In January 2021, Telegram messenger became the world’s most downloaded mobile app for the first time with 65 million monthly downloads. ByteDance’s TikTok app for distributing short videos has moved down a notch, even though it had been the undisputed leader for many months. In February, TikTok returned to the top spot and even surpassed YouTube in grossing.

Note that we are talking about the category of non-gaming mobile applications. According to Sensor Tower, TikTok and its Chinese version of Douyin had a total of 56 million downloads in February, more than any other app in the world could show. Moreover, the TikTok app has been the most profitable monetization platform in the world for 11 months in a row.

In February 2021, the TikTok video platform in terms of user spending showed a monthly collection of over $ 110 million, which is 1,9 times more than in January. Almost 79% of the revenue came from Chinese users through the local version of the app, Douyin. US users brought in 8% of the revenue, and another 3% came from Turkish users.

The second place in the world for downloads of non-game applications in February was taken by Facebook with more than 45 million downloads. It is followed by Instagram and WhatsApp, which are also owned by Facebook and, incidentally, also banned in China, like its main service.

Image source: Sensor Tower

The change in leadership in January, when Telegram came out on top, was driven by the persecution of supporters of former US President Donald Trump, the blocking of social networks and instant messengers, as well as a change in Facebook’s policy on collecting personal data on WhatsApp. All this pushed users to look for an alternative, which came in handy for the Telegram application. When the passions subsided a month later, entertainment video and TikTok were again at the top of consumer preference.