The installed base of TikTok is still very age-dependent and decreases sharply as age increases. Yet it is clear that TikTok has been getting installed more on the smartphones of slightly older Dutch people over the last quarters. In Q2, the app had an installed base of 22 percent among people in their twenties and 18 percent among people in their thirties. The tipping point is for people in their thirties, as TikTok only has an installed base of 8 percent among people in their 40s. An explanation for this may be that parents of younger children install TikTok themselves so that they can keep an eye on what their children are doing or see how TikTok is being used on their phone.
When the TikTok hype first started in Europe, the app was especially popular among young teenage girls. For example, in the third quarter of 2019, 19 percent of all girls 16-19 had TikTok installed on their device, compared to only 4 percent of boys. This difference has disappeared over the past three quarters. In Q2, the app was installed almost as often on the smartphones of boys as of girls, aged 16 to 19.
