Essential UK TikTok statistics brands need in 2026

TikTok’s popularity in the UK is exploding, officially crossing the 26.8 million active user mark—and it’s not just Gen Z anymore. With an increasingly diverse user base and a unique style of content consumption, TikTok demands an informed approach from brands.

Understanding how to use TikTok for business means keeping up with the latest UK TikTok trends taking over the app. It also means understanding who’s using the app and how UK consumers are using it.

Arm your strategy with the UK TikTok data driving real business impact.

Who is on TikTok in the UK?

• TikTok now has 26.8 million active users in the UK.
• The largest age group is 25 to 34 years.
• More women use TikTok in the UK than men.

The maturing age profile of UK TikTok users

According to DataReportal, there are now 26.8 million active TikTok users aged 18 years and above in the UK.

Originally known as a “Gen Z platform,” TikTok is still a popular choice among younger users in the UK. Ofcom’s Online Nations Report 2025 found that it’s one of the top smartphone apps among UK adults aged 18 to 34 years, reaching 65% of users in this age group.

But digging deeper into the age breakdown, there’s a pattern of TikTok users aging up. Although there’s no country-specific data on TikTok age demographics, here’s what the latest global TikTok stats show:

Age Group	Percentage of Users
18 to 24	30.7%
25 to 34	35.3%
35 to 44	16.4%
45 to 54	9.2%
55 and above	8.4%

With almost 70% of TikTok’s user base now over the age of 25, the platform is key to engaging B2B consumers and higher-ticket B2C audiences alike. Brands will also need to align their TikTok marketing strategy with the platform’s maturing audience. That means focusing on informative and educational content without losing the entertainment value.

TikTok gender breakdown and purchasing power

TikTok’s user base in the UK heavily skews female at 61.5% vs. 38.5% male users. This is a significant change from the previous year, when 52% of UK TikTok users were female, and 48% were male.

It also contrasts with global TikTok gender distribution patterns, which show more male users (55.7%) than female users (44.3%).

TikTok’s evolution into a female-dominated platform in the UK offers an advantage: the spending power gap is expected to narrow in regions like Great Britain. YouGov even found that women in the UK are more likely than men to shop for clothes.

With this in mind, UK brands in female-leaning verticals like fashion and beauty could thrive on the app. Made by Mitchell sees a ton of engagement on TikTok with tutorial videos that are as entertaining as they are educational.

Source: TikTok

Regional TikTok usage patterns across the UK

While regional data is scarce, major hubs like London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool, alongside student towns like Oxford, naturally drive higher adoption. Where there are younger people, TikTok use will likely be higher.

At the same time, small businesses outside of the M25 should still focus on localised content and regional targeting to engage local audiences.

This includes timing your posts so they can reach more audiences in your region. Say you’re posting at night, but most of your TikTok target audience is in towns where people are typically active in the mornings. You’ll have a hard time reaching and engaging the right people.

The best times to post in the UK are:

• Wednesdays: 3 p.m. – 11 p.m.
• Mondays and Thursdays: 4 p.m. – 12 a.m.

But you should also look at your analytics to see your followers’ most active times. This will help you time your posts strategically.

TikTok engagement statistics: How UK audiences interact

When it comes to platforms like TikTok, engagement goes far beyond Likes and comments. Learning to track TikTok metrics like views, completion rates, shares and saves can give you a more comprehensive look at how users are engaging with your content.

With that said, let’s take a look at the top TikTok statistics to see how UK consumers are engaging with the app.

Average daily time spent on TikTok

Based on the latest data on social media demographics in the UK, TikTok is one of the top social platforms where UK consumers spend their time.

DataReportal shows that they spend an average of 88.5 minutes per day on the platform. This puts it second only to YouTube, where UK users spend 100 minutes per day. But when it comes to individual time spent, TikTok outpaces every other platform. Each UK user spends about 1 hour and 14 minutes per day on TikTok.

The “stickiness” of the For You Page (FYP) plays a key role in this. Users can discover videos curated to their tastes, making them more likely to keep scrolling.

In fact, Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes 2025 study found that UK adults are still spending extended periods of time scrolling through videos on TikTok. This makes it the only exception to a growing trend of users spending less time scrolling through their feeds on other social media platforms.

Short-form video vs. TikTok live engagement

As a result of this sustained attention, TikTok also dominates when it comes to engagement.

The platform sees an average engagement rate of 3.7% on short-form videos, marking a 49% increase from the previous year. This is an impressive achievement, especially at a time when organic reach and engagement are either declining or flatlining on other platforms.

Short-form videos are more likely to come up on users’ FYPs, allowing easy content discovery. This type of content is also high in demand. The 2026 Sprout Social Content Strategy Report found that users who interact with brands on TikTok are most likely to engage with short-form videos less than 60 seconds long.

Currys sees plenty of engagement on its entertaining short-form videos featuring real staff and creative messaging. Explore more TikTok video ideas for UK brands to see how you can engage your audience.

Source: TikTok

TikTok LIVE is just as impactful for different reasons. These live broadcasts allow creators to interact with their audience in real time, driving prolonged engagement.

In fact, TikTok LIVE generated a total watch time of over 8 billion hours in Q1 of 2025. This amounts to 27% of total watch hours across platforms, making it the second biggest livestreaming platform.

Live video gives your brand a stage, so make it worth the scroll. According to the 2026 Sprout Social Content Strategy Report, the number one thing consumers want brands to prioritise is human-generated content. Reaching your audience through live interactions with creators or members of your team will give your content a human touch.

The TikTok algorithm and content discovery behaviours

TikTok is an entertainment and discovery engine rather than a traditional social graph. As the latest UK social media stats show, people are increasingly using the platform to seek out targeted information.

The Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes 2025 study found that 34% of UK consumers are using video-sharing platforms like TikTok for daily searches.

Whether they need shopping inspiration, honest reviews or helpful instructions, TikTok is where they’re searching. To understand the TikTok algorithm, it’s important to recognise how it has evolved. It’s no longer just dependent on user interactions and engagement data. Instead, it’s also considering video information to rank content.

So when you search for something like “Nature Spell rosemary oil,” you get a bunch of results using the search term in the captions, hashtags and text overlays.

Source: TikTok

This is enabling more intentional content discovery, where users can find videos related to their specific needs and interests. And with strategic TikTok SEO, you can create videos that rank in relevant search results.

TikTok Shop statistics UK: The rise of social commerce

Although it’s a major driver of search and discovery, TikTok’s purpose for brands goes beyond brand awareness. With in-app shopping tools, it’s turning into a full-funnel conversion engine. And this is shaping social commerce trends in the UK.

The growth of UK TikTok social commerce

Shoppable posts on TikTok allow friction-free in-app purchasing, which is changing consumer habits. UK consumers are increasingly using the app to make direct purchases.

TikTok Shop saw a 50% YoY increase in UK sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period in 2025. Black Friday was the biggest sales day in the UK, with 27 items sold every second. These numbers explain why 200,000 small and medium businesses in the UK are now selling on TikTok Shop.

Top performing TikTok product categories in 2026

TikTok is driven by aesthetics and visual storytelling. It’s no surprise that products with strong visual appeal—or those whose benefit can be demonstrated on camera—tend to perform best.

Like in other markets, beauty and personal care brands do particularly well among UK consumers, experiencing a 60% YoY growth in 2025. This makes TikTok Shop the fourth-largest beauty retailer in the UK. There were also 90% more LIVE shopping sessions focusing on beauty in 2025.

Other categories like fashion and home supplies are also popular with UK consumers. Companies like QVC UK give testimony to the category’s success, growing 2,000% within just a few months of launching on TikTok Shop. The retailer regularly hosts livestream shopping sessions where shoppers can discover products and ask questions in real time.

Source: TikTok

That’s not to say other brands outside of these categories won’t benefit from TikTok Shop. In fact, higher education, non-profits and travel industries see the highest engagement rate on TikTok globally. So a strong content strategy focusing on educational videos and behind-the-scenes glimpses could help you capture market share.

The impact of TikTok creator affiliate programmes

TikTok doesn’t limit its in-app shopping features to brand accounts. Creators can also create shoppable posts where users can directly buy products without leaving the app.

And that’s a good thing because people prefer human-generated content. The fact that creator ads see a 159% higher engagement rate and 70% higher click-through rate than non-creator ads is proof.

So creator-driven shoppable posts are a major driver of TikTok Shop sales. In fact, creator partnerships are contributing to 60 to 80% of TikTok sales volume for brands like Beekman 1802.

These shoppable creator posts make it even easier for brands to scale their affiliate marketing efforts. As creators earn commissions on the sales they generate through TikTok Shop, they can seamlessly promote, sell and earn all within the app.

Source: TikTok

How to leverage Sprout Social for TikTok analytics

While the above industry data helps you make sense of how UK consumers are using the TikTok app, your own performance data will give you more clarity on what to do. Sprout Social provides you with comprehensive TikTok analytics data to inform various aspects of your strategy.

Consolidating multi-channel TikTok reporting

Sprout’s Social Media Analytics tools give you a unified dashboard to keep track of your data across multiple social platforms. So you can measure TikTok performance alongside Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X. This lets you establish a single source of truth instead of having to rely on siloed native platform data.

With better cross-channel visibility, you can see where your audience is growing and how specific posts are performing on different platforms.

Tying TikTok metrics to business revenue

With Sprout’s advanced reporting features, measurements go beyond vanity metrics like raw views. Instead, you can level up to track meaningful engagement and audience growth over time. So it’s much easier to prove the ROI of your TikTok investment.

You’ll be able to pinpoint your top posts and see which content ideas outperform others. You can even choose custom time periods to figure out how certain campaigns drive ROI.

Stop relying on siloed, native platform data. Unifying your TikTok metrics with your broader social strategy gives you the definitive proof you need to tie content directly to revenue. Start your free 30-day trial today.