You know what Triller is, right? A TikTok alternative that came onto the scene in 2015—a year before TikTok—but hasn’t enjoyed the cult-like following and exponential growth of the younger short-form video app. Despite not being constantly in the headlines like its younger counterpart, though, Triller is a social media platform worth watching. That’s why, in this article, we’re going to share 15 Triller statistics so you can get to know the platform a bit better.
Triller is known for keeping data about the app private, even going so far as to threaten popular app store intelligence firm Apptopia with legal action after the intelligence firm reported that Triller had been downloaded around 52 million times following the news of a TikTok ban, much lower than the 250 million downloads Triller themselves reported (TechCrunch). After some back and forth between Triller and Apptopia, the latter opted to pull its report.
While official numbers may be out of reach, it’s clear the Triller is enjoying growth. In October 2019, Triller announced a new round of funding, led by Proxima Media, a Hollywood production company with majority ownership of the platform. While a figure wasn’t released by Proxima Media or Triller, outlets like online-video trade site Tubefilter are reporting that its a Series B funding round of $28 million (Craft). In addition, Triller acquired music and tech startup MashTraxx, creators of an AI-powered music and video editing tool (TechCrunch) as well as penning a deal with 7digital and JioSaavn to power music streaming on the platform (Cision).
While Triller is unwilling to release data, they aren’t shy about talking up the app, claiming that Triller has grown 500% between 2018 and 2019. They’ve also claimed that Lil Nas X has credited Triller with helping to launch Old Town Road as well as taking shots at TikTok’s alleged sharing of user data with this quote from Triller chairman Mahi de Silva: “As a US company, Triller is laser-focused on the protection of our community from the prying eyes of nefarious parties or political agendas which has been a clear issue among our competitors.”
In the past, Triller has shied away from directly comparing itself to TikTok, indicating that the two are dissimilar enough so as to not actually be rivals. However, Triller is now suing TikTok and TikTok’s parent company Bytedance for allegedly stealing intellectual property. According to the lawsuit, Triller argues that TikTok is infringing on its US-registered patent by allowing TikTok users to shoot multiple videos to fit a single audio track and providing a green screen effect. For some reason, though, Snapchat’s new music video feature doesn’t seem to bother Triller. Triller also recently complained about Reels “doing the same exact thing that [they’re] suing TikTok for.” There are even reports that Triller, along with Centricus Asset Management, has offered $20 billion to Bytedance for TikTok’s operations in the United States and other countries, but TikTok has reportedly responded to the reports with “What’s Triller?” effectively downplaying the idea (Bloomberg).
15 Triller Statistics, Facts, and Figures to Get to Know the Platform:
15 Triller Statistics, Facts, and Figures
Regardless of where you land on the Triller vs. TikTok debate, it’s important to get to know the Triller app better if you’re an influencer or in the marketing industry. To that end, here’s a roundup of 15 Triller stats, facts, and figures to help you learn more about the short-form video content platform so you can make an informed opinion about whether or not to include Triller in your marketing strategy.
Triller Corporate Statistics
Here are some statistics on Triller’s revenue, reach, and the number of employees.
1. Location
Triller is reported with two different headquarters: Los Angeles, California and Brooklyn, New York.
2. Date Founded
Triller was founded on March 11, 2015. Since then, Triller has acquired a few other companies like MashTraxx, as well as developing strategic partnerships with music streaming platforms 7digital and JioSaavn, among others.
3. Revenue
Since its inception, Triller has amassed an impressive $380 million in capital and expanded its user base to over 550 million registrations. In terms of revenue, the platform grew from $3.7m in 2020 to $26.4m in 2021, and then further to $47.7m in 2022. However, it's essential to note the respective net losses for these years: $77.2m in 2020, a sharp $773.6m in 2021, and $195.6m in 2022.
4. Number of Employees
Triller employs roughly 215 full-time employees and has plans to double its size (Triller).
5. Main Competitors
Triller’s top competitors are listed Animoto, TikTok, Slidely, and Sonarworks (Craft). Given the trajectory and focus of the platform, though, it’s safe to say that several TikTok alternatives could be considered Triller competitors.
6. Social Media Presence
As of September 2020, Triller has 179K followers on Facebook, 49K followers on Twitter, 146K subscribers on YouTube, and 959K followers on Instagram.
7. Triller Investors
Triller’s top investors are Pegasus Tech Ventures, Ash Pournouri, Mahi de Silva, Proxima Media, Carnegie Technologies, Christer Andersson, and Lowercase Capital (CrunchBase). In addition, Triller’s backers include popular musicians like Snoop Dogg, The Weekend, Marshmello, and Lil Wayne among others.
Global Usage Statistics
In this section, we will discuss statistics related to the usage and audience demographics of Triller. All the statistics in this section will have global numbers unless otherwise noted.
8. Active Monthly Users
Triller claims 65 million monthly active users. This number, though, is hotly debated. An app’s number of monthly active users (MAUs) is a way to measure the app’s usage and popularity. This number tends to be a lot smaller than the app’s total downloads because people will download an app to check it out but may not continue using it regularly.
One way to look at MAUs is through the lens of lifetime retention. Snapchat has a lifetime retention rate of 20% while TikTok has an 11% lifetime retention rate. Based on Triller’s reported downloads of 250 million and MAUs of 65 million, Triller is claiming a 26% lifetime retention rate (Apptopia).
Triller explains this large difference by pointing to the changes the app has undergone since its launch in 2015, emphasizing that the app didn’t become a social media platform until 2018. According to Triller, lifetime retention isn’t the best indicator and we should instead look at 90–120 day retention numbers for TikTok and Snapchat as a comparison.
9. Downloads
Triller has been downloaded 3,578,953 times in the past 30 days (CrunchBase). Again, Triller’s download data is debatable. According to Apptopia’s numbers for July 23, 2020–August 2, 2020, Triller had an average overall daily store ranking of 353 on Apple’s App Store and didn’t even rank in the overall category on Google Play for enough days to make it statistically relevant. During this time period when Triller claims 250 million downloads, the app should show up a lot higher in App Store and Google Play rankings.
Triller’s CEO Mike Lu explains this away by saying that Triller isn’t the same app it was before 2018 and that its “growth and numbers are very fresh and very new, so taking anything long term or just the U.S. is neither relevant nor applicable.”
10. Monthly Download Growth
Triller downloads have increased by 92.61% over the past 30 days (CrunchBase).
11. Monthly Visits
Triller is ranked 269,837 among websites globally based on its 124,382 monthly web visitors (SimilarWeb). This is a decline in monthly visits growth of 45.41%.
12. Global Traffic Rank and Rank Growth
Triller’s global traffic rank is 269,837 with a monthly rank growth of 73.48%.
13. Share of Visits and Visits Growth by Country
Triller’s top 5 countries in terms of visits are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and France.
However, visitors have actually declined for the United States and France.
14. Site’s Rank and Rank Growth by Country
Triller’s top 5 countries in terms of the site’s ranking are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and France.
Triller has slipped in rankings in the United Kingdom and Canada.
15. Visit Duration
According to Triller, users spend about 22 minutes on the app each day (creators spend about an hour), much less than TikTok’s users who are on the platform multiple times each day and spend an average of 52 minutes on the platform each day (TechCrunch).
Triller: A Litigious and Secretive Platform
Triller has no doubt increased in popularity since TikTok started having troubles, but it’s definitely still playing the catch-up game to be a viable TikTok replacement. This could be due to Triller’s initial launch as strictly a video editing tool that creators could use to create music videos to share elsewhere. But, Triller still hasn’t seen jaw-dropping usage since it took a cue from TikTok and added a social element in 2018.
At least, we don’t think so.
Unfortunately, with Triller’s secretive nature, it’s not clear how well the app is performing. We can see that they’re getting funding from multiple investors and the app does boast high-profile users, but the lack of raw data means that Triller’s efficacy as a TikTok competitor can’t really be validated. And, while it’s not surprising that Triller saw an increase in downloads after United States President Donald Trump voiced his displeasure with the app and a potential ban, it’s unclear whether those new users are actively using the app or gave it up for another competitor like Instagram’s Reels, Dubsmash, or Byte.
What is clear is that Triller has a long way to go before it catches up with TikTok, both in terms of downloads and users. While a United States ban on TikTok might help Triller, there’s really no indication that users see Triller as a genuine TikTok replacement. In fact, Triller seems to distance itself from what makes TikTok so popular with users even as it tries to position itself as a viable alternative.
According to Triller investor Anis Uzzaman, “TikTok tries to grow its own celebrities. Triller already has all the big celebrities.” And, while it is true that Triller boasts tons of high-profile users, TikTok has never intended to be a vehicle for celebrities, which is one of the reasons TikTok’s users love it. TikTok offers up-and-coming creators a platform where they can reach users who are interested in content like theirs and the platform has been very successful in creating several stars from ordinary TikTok influencers. Where Triller “gives the young people a feeling that they are close to celebrities,” according to a Triller investor, TikTok gives young people a fighting chance to grow a following from scratch and become a celebrity.
Since pulling their reporting on Triller’s download data, it seems that Apptopia and Triller have been in discussion. Apptopia has indicated that they would be releasing new download data for Triller in the future.
