While nearly half of TikTok’s unique users have shifted to Indian rivals such as Roposo, Mitron, Chingari, Sharechat in just 48 hours of the Indian government announcing a blanket ban on the Chinese app, the user-level engagement among the Indian social media apps is yet to reach TikTok’s engagement levels, as per a report by research firm KalaGato Pte Ltd.
User engagement data showed that Sharechat and Roposo had the most number of unique installs within two days of the ban being declared on June 29.
While Mitron and Chingari apps also saw a steady increase in unique users, they lagged behind Roposo and Sharechat.
The report mentions that as of July 4, Chingari had just over 4% of the unique users among the five apps including TikTok, while the Mitron app registered a 3% share of unique users.
KalaGato’s data showed that post the ban, TikTok’s unique users fell significantly from 32.2% on July 29 to just 10.5% as of July 1 in a matter of 48 hours and dropped further since.
Among the five apps, TikTok had a comparatively higher share of unique users of over 40% in May. The ban has however dealt a severe blow and erased most of TikTok’s 200 million strong user base in the country, the report states.
Aman Kumar, Chief Business Officer, KalaGato told LiveMint that though several users have moved to apps similar to TikTok, the user base is still loyal and may shift back to the Chinese app as and when the ban gets lifted.
User engagement indicators like app open rates and average session times among the rival Indian apps are yet to catch up with TikTok’s engagement levels, KalaGato’s data revealed.
Before the ban came into effect, TikTok’s daily session time i.e. total time spent by a user in a 24 hour period, ranged between 45 to 50 minutes a day. The app’s open rates, or the number of times a user opens the app daily, stood between 9 to 12 times before the ban on June 29.
TikTok’s open rates are presently between 2 to 3 times a day. Domestic apps such as Chingari and Mitron are yet to reach the same level as TikTok with app open rates of just 4.4 times as of July 4. However, the report mentions that Sharechat and Roposo had a higher open rate of 8.7 and 6.0 respectively.
As of July 4, Sharechat had a higher daily session time of 22.1 minutes per user, while Roposo saw a daily session time of 14.5 minutes. Chingari registered total session time of 5.3 minutes, and Mitron recorded a session time of 7.7 minutes daily per user.