As TikTok ban heads to court, ByteDance’s Lemon8 surges

As TikTok heads to court on Monday to argue against a U.S. ban, parent company ByteDance’s newer social app, Lemon8, is once again surging to the top of the App Store in the U.S. The push is due, in part, to increased advertising. Described by TikTok influencers as a cross between Pinterest and Instagram — or more recently, as “Pinterest on steroids” — the app had previously appeared in the App Store’s top charts when a TikTok ban was being discussed by U.S. lawmakers.

Seemingly poised to serve as a backup plan if TikTok were to be removed from the U.S. market — or divested from its Chinese parent company — Lemon8 offers TikTok creators a new platform they could port their followers to in the event of a ban.

The app launched globally in 2020, but U.S. ad spend and influencer marketing began until last year.

To achieve its latest ranking as the No. 10 app in the U.S. App Store as of earlier on Monday morning, ByteDance has again invested in App Store advertising. According to data from app intelligence provider Appfigures, Lemon8’s Beijing-based parent company over the past few weeks has been running a “massive” Apple Search Ads campaign that saw the use of 5,300 keywords just in the past week alone. This campaign targeted branded keywords like TikTok, CapCut, Instagram, Canva, and others that have the biggest share of advertiser impressions, the firm noted.

The company has also been running ads for Lemon8 that appear in the “For You” feed on TikTok, driving users’ curiosity. Plus, TikTok creators are once again discussing the app on their own profiles. Many of those posts do not disclose if the influencer is being paid to promote the app, though they often use similar language to last year’s campaign, including comparisons between Lemon8 and other social apps, like Instagram and Pinterest. One video from August shows a creator unboxing a PR package containing Lemon8 mascot plushies.

Appfigures’ data indicates that the app has been on the rise for a few weeks, thanks to the ads, but the latest jump is more recent.

Lemon8 received 78,000 estimated downloads on Saturday, which is roughly 44% higher than its average over the last few weeks, for instance. In total, the app has seen 16 million global downloads this year, with a little under half (6.4 million) of those coming from the U.S., demonstrating the U.S. remains a key market for the advertising push.

Downloads in other markets, like the Philippines and Singapore, are now on the decline, which could suggest ByteDance is moving ad spend around to target different regions outside the U.S.

Lemon8’s growth comes as arguments around TikTok’s future in the U.S. head into court on Monday where ByteDance will fight against a ban, arguing that the law violates Americans’ right to free speech. The law, signed in April, was temporarily blocked from going into effect by a lawsuit filed by ByteDance and TikTok in May. In addition, the company will argue that the timeframe to divest the company in the case of a sale is too short since ByteDance doesn’t intend to sell its recommendation technology as part of any sale to a U.S. entity.

The Department of Justice, meanwhile, will argue that TikTok’s control by a Chinese-owned company could give Beijing access to U.S. users’ personal information in addition to being able to use the app to influence public opinion.