After being absent from Google and Apple app stores for nearly two-weeks, short video creating app TikTok is now back. According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, the two-week ban cost the TikTok app nearly 15 million users in India.
In April, Madras High Court had issued the ban on the Chinese app after a petition was filed that alleged TikTok for promoting pornography, suicide and child abuse.
According to the historical performance and projections, Sensor Tower estimates TikTok missing out on over 15 million first-time internet users in India across both stores during the period the ban was in effect or about three times as many as the app added in all of April 2018.
Sensor Tower now expects worldwide TikTok installs for April to be about 33 per cent under March’s total of nearly 60 million as the result of the ban. Before the ban, TikTok was likely to surpass 33 million new users in April, which would have surpassed December 2018 as its best month in the market.
TikTok, owned by the Beijing-based Bytedance Co., has over 54 million monthly active users and more than one billion downloads. The app has been facing intense criticism in the country from various social activists.
And while the app was absent for almost two-weeks, TikTok has rebounded quickly and has returned to the top 10 on India’s App Store following its reinstatement. TikTok currently ranks number one in the photo and video category and number 6 overall. The app now stands at 131 on Google Play Charts overall and is rising fast.
