• Over 250 U.K. challenges launched
  • Top three most popular content categories: comedy, sports and pets

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile video, is celebrating one year since it was first launched in the U.K. market, in August 2018. Despite its recent arrival in the market, there are many reasons to celebrate its anniversary, TikTok’s joyful and positive community, particularly its remarkable creators, who are the main contributors to the platform’s success.

As a unique and captivating new form of content engagement, TikTok empowers users to connect, share and inspire one another with creative ideas through 15-second videos.



The creativity of its creators and the originality and spontaneity of videos continue to drive more users to the platform and eyeballs to its videos. Among the most-watched and liked videos in the U.K. in the last twelve months is this video from @lucagallone, who blends comedy and magic in a unique way. Guinness World Records recently joined TikTok and received an enormous positive reception. Their video following a day when the world’s shortest man met the world’s tallest man delighted British audiences and became one of the most liked videos. ‘The Git Up’ by Blanco Brown was a big music hit on TikTok and @harveybass’ video mastered those dance moves like no one else.

Users couldn’t stop watching @livecookefs effortless video showcasing her freestyle skills. Sonna Rele (@sonna) has over 6.8M ‘hearts’ but this amusing comedy video captivated the British audience like no other. The watermelon challenge was grasped in this viral video by the hilarious @Goubtube. And this parkour move by @jjbrady1 left everyone gobsmacked. Three other videos making it to the top include this outstandingly creative video by @otb, these hilarious dog wizards by @heyjjwold and @anna’s #salutetheclassic Met Gala challenge-winning video where she briefly shows her talent as an artist and a prodigious creator.

Another reason why users love TikTok is that the app has lowered the barriers for content creation by offering a wide range of editing tools and effects to support creators achieve their creative aspirations. Leading the Brits favourite editing tools are distormeme, greenscreen, eyesonme, doodledance and thesquad.

The TikTok community is growing fast and new creators join the platform every day to inspire and enrich its global community with their talent. Comedy is the Brits favourite category and sports is the fastest growing.

Examples of categories and creators include:

Alongside the leading categories, TikTok has seen a diverse range of individuals and professionals from all ages and backgrounds joining the platform to share moments from their everyday lives, including a professional mermaid (@mermaidgraceofficial), a farmer with a great sense of humour (@caenhillcc), an ambulance service professional (@adriansawyer91), an ice cream maker (@bubba_ice), a fitness guru (@thebodycoach), a builder (@jamesowen1999), a full time creative mum (@refelicity) and a one of a kind grandmother (@epicgamergrandma).

The TikTok community is passionate about music and its global power to create trends was proven by Lil Nas X, who went viral on TikTok with the song Old Town Road and consequently reached the top of the Billboard charts, securing a deal with a major music label. During these twelve months, outstanding British musicians such as Ed Sheeran, Mabel, Lewis Capaldi, Four Diamonds, Jax Jones, Little Mix, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Anne-Marie, HRVY, Charli XCX, Olly Murs, RAYE, Jorja Smith, JAY1, HAIM, Glowie an Au/RA joined the TikTok community to engage with its global and diverse community through music and original dance moves.

One of TikTok’s unique and most loved features is the ‘hashtag challenges’, online competitions initiated by TikTok’s U.K. community managers to inspire users to share their creative expression. So far 254 challenges have been launched in the U.K. alone.

These challenges are a unique TikTok feature and they register an enormous adherence from the Britsh community. Among the most successful challenges are:



  • #BeautifulPeople (over 658M views) — launched by Ed Sheeran which challenged users to share videos with the beautiful people in their lives.
  • #TheMrBean (over 87M views) — this challenge asked creators to recreate some of Mr Bean iconic dance moves.
  • MyEnds (over 64M views) — a challenge in which creators shared more about their hometown.
  • #FitGotReal (over 56M views) — developed in partnership with Sport England as part of the This Girl Can campaign, this challenge encouraged users of all ages, shapes and backgrounds to exercise.
  • #BetterMeBetterInternet (over 82M views) — as part of the Safer Internet Day campaign, TikTok launched an appeal for all stakeholders to unite and work together to create a safe environment for everyone.

British creators have also expressed their creativity by organically joining global challenges and trends inspired in their day to day life or experiences such as the Microwave challenge, Fake Plane challenge or Triangle Dance challenge.

TikTok is always on the lookout for unique and inspiring content to share with its users to unleash their creative potential. During the last twelve months, TikTok live-streamed from the MTV Awards and the BRIT Awards, took some of its top creators to the Blogosphere Awards, and allowed a small group of lucky creators to watch the Spice Girls Tour live.

TikTok wants to continue to empower everyone to be a creator straight from their smartphone and is focused on building and promoting a safe and positive in-app experience. To do so, the company has been dedicated to providing more tools, support and education to its users to ensure they have more control over their accounts, content and connections.

Most recently, TikTok partnered with Internet Matters to educate families about the importance of digital wellbeing and to promote a safe and positive in-app experience for everyone.

As TikTok continues to be one of the most downloaded apps in the world, the company is committed to creating a home for creative expression while embracing diversity and inclusion.