While lawmakers debate its future in the U.S., TikTok has released an economic impact report showing how the wildly popular social media app helps drive economic growth.
The annual report, facilitated by Oxford Economics, focuses on how the use of TikTok by small and midsize businesses (SMBs), as well as TikTok’s own operations, contributed to the U.S. economy.
“Our modeling shows that SMB investments in paid advertising and marketing on TikTok drove $14.7 billion in revenue in 12 selected sectors in the U.S. in 2023,” the report reads. “SMBs on TikTok also placed a significant value on the free services provided by TikTok, which help them to grow organically.
“These two value streams together supported a $24.2 billion contribution to U.S. GDP in 2023. SMBs’ use of TikTok also supported 224,000 jobs in the U.S. in 2023. Of those, 98,000 were jobs supported directly within SMBs using TikTok.”
According to the report, 39 percent of SMBs polled said access to TikTok is critical to their business’ existence. Industries that had the most GDP and job growth among SMBs using TikTok were food and beverage, followed by health and wellness and then business services, the report said. The states with the largest job growth at SMBs using TikTok were California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois. TikTok itself reportedly employs more than 6,700 people in the U.S.
“Businesses across America depend on TikTok’s unique ability to help them reach otherwise unreachable customers, generate new revenue streams, and drive awareness of their brands, products, and services,” said Blake Chandlee, president of global business solutions at TikTok, in a statement. “This study demonstrates what we at TikTok already knew: It’s a game changer for small businesses and has a significant impact on the U.S. economy.”
Read the report—which is fairly extensive—in its entirety here.
(Image via Oxford Economics)
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