Topic
13 facts from 5 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2017
At the time of the acquisition, Musical.ly had about 100 million monthly active users and TikTok/Douyin had about 500 million.
“And they're musically had 100 million monthly active users at this point. And of course, TikTok, because of the scale of China, TikTok slash Douyin had 500 million monthly active users.”
2018
One host said ByteDance spent roughly $1.5 billion on advertising in the West after the acquisition to promote TikTok and move Musical.ly users over.
“ByteDance spent like a billion and a half dollars, I think, over the next several months doing a massive ad campaign in the Western world for TikTok.”
2018
By the end of 2018, users spent an average of 52 minutes a day in TikTok, which the host believed was higher than any other social network.
“Users spend an average of 52 minutes a day in the app, which I believe is significantly higher than any other social network out there.”
2019
Lil Nas X's song Old Town Road spent 17 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which the hosts say was the longest run of any song in history.
“number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 weeks, the longest of any song in history, with his breakout track, Old Town Road.”
2019
The hosts estimated TikTok added 300 million monthly active users in 2019, reaching about 800 million worldwide.
“And then this year in 2019, TikTok adds another estimated 300 million MAU to get to 800 million MAU total worldwide.”
2019
In January 2019 the Peterson Institute for International Economics called TikTok a 'Huawei sized problem' for national security.
“in January 2019, the think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics comes out and says that TikTok is a quote, Huawei sized problem.”
2019
In October 2019 Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech at Georgetown University criticizing Chinese-owned social media, singling out TikTok and ByteDance as a national security threat.
“just a couple of months ago in October, Zuckerberg gives a speech at Georgetown university where he calls, you know, he calls out all Chinese owned social media”
Undated
Kevin Scott argued that the lasting smartphone apps, such as TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and DoorDash, were non-obvious hard problems rather than the initial launch apps.
“Like, you know, we, we, we don't even think the the original applications on these platforms”
Undated
Choudary says TikTok combined mobile, streaming video and improved AI with videos under one minute.
“TikTok combined the three things, made the video dura- duration less than one minute”
Undated
Choudary says TikTok built an interest or behavior graph from viewing data instead of a social graph of followed people.
“it was able to create an interest graph or a behavior graph through which it was able to populate feeds.”
Undated
Neeley says TikTok is the third largest sales platform for beauty in the United States and has over 3 million influencers.
“The third largest sales platform for beauty in the United States is TikTok, and this is how it works. TikTok has over 3 million influencers”
Undated
Neeley says influencer-driven beauty sales on these platforms can reach $3 billion in one day.
“People buy them in extraordinary ways, and the type of sales that you will see are things like $3 billion in one day.”
Undated
Jessica Biel describes a TikTok trend in which parents said 'Jessica' to startle crying children into silence.
“the kid's having a meltdown, they would go, Jessica, Jessica, and the kid would literally go”
Episodes