For the first time, we have published our TikTok user forecast for Mexico, one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic. As people there stayed home more in 2020, many turned to the internet for entertainment, and the number of monthly TikTok users surged 222.5% year over year, according to our estimates.

The short-video app’s monthly user base jumped from 4.6 million in 2019 to 15.0 million in 2020. Further, the share of internet users who use the platform at least once per month grew from 5.9% to 18.7% in that time frame.

TikTok became available in Mexico in 2018, and the platform’s low penetration before the pandemic meant it was ripe for growth. In fact, by this measure, TikTok has already overtaken Snapchat, which had a 14.8% penetrate rate among internet users and 11.8 million monthly users last year.

Even after such rapid adoption last year, TikTok will continue to grow in Mexico through the end of our forecast period in 2025. Much of the excitement around the platform stems from its influencers, who create new trends and challenges for teens and young adults to enjoy. As more users join TikTok, the number of content creators will multiply, which in turn will generate more viral content to attract even more users.

We expect that by the end of this year, the number of monthly TikTok users in the country will increase by 14.1% to 17.1 million.