Leading Social Media Brands in Japan: Q1 2025 Insights

In the dynamic world of social media, brands like YouTube, TikTok, and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) have established significant digital footprints in Japan. This article delves into their performance from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, highlighting audience trends, app engagement, and advertising efforts. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data allows us to cross-reference web, app, and advertising metrics, providing unparalleled insights into these platforms.

YouTube

YouTube, a global leader in video content, continues to dominate with its extensive digital presence.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable above 99M throughout the quarter. The website experienced a steady increase in visits, peaking in March 2025 with over 23B visits. The app maintained a consistent monthly active user base, with around 92M users.

• App Engagement: Monthly active users on the YouTube app showed minor fluctuations, maintaining around 92M users, indicating a stable mobile audience.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly advertising spend was minimal, with a significant focus on the X channel, especially in October 2024, where it reached over $20K with 14M impressions.

TikTok

TikTok, known for its short-form video content, continues to expand its reach across Japan.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience saw a gradual increase, exceeding 31M by March 2025. Notably, tiktok.com consistently attracted a larger audience compared to douyin.com, with unique visits nearing 9M monthly.

• App Engagement: The TikTok app demonstrated growth, with monthly active users reaching approximately 23M by the end of Q1 2025, reflecting its strong mobile market presence.

• Ad Spend & Channels: TikTok invested heavily in advertising, particularly on Instagram, with March 2025 seeing monthly ad spend over $1.2M and impressions surpassing 290M.

X Corp. (formerly Twitter)

X Corp., a platform known for real-time news and social interaction, maintains a strong digital presence in Japan.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience remained robust, consistently around 41M. Web visits peaked in March 2025, exceeding 4.7B.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active user base slightly declined, stabilizing around 28M by March 2025, indicating a shift towards web engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly advertising spend was minimal, primarily focused on TikTok, with modest impressions throughout the period.

Conclusion

The insights provided by Sensor Tower highlight the dynamic nature of social media usage in Japan. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and X Corp. continue to adapt and thrive in this competitive landscape. Sensor Tower's unique ability to cross-analyze web, app, and advertising data offers critical insights into cross-platform user behavior, essential for brands aiming to optimize their digital strategies.

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