There’s certainly a trend emerging in the latest social platform performance benchmark reports; TikTok engagement is way down for all brands.

Which makes sense. The more users that TikTok adds, the more competition there’ll be for attention, while brands are also now jostling for position within people’s “For You” feeds.

But it is worth noting, as three significant benchmark data reports have now highlighted this exact same fact as the key finding of their latest data notes.

First off, there’s this overview from Rival IQ, which found that TikTok’s current average engagement rate of 2.63% for brand content is down by more than half of what it was a year ago (5.69%).

That same finding is reflected in new data from Emplifi, which found that TikTok post interactions are down 26% from its highest numbers at the start of 2022.

As you can see here, both Instagram and TikTok interactions are declining over time, though TikTok’s have seen a more significant shift of late (based on analysis of over 1,000 brand profiles in both apps).

SocialInsider found the same, with its data showing that the average engagement rate for TikTok clips declined by 35% over the past year.

So while all platforms have seen a decline in average engagement rate over time, TikTok is seeing the most significant drops of late.

Which could be a reflection of platform maturity and brand adoption (i.e. as more brands come to the app, competition gets tougher, and engagement necessarily declines), or it could be that brands are producing less engaging content over time.

Either way, it’s interesting to note that TikTok, which had once been the shining light for brand engagement, is losing some of its sheen.

Which could also factor into your planning. If you’ve seen a decline in your TikTok engagement numbers of late, it may not be you, and you can show this post to your boss to highlight your point.

But the bottom line is that generating consistent engagement is tough, and the numbers will fluctuate, which could impact your KPIs.

As such, benchmark reports like this provide some more contextual data to better understand what you’re seeing.

You can check out Rival IQ’s full report here, Emplifi’s latest data here, and SocialInsider’s 2024 benchmarks report here.