It's that time again! If you are new here, this is our TikTok trends, forecasts and predictions series that started at the beginning of the year, following our research from our latest report ‘What Gen Z want from food and drinks brands 2024.’  

BIG little LDN’s self-confessed TikTok addict and marketing executive, Maya Behzadi, dives into trends from #GameTok, #PetTok, and #FoodTok, and evaluates the predictions made earlier this year. As a member of Gen Z, having grown up with social media, she instinctively knows the type of content that’s going to resonate with her demographic online, and what’s going to be a flop.  

“To put this knowledge to good use, I’ve picked out the best trends from different online groups that anyone could hop on.”

says Maya.  

“As we all know, TikTok is a fast-paced app; it’s forever changing. Trends are always coming and going as people lose interest and new trends emerge. This can make it difficult for brands to engage with their target audience when TikTok users are experiencing content fatigue and when there’s constantly a new trend or community to be joining.”

Before we begin, we must highlight TikTok’s recent removal of ‘views’ under each hashtag. Although an imperfect method of tracking, the removal of ‘views’ has caused a need for a better understanding on benchmarks of ‘posts’ under hashtags. Moving forward, we will not be tracking this metric.

Source: Washington Post

Let’s take a look at the 2024 predictions.

Convenience cooking - easy meals that pack the punch on TikTok

‍

In my predictions for the year, I was pretty certain we could expect to see people opting for short easy meals that have plenty of flavour. The number of posts under #QuickRecipes has increased by 100,000 in the last four months.  

I believe it will only continue to grow throughout the year with more sharing their reimagined quick recipes.  

The ringleader of quick recipes is the air fryer and this year alone, Channel 5 have created eight programmes dedicated to air fryers and their uses. This caught the eye of @joeefoster on TikTok as he shared his views on the device’s new surge of popularity.

In the most recent trends users have been creating quick sweet snacks, for example making Tanghulu (a snack originating in North China, sugary shell-coated fruit) and trying  Lavashak (a snack originating from Iran, a dried fruit roll served with pomegranate syrup).

Comparing the hashtags:

#QuickRecipes

‍Q1 - 1.2m posts and 16.4 b views

Q2 - 1.3m posts

Using pets for human trends on TikTok

‍

I’m happy to say this prediction came to fruition. Over the previous quarter, we’ve seen more and more users using their pets to hop on human trends.

The most popular video I saw in the last 3 months was a dog in a cap and human clothes sitting on the sofa with Travis Scott's song ‘Fien’ as their sound of choice. This video received over 25m likes and 178m views, with everyone trying to promote it to top the most liked video on the app (Bella Poarch’s lip sync to ‘M to the B’ by Millie B).

I’m still confident we will see a lot more of this throughout this year and the years to come. So, although it may not be a dog dressed up as a human sitting on the sofa, there will be plenty more trends that users can get their pets involved in.

Comparing the hashtags:

#PetsofTikTok:

Q1 - 8.3m posts

Q2 - 8.9m posts  

#PetTok:

Q1 - 222k posts

Q2 - 239.4k posts

Pet advice on TikTok  

I haven’t seen any major pet advice accounts really pop off in this quarter, unless we include Logan Conover who asked his followers whether his dog looks like he’s eaten after he forgot if he had been fed that morning!

However, as we approach the summer months, I think we’ll see more creators showing users how to entertain their pets in the sun and how to keep them safe in the heat.

Comparing the hashtags

#DogAdvice

Q1 - 7595 posts

Q2 - 8757 posts

Popular accounts for pet advice on TikTok

@Amirthevet -  Veterinarian

Q1 - 384.4k followers and 19.4m likes

Q2 - 449.6k followers and 24.3m likes.

@kaylakowaski – certified dog nutritionist

Q1 - 1.7m followers and 43.5m likes

Q2 - 1.8m followers and 44.3m likes.

@Useless_Farm – gives us an insight into what farm life is really like

Q1 - 5.2 m followers and 190m likes

Q2 - 5.2m followers and 191.9m likes

TikTok gaming streams

‍

Gaming streams on TikTok have increased in popularity this year, with TikTok being the second most popular platform to stream live gaming content, behind YouTube but shockingly in front of Twitch.  

Source: YPulse Gaming survey.

‍Comparing the hashtags:

#GameTok

Q1 - 2.9m posts

Q2 - 2.9m posts

In real life (IRL) gaming on TikTok

Nothing big has hit the ground in terms of IRL gaming yet but I still have faith!

#GameTok is a huge community and with so many niches you can easily get lost down a rabbit hole of gaming theories. One of my personal favourite trends within the community is the story times over gaming footage.  

This is a trend where creators would show footage of a specific game (usually Subway Surfers, Minecraft or Fortnite) and then tell a story that was either sent in by a viewer or found on Reddit.

Another favourite trend of mine is when fans make edits of their favourite game. For example, when the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer came out fans went crazy over the new version and made edits of the trailer, some gaining over 30 million views. What’s even crazier is that the game doesn't come out until 2025 yet there is already so much hype around it. Proving the loyalty of the gaming community.

TikTok updates you need to know in 2024

TikTok makes updates all the time, and it’s hard to understand the impact of these changes unless you are a frequent user of the app. There have been some major changes to TikTok in the last three months that you need to know.

Universal Music Group leaves TikTok

At the end of January this year all sounds owned or distributed by Universal Music Group were removed from TikTok. This came after TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and UMG failed to reach a deal over royalties. This left many users with old content muted and their favourite songs by Taylor Swift, Olivia Roderigo, Drake, Bad Bunny, SZA, Harry Styles and more were removed. This change saw trends die for users, and for brands, this change is just another hurdle to going viral.

Source: TechCrunch

Is long-form content making a comeback?

Something to highlight is that a lot of influencers and content creators are turning to podcasts as, what seems to be, their main channel of communication with their followings. Not only are these clips being cut and edited onto TikTok but they’re also being put onto YouTube. Could this be the comeback of long-form videos? Some of these podcast episodes span over 2 hours long! With TikTok's new update of 10-minute-long videos, we will likely see longer clips on TikTok.  

Is TikTok being banned in the US?

The biggest headline we’ve seen recently regarding the infamous entertainment app is that the US Government will pass a bill to ban the app in the States if the company doesn’t part ways with its parent company, ByteDance, in the next 12 months. If this law comes to be, creators in the United States will need to find a new platform to call home. This could perhaps explain why we’ve seen an increase in creators venturing out to podcasting and other short-form content platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Will this law result in a resurgence for IG?

See you next quarter for more TikTok trends!

So, some predictions are on track, and some are still yet to blossom, that’s all to be expected we do have the rest of the year, after all.

Make sure to catch our next update on TikTok trends, forecasts and predictions for 2024. Hopefully this has inspired anyone who’s starting their brands TikTok journey this year.  

I will keep looking for new trends and picking out the best examples for you guys to follow. In the meantime, if you are looking for some fresh eyes to check out your socials, we offer a FREE social media audit. Speak to Alice or Maya to find out more.