A new report tracking the socio-economic impact of TikTok on Australia by Oxford Economics has found that TikTok contributed $1.1 billion to the country’s total GDP and supported 13,000 jobs in FY23.
In June last year, TikTok said that it had a community of 8.5 million Australians on its social media channel, which also served as a platform for 350,000 businesses in the country. At the time of its blogpost, it also said that it had 250 employees in Australia.
The latest Oxford Economics Australia report found that investments in advertising and marketing on TikTok for FY23 generated $1 billion in direct revenue for Australian businesses.
The report surveyed businesses in Australia that were using TikTok and found that 78 per cent of respondents said that TikTok had a positive impact on expanding the business’s reach within geographies where it was already active.
A similar proportion reported that TikTok had a positive impact on improving their ability to interact more with new customers and receive direct feedback (75 per cent), grow the business’s brand loyalty with existing customers (76 per cent), and reach new Australian audiences (77 per cent). Even for the lowest-ranked benefit, talent attraction, the rate of respondents indicating a positive impact stood high at 64 per cent.
A user survey as part of the report shed light on some interesting numbers for the social media giant too. As a result of watching content on TikTok, 41 per cent of users reported visiting a shop or restaurant recommended on the platform, and 28 per cent reported visiting a local cultural attraction.
Around 19 per cent said they donated to a charity or cause highlighted on TikTok and 18 per cent committed time and volunteered with a charity or cause. Thirty-eight per cent meanwhile reported purchasing a product or a service, either online or offline, while 21 per cent bought either music or tickets to a concert after discovering music, and 18 per cent even made an overseas travel decision after seeing it featured in TikTok.
The news of TikTok’s performance in Australia comes as its owner ByteDance’s profit has leapt around 60 per cent year-on-year.
The Chinese company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose to more than A$61.42 billion from about A$38.39 billion in 2022, Bloomberg reported quoting sources who were familiar with the numbers.
The world’s most valuable startup also increased sales to nearly A$184.25 billion from A$122.84 billion.
ByteDance is also the owner of TikTok’s Chinese twin Douyin. The latest figures coming out of the company mark the first time it is beating Tencent in revenue and profit, and its growth is outshining that of Alibaba too.
