TikTok Responsible for Generating €1.8B for the EU Music Business in 2025
- Martina
- 28 January 2026, Wednesday
While developments around TikTok’s operations in the US continue to dominate media headlines, there are other news and stories to share about the short-form video platform. One of these is a recent study commissioned by TikTok that shows the correlation between the platform and economic growth across the EU, including a significant impact on the music industry.
TikTok’s Economic Impact on the EU Music Business
The study, conducted by an independent economic analysis firm Public First and commissioned by TikTok, estimates that the platform contributed €31 billion ($36 billion) to the EU economy in 2025. This figure includes direct, indirect, and induced economic output generated through business advertising, content creation tools, and commerce tools available on the platform.
Within the creative economy alone, spanning content creators, influencers, and production services, TikTok is estimated to have generated €2.6 billion in added value. Out of that, €1.8bn was attributed specifically to the EU music industry, driven by increased streaming activity, ticket sales, and merchandise. According to the study, the impact was particularly pronounced for emerging acts, many of whom were discovered through viral content on the platform.
Beyond revenue generation, TikTok is also credited with delivering approximately €400 million in productivity gains across the EU, largely by simplifying and accelerating the process of creating ads for businesses.
Employment, Business Growth, and National Impact
Public First estimates that TikTok’s broader economic impact supports around 52,000 jobs across the EU’s creative sector and benefits roughly 6.5 million EU businesses by helping them reach new audiences through discovery-driven marketing and sales
At a national level, the platform’s estimated economic contribution reached €7.2 billion in Germany, €5.2 billion in France, €3.6 billion in Italy, and €3 billion in Spain. In Poland, TikTok generated an estimated €900 million in economic value during 2025.
The study also suggests that TikTok helps reduce consumer costs, estimating annual savings of approximately €10 billion across the EU. Moreover, these savings are said to enable an additional €8.4 billion in total household consumption.
Business, Consumer, and Educational Impact
Alongside economic modelling, the research further included consumer and business surveys. According to data, 82% of EU businesses using TikTok in 2025 believe the platform enables independent businesses to compete more effectively with global brands. Meanwhile, 80% reported increased sales and revenue as a direct result of using the app.
Nearly 1 in 5 businesses surveyed said they had sold out of a product due to sales driven by TikTok discovery features or the TikTok Shop. The platform is further said to generate significant consumer surplus through entertainment, discovery, and meaningful social connections, valued at approximately €110 per EU adult per year – or nearly €50 billion across the entire EU population.
Additionally, the study underscores TikTok’s role as an educational platform. More than half of EU users aged 18–24 (54%) reported learning a new skill on TikTok last year, with 26% using it to learn a new language. Overall, educational and skills-based content on the platform generated an estimated 53 billion hours of informal learning, potentially contributing up to €20 billion in productivity-enhancing knowledge gains.
Public First's Methodology
To conduct the study, Public First based its analysis on a combination of established third-party datasets and category-specific research methods. Foundational sources included EU-wide economic and business data from Statista and Eurostat, among others. You can review Public First’s methodology note to see the calculations for each category.
For us, the most important and interesting was measuring the impact of TikTok on the music industry. For that, the analysis firm first estimated the total size of music-related consumer spending in the EU across three segments: streaming, live music, and merchandise.
Recorded music revenues were drawn from IFPI’s Music in the EU 2025 report, with streaming revenues estimated using the global streaming share of recorded music (69%). Live music spending was benchmarked against the UK market and scaled to the EU-27 using the ratio between the EU and UK recorded music market sizes. Music merchandise revenues were derived from global market data and allocated to the EU based on its share of global recorded music revenues.
To quantify TikTok’s contribution to music spending, Public First applied a counterfactual analysis comparing TikTok users to non-users. This method incorporated Luminate research that shows TikTok users spend 27% more on music-related purchases than non-users. These findings were further combined with TikTok’s penetration rate among EU adults, as measured through a nationally representative consumer survey conducted by Public First, to estimate the additional spending attributable to the platform.
Finally, the study estimated the proportion of this incremental spending accruing to EU artists by applying IFPI data on track popularity across EU countries, segmented by artist origin.
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Martina is a Berlin-based music writer and digital content specialist. She started playing the violin at age six and spent ten years immersed in classical music. Today, she writes about all things music, with a particular interest in the complexities of the music business, streaming, and artist fairness.
