A Monumental Shift in Digital Music Engagement
TikTok has once again pushed the limits of digital music engagement, setting another live-streaming record with the 2025 Tomorrowland festival. In total, across both weekends, 74 million users tuned in to watch the event online from all over the world, eclipsing the incredible viewership of 16 million in 2023. This is an astonishing improvement, and it is a testament to the newfound mainstream popularity of electronic music festivals online, as well as TikTok's surge toward becoming the first-choice platform for real-time entertainment experiences.
Unlike traditional music broadcasts, TikTok's multi-faceted coverage made it feel like fans were watching the festival from all angles and experiences (Premiered on MainStage, Freedom Stage, and OneWorldRadio). Most importantly, TikTok, with its devoted approach to creating consistent content, set itself apart with a 24/7 approach to content creation that brought in everyone from an electronic music fandom, but also innumerable social media fans from around the world who were curious.
Tomorrowland’s Digital Evolution on TikTok
As the official content partner of Tomorrowland, TikTok didn’t just stream performances—it created a digital festival ecosystem. The platform hosted top DJs and producers in its Content Studio and built an interactive content hub using the #Tomorrowland tag. Still, what’s more impressive is the 2.4 billion views this hashtag garnered during the event, making it one of the most successful music-related tags on the platform. The Tomorrowland TikTok account alone gained over 1.9 million followers, from zero followers when the festival began to over 9.2 million. This growth compares to other festivals, representing a digital evolution in how festival audience represents their experience at music events, and more importantly, exhibiting that TikTok not only hosts live events but also alters how they are experienced.
@tomorrowland Magic in every frame. #tomorrowland #electronicmusic #festival ♬ original sound - Tomorrowland
Why Live-Streaming Is Central to TikTok’s Future Plans
Perhaps more than just entertainment, TikTok is not shy about investing in live-streaming as part of a more expansive commercial pursuit. Nonetheless, while the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, has created live-stream shopping into a billion-dollar environment, the Western version is testing different possibilities. Douyin produced an estimated $490 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2024, mostly from live shopping streams, while TikTok's global market, excluding China, reached approximately $33 billion in GMV. Regardless of the difference, TikTok believes in the potential of live-stream commerce in the West over the long term. Yet, events like Tomorrowland are essential to get users comfortable with the live format. In turn, it may open the door to more live shopping experiences moving forward.
