TikTok now has more than 100 million users in Latin America

TikTok’s adoption has exploded in Latin America. In our inaugural forecast, we estimate that TikTok surpassed the 100 million user mark in the region last year. In 2022, users will surge 12.8% year over year (YoY) to 136.1 million. More than 3 in 10 internet users will be on the platform.

The company’s growth trajectory in Latin America has been remarkable:

• In 2020, TikTok became the region’s third-largest social network, overtaking Twitter and Snapchat.
• This year, its user numbers will be almost double that of Twitter’s and 3.5 times that of Snapchat’s.

Brazil is TikTok’s biggest market in Latin America. With 52.3 million monthly users, the country will account for nearly 40% of all TikTok users in the region this year. Mexico will be its second-largest market, with 27.6 million users, or one-fifth of the regional total.

Brazil will also have the second-highest number of TikTok users after the US (90.6 million). Mexico will come in fourth. But TikTok will have a higher penetration rate among internet users in Mexico than in any other country in the region—with Brazil a close second.

What does this forecast mean for marketers in Latin America?

Social networks are extremely popular in Latin America and offer marketers a fundamental tool to engage with consumers during various stages of the buyer journey, from product discovery to post-purchase.

“TikTok started off as a relatively unknown social platform, but it quickly took Latin America by storm,” said Matteo Ceurvels, Insider Intelligence’s senior analyst for Latin America and Spain. Now, with more than 100 million users in the region, companies can no longer exclude TikTok from their digital marketing strategies. "It needs to be center stage," Ceurvels said.

The time has come for brands to reinvent themselves on TikTok. With the September 2021 launch of TikTok For Business in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru, marketers in these countries can now use a wide range of digital advertising solutions—including TikTok Marketing Partners and its creator marketplace—to make authentic connections with new audiences.