Tiktok owner Bytedance to book $27bn in ad revenue this year
The Chinese owner of viral video app Tiktok is reportedly on track to pull in at least $27bn (£20.4bn) in advertising revenue by the end of the year.
Bytedance, which generates the vast majority of its revenue from ads, has previously stated that its target for overall revenue in 2020 is $30bn, meaning the figure would be in line with expectations.
But the $27bn haul, reported by Reuters, would cement the company’s position as the second biggest player in China’s vast digital ad market behind Alibaba.
While Bytedance is best known globally for Tiktok, the popular social media platform only represents a small portion of the company’s overall revenue.
Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, contributes nearly 60 per cent of ad revenue, followed by news aggregator Jinri Toutiao at 20 per cent and long-form video platform Xigua at less than three per cent, according to the report.
Earlier this year Bytedance overtook tech giant Baidu to take the number two spot in China’s digital ad market, commanding 23 per cent of total spend, according to consultancy R3. Alibaba stands in first place, taking a third of all online ad spend in the country.
But Bytedance is said to have closed the gap on Alibaba after a bumper year of trading during the pandemic. The company is reported to have pulled in revenue of $16bn in 2019, meaning it is on track to almost double its revenue in the last 12 months.
The company is now looking to list some of its divisions in Hong Kong. Last week it emerged the firm was in talks with investors to raise roughly $2bn in a fresh funding round that would take its total valuation to $180bn.
It comes as the Chinese tech firm clashes with Washington over an order forcing it to sell its US operations due to concerns about national security.
Bytedance yesterday filed a legal petition challenging the 90-day order, which is set to expire tomorrow.