Minutes after India announced a ban on 59 Chinese apps, Paras Tomar put out a succinct video on TikTok. “Follow me on Instagram,” the model and actor urged his 3.3 million followers.
Tomar was one of the first users of TikTok in India, an “incubated creative”, he says. If he posted a video on Instagram, he got maybe 30,000 likes. But on TikTok, the same video got up to 400,000 likes. TikTok catapulted his popularity to such a stratospheric level that he rode on its wave to launch a skincare brand. “The sales were massive,” he says. Additionally, brands approached him frequently for collaborations.
So, what now? “The TikTok ban is likely to affect a lot of businesses,” says Tomar, whose screen age is 24. “We were just closing in on some deals when it was announced. But it’s a good decision. As creators, we make Rs 150,000 to 200,000 a month. That’s nothing compared to what China makes from TikTok.” Despite his Imploring, he doesn’t expect his fan base to migrate to Instagram. “It’s a different demographic.”
TikTok has been most popular among people from Tier II and III cities. Until the ban, India accounted for 350-400 million active users; it had been downloaded 600 million times. The app made celebrities of hitherto unknown people from far-flung corners of the country. Stars were born from their sheer ability to entertain.
“It was very easy to grow if you posted consistently. Like you could easily hit 500,000 to a million followers,” says Dimple Mangal, a 22-year-old health and fitness influencer. Even though she wasn’t a fan of the platform, Mangal concedes the reach was unparalleled. It helped increase her follower count on Instagram and YouTube, her mainstays. “The ban doesn’t affect me much because it wasn’t my main platform,” adds Mangal, who believes her following of 90,000 on TikTok was always “small”.
For some influencers, life without it is unimaginable. “I was born on TikTok,” says Shivani Kapila, who had 10.5 million followers, and did collaborations with popular brands like Myntra, Lifestyle, Dettol, Pepsi, Fanta. Kapila downloaded TikTok in 2019 on a whim. She liked its ease. Suddenly, her videos started going viral. She left her HR job to focus full time on TikTok, unaware of the windfall it could yield. Her mother-in-law featured in many of her videos; when she went out, strangers recognised her. “We are not like the typical saas-bahu. Thanks to TikTok, we are friends,” she says. “I could never have imagined I would one day become a star. I can’t believe it. I’m in this dreamland.” Sadly, the ban’s cut her stay short.
