Leading Social Media Brands in the US: Q3 2023 Analysis

Introduction

In the dynamic world of social media, understanding audience trends and engagement is crucial for brands looking to maintain their competitive edge. In Q3 2023, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook emerged as the leading brands in the US, boasting substantial monthly deduplicated audiences across their websites and apps. Thanks to Sensor Tower's comprehensive data, we can delve into these platforms' performance and trends, offering insights into cross-platform user behavior.

YouTube

As a dominant force in video content, YouTube's digital presence remains robust. Its website, youtube.com, and the YouTube app continue to attract massive audiences.

• Audience Trends: From Q2 to Q3 2023, YouTube's monthly deduplicated audience remained stable, consistently above 315M. Although the web presence noted a slight decrease in unique visits, visits per unique visitor peaked at 175 in July.

• App Engagement: Monthly active users on the YouTube app remained steady, hovering around 260M, indicating a strong and consistent mobile user base.

• Ad Spend & Channels: YouTube's monthly advertising spend saw a significant increase, reaching over $6M by September, with impressions peaking at over 775M. Notably, Snapchat and TikTok were prominent channels for ad spend, reflecting diverse channel utilization.

TikTok

Known for its viral short-form videos, TikTok's digital ecosystem includes its websites, douyin.com and tiktok.com, along with the TikTok app.

• Audience Trends: TikTok's monthly deduplicated audience remained robust, consistently above 110M. The web audience on tiktok.com showed stable unique visits, while douyin.com experienced fluctuations.

• App Engagement: The TikTok app maintained a strong user base with monthly active users around 115M, showcasing its continued popularity among mobile users.

• Ad Spend & Channels: TikTok's monthly ad spend increased to nearly $5M by September, with impressions exceeding 520M. Mobile display channels dominated, reflecting a mobile-first advertising strategy.

Facebook

As a staple in social networking, Facebook's presence is notable with its website, facebook.com, and the Facebook app.

• Audience Trends: Facebook's monthly deduplicated audience remained consistent, close to 280M throughout Q3 2023. Web visits were stable, with a slight decline in unique visits in September.

• App Engagement: The Facebook app recorded monthly active users around 253M, indicating steady user engagement across mobile platforms.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Facebook's monthly ad spend was substantial, with over $4M by the end of Q3 2023 and impressions reaching 525M. Snapchat and YouTube were key channels, highlighting a diverse advertising approach.

Conclusion

In Q3 2023, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook demonstrated strong digital presences with substantial monthly deduplicated audiences across their platforms. Sensor Tower's unparalleled data insights provide a detailed view of user behavior across web and app platforms, emphasizing the importance of cross-platform strategies. As social media continues to evolve, these insights are invaluable for brands aiming to optimize their audience engagement and advertising efforts.

For more detailed insights, explore Sensor Tower's Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics.