TikTok generated an impressive $821 million in consumer spending in the last quarter. The video-sharing platform was the top-grossing app on the App Store, and the second-highest-grossing on Google Play, coming just after Google One.

In less than four years, TikTok became the most culturally significant product in the world. It rode the tailwinds of AirPods and memes to reach over 1 billion DAU’s and is now the best way to create and consume video content on mobile. Everyone should be watching to see what they do next.

bytedance's first hit was an algorithmic news product called toutiao. then in may 2015, toutiao began experimenting with video on its front page. in just over a year, video clicks began exceeding article clicks. bytedance had multiple teams work on different video ideas. the winning concept eventually became tiktok.