With 13 million users in France, more than a billion across the world, the TikTok application has become a challenge for traditional media, which are embarking on it with varying degrees of success.

Guillaume Benec, co-founder of the consulting firm Odace Média, which supports brands in this process, mentioned it in "Culture Médias" on Thursday.

It is a rapidly expanding social network, which has benefited in particular from confinement.

From 4 or 5 million users in France at the end of 2019, TikTok has grown to 13 million per month.

The application, which allows everyone to view and produce videos of less than a minute, is therefore a real challenge for the media.

Some, like Brut, are well established there and it seems very logical, the video being their main medium.

But other more traditional ones also manage to launch themselves successfully. 

"A way to renew yourself, to test things"

This is the case, for example, with

Gala

, which has become "the largest European media" on TikTok, recalls Guillaume Benech, co-founder of the consulting firm Odace Media, which supports brands on the social network.

"We have content that matches the DNA of the media, which deals with subjects usually treated on other platforms [by the same media], but adapted to TikTok. We are going to follow stars, go to events," details Guillaume Benech.

>> Find Culture Médias in replay and podcast here

Le Monde

has also launched on TikTok.

"It's a way to renew yourself, to test things," explains the co-founder of Odace Media.

A way, too, to rejuvenate the audience.

"Facebook is a social network that can no longer aggregate the under 25s. TikTok has taken over. A social network will always look for younger targets who will thrive on a network on which there is no not yet parents, and where there is real freedom of content and independence. TikTok combines that with being able to create content very quickly. "

"We can monetize the content"

For the media, a brake still remains, believes Guillaume Benech: "the fear of non-monetization of content."

But, he promises, "from the moment we are well supported, we can manage to monetize it".

Above all, it doesn't cost much to reach a large audience.

According to him, by committing 1,700 euros per month, it is already possible for a brand to "get a good million views".

How is it possible ?

By offering only very short and continuous videos, TikTok ensures a very large audience.

"People will consume the content very quickly, in half an hour you see at least a hundred videos", notes Guillaume Benech.

However, the average consumption time on the network is 70 to 80 minutes daily.

Do the math.