Empirical Research on Perceived Popularity of TikTok In India - sersc
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International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
Empirical Research on Perceived Popularity of
TikTok In India
Dr. Deepti Kiran1, Miss Itisha Sharma*2 (*Corresponding Author)
1
Assistant Professor, ICFAI Business School, ICFAI University, Dehradun
2
Research Scholar, ICFAI Business School, ICFAI University, Dehradun
1
deepti.kiran1710@gmail.com
2
sharma.itisha@gmail.com
Abstract
Short video applications like Tiktok, Helo, Vimeo etc have been the fastest growing
trend in the world. The videos’ duration ranges from 15 seconds to 1 minute and helps in
killing the fragmented spare time but there has been little study on them in Indian context.
For the purpose of research, we chose TikTok as it is the most downloaded app in India in
the social media category. India contributes to 45% of 2019’s total Tiktok downloads
across the globe. The research collects data from 101 TikTok users across India through
a questionnaire. The responses were collected on a 5-point Likert scale. It tries to find
relation between 4 inducting factors: TikTok’s product positioning, content variety,
uniqueness and security concerns and the dependent variable - perceived popularity.
Keywords: short video apps, TikTok, perceived popularity, content variety, product
positioning
1. Introduction
TikTok is a free short video making application that is available on both
AppStore and Google Play. It is easy to scroll up and down to watch various videos,
comment, download and share, make duets, use different filters and sounds. It was
first launched by Douyin in China in September 2016 and later introduced by
ByteDance in 2017 for markets outside China. It is the fastest growing platform in
the world in social media category and is available in 155 countries and 75
languages which makes it easily accessible to local people also . TikTok has 800
million active users in the world and India is responsible for 45% of its total
downloads [1].
When compared to other short video apps, TikTok has various advantages. First,
TikTok is focused on music, therefore it is promoting both music and content
creation simultaneously. Second, it is easy to use as the app user interface is
conducive and interactive. Third, the big data algorithm which TikTok uses,
suggests videos as per the browsing history of the user which ensures access to
personalized content [3] [4]. But as TikTok is expanding its market, it has to face
challenges in terms of product positioning, content variety, security and uniqueness.
This research paper tries to find the relationship and give a conceptual model of
perceived popularity and contributing factors like product positioning, content
variety, uniqueness and security concerns.
ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 236
Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSCInternational Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
2. Literature Review
TikTok has rapidly acquired the market share in the social media category.
Currently, it is the 7 th most used social media platform in the world after Facebook,
YouTube, Whatsapp, FB messenger, WeChat and Instagram with 800 million users
across the globe. In order to top the list, it has to focus on positioning of the
product. As of now, the majority of the users are in the age group 18 -28, who do not
have permanent/ regular source of income [5]. Although, TikTok is considered to be
an apt combination of product uniqueness and product positioning [2], but in order to
expand itself to other age groups and focus on long term development, TikTok has
to consider product positioning as the focal point. Product positioning includes core
audience, product characteristics and marketing strategy. Core audience is the
ultimate user of the product and product should be designed so that it fulfills the
needs of the users. Product characteristics are designed in accordance to the needs
of the target audience. A good marketing strategy will give a thrust to product
development and expansion. TikTok has already used a warring YouTube campaign
and have spent a lot of money to get celebrities on platform [6].
TikTok supports originality. It offers a plethora of sounds and visual effects
which offers more possibilities for creators to display their creativity [6]. Therefore,
content variety is another factor which affects the popularity of TikTok. The content
can be divided into 3 categories – educational, entertainment and promotional
content. The educational content includes videos on cooking, speaking different
languages, art and craft etc. Entertainment videos act as stress busters both for
creators and viewers. The promotional videos affect the buying behavior of
consumers under the impact of key opinion leader.
TikTok was banned in India in April 2019, because it became a platform to
spread communal hatred, pornography, exposing children to sexual predators,
impacting mental health of users, life threatening challenges, objectification of
women etc [7]. Later the ban was lifted when TikTok assured vigilance over the
content. Security concern is divided into 3 categories – the trust users have in
security measures by TikTok, initiatives taken by TikTok to ensure that the content
posted is appropriate to the society and if TikTok should take responsibility of the
users doing/ posting dangerous activities/ stunts.
The biggest advantage TikTok has, is the big data algorithm which it uses. It
ensures that users are made to see contents based on their previous searches. This
ensures loyal users. It also makes use of the fragmented free time of users as the
video length ranges from 15 seconds to 1 minute. TikTok has to develop other
unique features to ensure it growth. Uniqueness includes features that makes TikTok
different from other similar apps. Therefore, in this research, the relationship
between the above mentioned 4 factors and the perceived popularity is investigated.
3. Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis
The research tries to find the relationship between product positioning, content
variety, uniqueness and security concerns with perceived popularity of TikTok. For
this purpose, responses were calculated from 101 TikTok users across India. A
google form-based questionnaire was used to collect the responses. The
questionnaire was divided into 2 sections. The first section had only 1 question and
was to ensure if the respondent is a TikTok user or not. The form proceeded to
second section if respondent was a TikTok user. The second section was further
divided into two parts. The first part asked about the demographic attributes like
gender, age, living in metro or non-metro and duration of using TikTok. The next
ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 237
Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSCInternational Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
part had questions related to product positioning, content variety, uniqueness and
security concerns which were recorded on a 5 point Likert scale which were
anchored at Strongly Agree (5), Agree (4), Neutral (3), Disagree (2) and Strongly
Disagree (1). For the purpose of analysis and hypothesis testing, multiple regression
was performed using SPSS.
Based on the above discussion, below are the conceptual model and hypothesis.
Product Positioning
- Core audience
- Product Characteristics
- Marketing strategy
H1
Content Variety
- Educational
- Entertainment H2 Perceived
- Promotional Popularity
Uniqueness
H3
- Algorithm
- Short time of videos
- Plethora of sound options
H4
Security Concerns
- Trust
- Initiatives
- Responsibility
Figure 1: Conceptual Model
On the basis of conceptual model, below are the hypothesis:
H1: Product Positioning has significant influence on Perceived Popularity of TikTok
H2: Content Variety has significant influence on Perceived Popularity of TikTok
H3: Uniqueness has significant influence on Perceived Popularity of TikTok
H4: Security concerns have significant influence on Perceived Popularity of TikTok
5. Result and Discussion
This section discusses the result of analysis and hypothesis testing.
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Male 60 59.41 Metro 58 57.43
Non-
Female 41 40.59 43 42.57
metro
Total 101 100.00 Total 101 100.00
Table 1: Gender of Respondents Table 2: Living In
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
18-28 66 65.35 3 29 28.71
ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 238
Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSCInternational Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
months
29-39 27 26.73 6 moths 28 27.72
40-50 6 5.94 1 year 34 33.66
Over
2 1.98 2 years 10 9.90
50
Total 101 100.00 Total 101 100.00
Table 3: Age of respondents Table 4: Duration of using TikTok
Model Summary
Adjusted R
Model R R Square Square Std. Error of the Estimate
a
1 .554 .307 .168 7.166
a. Predictors: (Constant), SecurityConcerns, Uniqueness,
ContentVariety, ProductPositioning
ANOVAa
Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 454.997 4 113.749 2.215 .104b
Residual 1027.003 20 51.350
Total 1482.000 24
a. Dependent Variable: PerceivedPopularity
b. Predictors: (Constant), SecurityConcerns, Uniqueness, ContentVariety,
ProductPositioning
Coefficientsa
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 15.013 3.318 4.525 .000
ProductPositioning .116 .235 .221 .495 .626
ContentVariety .225 .176 .407 1.273 .217
Uniqueness -.159 .254 -.277 -.624 .540
SecurityConcerns .075 .148 .162 .505 .619
Table 5: Standard Multiple Regression between dependent and independent
variables
The above table reveals the result of multiple regression analysis of perceived
popularity. From the above SPSS result, the equation of relationship between the
variables would be:
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Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSCInternational Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
Perceived Popularity = 15.013 + 0.116 * Product Positioning + 0.225 *Content
variety – 0.159 * Uniqueness +0.075 * Security Concerns
The value of multiple correlation coefficient ‘R’ is 0.554 which shows an accepted
level of prediction. The values of (B, t) for variables like product positioning,
content variety and security concerns depict significant contribution to the perceived
popularity of TikTok. However, the factor of uniqueness with (B, t) values as ( -
0.159, -0.624) did not contribute to perceived popularity.
As per the above discussion, it is clear that only 3 variables have significant impact
on perceived popularity of TikTok in India and therefore the hypothesis status is as
follows:
Hypothesis Accepted/ Not
Accepted
H1: Product Positioning has significant influence on Accepted
Perceived Popularity of TikTok
H2: Content Variety has significant influence on Perceived Accepted
Popularity of TikTok
H3: Uniqueness has significant influence on Perceived Not Accepted
Popularity of TikTok
H4: Security concerns have significant influence on Accepted
Perceived Popularity of TikTok
6. Conclusion
It is important to note that TikTok is a new topic and very little study has been done
in Indian context. From the results above, it is clear that TikTok should focus on
product positioning, content variety and security concerns, in order to ensure long
term development. TikTok must ensure that unwanted content is removed from the
platform before it reaches the mass audience and users shoot video with aesthetic
value also. Since uniqueness is not a contributing factor to perceived popularity, it is
evident that users recognize the original content and accept how creatively videos
are created.
Keeping in mind the above analysis and results, here are some recommendations and
suggestions. TikTok can bring in the concept of time management based on the age
to ensure that the young minds are not compromising with their valuable time.
TikTok offer Live broadcasting also which can be improved to increase the users’
interaction.
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Vol. 29, No. 8s, (2020), pp. 236-241
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