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by celestialcheese 198 days ago
It took tiktok just 5 years to go from ~no revenue to ~$12b annual in the US.

ChatGPT has roughly the same MAU as tiktok. I don't see why their ad business wouldn't meet or exceed what tiktok was able to do in less than 5 years.
2 comments
Barrin92 198 days ago
Because TikTok is free, had no competitors and network effects given that it is a social media platform. ChatGPT already depends on subscription income, has to compete with companies that can offer the same service for free and has no network effects because you're literally talking to a commodified bot
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c0balt 197 days ago
> TikTok [..] had no competitors and network effects

TikTok, or rather ByteDance, acquired Musical.ly as a competitor to absorb the user base and jump start their network. Their also have been a lot of short-form video platforms before (e. G., Vine) and during TikToks growth (Instagram reels, YT Shorts).

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mbesto 198 days ago
12B and 200B is a HUGE difference...especially in a 5 year time span.
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aurareturn 197 days ago
The $200b is 2025 for all of Meta worldwide.

Reuters reported that ByteDance (TikTok parent) in Q1 2025 had $48b in revenue.[0] They should surpass $200b for 2025 which would make them bigger than Meta.

In other words, Tiktok has already caught up with Instagram in terms of revenue.

[0]https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/tiktok-owner-byteda...

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mbesto 195 days ago
> most of which is from the Chinese market as it continues to face political pressure to divest its U.S. arm.

We're not comparing apples and oranges here. Google and Meta don't operate in China, so there is no giant online ad spend (especially for social) already allocated like there is in the US.

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