Video sharing apps, TikTok's in-app revenue increases amid  COVID-19 generated lockdowns.

Video sharing app, TikTok, and it’s Chinese version, Douyin has seen an increase in its in-app revenue in April amid the ongoing COVID-19 generated lockdown in many countries.

This comes after Coronavirus pandemic which has caused a surge in using video sharing apps to keep people at home.

Focusing on in-app purchases, TikTok and Douyin’s numbers for the month showed a tenfold increase to $78 million making them lead more established names like YouTube, Tinder, and Netflix, which depend more on existing subscriptions.

Douyin which serves only the Chinese market contributes 86.6% of the app income, followed by the U.S. with 8.2%.

In both versions of the video-streaming app filled with dance videos and memes, users can buy virtual currency to spend on their favorite creators.

Like many social media platforms, ByteDance is testing online commerce, while it relies on advertising as its main source of income.

Market Research Company, Emarketer expects that over 75 million US social-network users aged 14 and older will make at least one purchase from a social channel in 2020, up 17.3% from 2019.

In the first quarter of 2020, TikTok and Douyin generated 315 million downloads globally, which is the highest number of downloads for any app in a quarter of a year exceeding its million downloads in the fourth quarter of 2018.

According to Sensor Tower, the app gained popularity as a result of the high demand for video sharing during the COVID-19 era.

Also, TikTok was ranked the highest app with 2 billion downloads on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. TikTok is the first app after Facebook’s app, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger to surpass the 2 billion downloads figure since January 1 2014.

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming. The app is used to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. ByteDance first launched Douyin, also a video sharing app meant for the China market.