4 2023.

Slowing growth on individual TikTok accounts follows a trend of slowing growth in TikTok users worldwide. This year, TikTok’s user base will grow by 9.4% worldwide, to reach a total of 1.04 billion users, per our May 2024 forecast. That’s down from a growth of 13.3% YoY in 2023 and 20.1% YoY in 2022.

TikTok is maturing, and the explosive growth of the early 2020s is over, but total user numbers are higher than ever. Brands need to work harder to attract these users to follow their accounts.

3. Account growth is highest for wellness, home accounts

Wellness accounts saw an average month-over-month growth rate of 5.2% in Q2 2024, while growth for home brands was 5.0%, per KPI data from Dash Hudson.

Gen Z and millennials, who are more likely to be TikTok users than older generations, also purchase more wellness products and services than older generations, according to an August 2023 survey from McKinsey.

Health and personal care is the fastest-growing ecommerce category in the US, per our July 2024 forecast, with projected growth of 14.2% YoY this year. Furniture and home furnishings ranks toward the bottom, with a projected 4.5% growth this year. But brand accounts may still be performing strongly on TikTok due to the popularity of DIY content.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.