Short video app TikTok saw users spend $3.5 million on in-app purchases in October, the highest level to date and a 275 per cent increase year-on-year.

Sensor Tower stated a big chunk of this – 42 per cent – came from the US, where spending went up by 144 per cent compared to last year. In this market, the app has been download 80 million times, from a global total 800 million.

The next biggest spenders were iOS users in China, who spent $1.4 million in October. The report does not include revenue figures for Android users in China.

Overall, gross TikTok user spending to date has passed $50 million.

The Bytedance-owned app is “riding a wave of ramped up international marketing and notoriety among influencers,” the report stated, and explained that revenue is generated when users buy coins to send “emoji-like gifts” to others during live streams.

Other than live broadcasts, the app is also popular for its lip-syncing feature.

Recently Apptopia said TikTok was downloaded more than Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube in October, and could repeat this in November as well.

TikTok launched in 2016 and merged with Musical.ly (a similar app) in August after the latter was acquired by Bytedance. At the time, Musical.ly had 100 million active users and the move helped TikTok gain traction outside of China.

This may not be good for Facebook, which launched a competitor service called Lasso earlier this month, in a bid to target a younger audience.