How Many Followers Do You Need To Go Live On TikTok?
Updated · Jul 29, 2025
Table of Contents
Introduction
How Many Followers Do You Need To Go Live On TikTok?: TikTok, which surpassed 1.6 billion monthly active users worldwide in 2024 and now attracts roughly 170 million Americans, remains a viral powerhouse where creators can monetise attention through TikTok LIVE. To unlock this live‑streaming feature in 2025, an account must have at least 1,000 followers and the owner must be 16 years or older (those 18+ may also receive virtual gifts that convert to cash). Meeting this threshold is worthwhile: U.S. adults already spend an average of 58.4 minutes per day on the app, and LIVE sessions typically command higher watch‑times and engagement, fuelling brand deals and tipping revenue.
Creators who post three to five short‑form videos daily, ride trending sounds, and cross‑promote on other platforms often cross the 1k-follower mark in weeks rather than months, while businesses leverage paid boosts to accelerate growth. Given that TikTok.com records about 2.2 billion monthly visits and enjoys a user‑base expected to reach 2.2 billion by 2026, the incentive to unlock LIVE—and its direct‑to‑fan commerce tools—continues to rise.
Editor’s Choice
- With users topping 1.6 billion globally in 2024, the United States is home to more than 150 million TikTokers.
- Generally, going live on TikTok requires 1,000 followers and being 16 or over, while receiving money as gifts requires an age of 18 or over.
- In some cases, users have reported being allowed to go live with fewer than 1,000 followers; this may constitute region-based testing or feature rollout.
- With an 8.027 billion-hour viewing time, TikTok LIVE comes in the second position after YouTube Live as a platform for live streaming.
- Daily, on TikTok Live, about 400,000 creators are broadcasting live to about 30 million viewers and generating US$10 million worth of revenue.
- Around 80.4% of TikTok LIVE revenue comes from gamers with less than 50,000 followers.
- The categories with the most viewership are IRL chatting, fashion and beauty, and mobile gaming.
- Users with fewer than 1,000 followers can also go live together by submitting an application to TikTok.
- It is never recommended to buy followers as the risks include suspension of your account by TikTok and low engagement.
What is TikTok Live?
- TikTok Live is a real-time video broadcasting facility that offers creators a more immediate mode of interaction with their audience.
- Be it a Q&A, behind-the-scenes, or just goofing around, it is an interactive, authentic way to foster good relationships with followers.
- Live commenting, reactions, and Q&A allow for an authentic and instant connection between TikTokers on TikTok Live.
- It is not just another way to go live, but rather one big method of putting things out there for visibility, growing the audience, and giving the creators a platform to shine.
How Many Followers Do You Need To Go Live On TikTok?
- There are some stipulations, however, posed by TikTok for users to comply with to get on the Live feature.
- One such requirement for Live is a minimum followers, which is mostly 1,000, though this might change from one country to another depending on where the account is based.
| Requirements To Go Live on TikTok | Specifications |
| Followers |
1,000 followers
|
| Verified Age |
18 years old minimum (or 19 in South Korea)
|
(Source: demandsage.com)
- Besides the requirement of the number of followers, TikTok also mandates that its users are at least 18 years of age to go live.
- These rules are set in place for the safety and enjoyment of the creators and their audience.
- Interestingly, in direct contradiction to its official guidelines, the past year witnessed many users with as few as 500 followers (and some with even none) going live on TikTok.
- Such exceptions attest to the fact that TikTok may sometimes grant features to certain users ahead of others, probably as part of their test or his/her rollout, depending on the region.
How To Go Live On TikTok?
Going live on TikTok is an excellent way to promote your event, engage in Q&A, or just casually interact with your viewers in real time. Here’s what you need to know:
Step 1: Plan Ahead
- You can always go live on the spur of the moment, but having something planned out will keep your session engaging for you and your viewers.
- Think of what you want to accomplish in your life: be it answering questions, showcasing a product, or just chatting with fans.
- Having a clear set of goals will keep the conversation on topic and may even help your desired audience find you through TikTok’s algorithm.
- Once you know your focus, come up with a catchy title and consider promoting the session in advance.
Step 2: Fine-Tune the Setup
- The little tweaks matter a lot. Choose a place where natural lighting is good and run some test videos to see if everything looks and sounds fine.
- If you are going to showcase a product or shoot inside a business, verify for cleanliness and appeal of the surrounding area.
- There should be a test for your audio and video quality as well-for potential glitches would break the flow of your stream, which is enough to drive away your viewers.
Step 3: Start Live Broadcasting Now
When everything is in place, it’s time to start the live broadcast. Here’s the way to do it:
- Open the TikTok application.
- Tap the “+” button located at the bottom of your screen.
- In the recording interface, swipe over to select “LIVE.”
- Set a cover image and enter a live stream title.
- Once you’ve got everything ready, hit the “Go Live” button and start broadcasting.
Step 4: Interact with Your Viewers
- Engagement is the key to running a live show well. Preparing your topic and plan helps you stay focused on meaningful conversations with your viewers.
- Enable chat to see the comments made by your followers and to communicate with them in real time.
- Make sure you read the comments, respond to any queries, and even address people by their name when possible.
- This goes a long way in fostering the bonds.
- TikTok also provides users with interactive features such as polls, making the session more lively to gather feedback or opinions from your audience.
Following these steps, you can create an easy-going yet professional and interactive TikTok LIVE session featuring enjoyable and engaging programs for the audience.
TikTok Live Statistics
- Total Watch Time: TikTok Live managed 8.027 billion hours of watch time, which accounts for almost 27% of all the hours spent livestreaming across platforms.
- Market Ranking: By that share, TikTok Live serves as the second-largest watched livestreaming platform, ahead of Twitch (16.3%) and behind only YouTube Live (50.3%).
- Quarter-over-Quarter Growth: Watch hours rose 30-someodd percentage points from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025.
- Daily Active Creators: Above 400,000 creators go live on TikTok daily.
- Daily Viewership: In total, these live sessions receive roughly 30 million views every day.
- Daily Revenues: TikTok Live brings in some creator revenues of around US$10 million per day.
- Revenue Distribution: Making up about 80.4% of the daily revenue-constitutes from creators with less than 50,000 followers.
- Live Content Categories: The genres with the most-viewed TikTok Live shows include:
- Chats (IRL streams): by far the top category for viewer hours, with over 4.8 billion hours viewed during Q1 2025.
- Fashion & Beauty Streams: with average peak concurrent viewers at roughly 640,000 and quarter total watch time topping 1.3 billion hours.
- Outdoor Streams garnered just a little under 350 million watch hours, way less than chats or fashion.
- Talent Streams (singing, art, etc.): average about 160,000 concurrent viewers and just under 350 million watch hours.
- Mobile Gaming accounted for 12% of TikTok Live watch time, with Garena Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends taking the lion’s share: 140-156 million hours watched and between 64,000 and 72,000 concurrent viewers each.
How To Go Live On TikTok Without 1,000 Followers?
Generally, TikTok requires users to have at least 1,000 followers before they can go live. However, some people have found ways around this requirement. Some of these are:
1. Buy Followers (Not Recommended)
- Some buy followers so that their accounts quickly hit the 1,000-follower mark.
- This method is highly discouraged.
- Purchased followers are usually fake and will never engage with your content.
- TikTok might even suspend your account for breaching its policies.
2. Collaborate With a Creator Who Has 1,000+ Followers
- That’s the safer and more effective way. You can ask to join their live session to get the opportunity to be part of a livestream without actually needing the full 1,000 followers.
- To request to join someone else’s TikTok Live, do this:
- Open the Live video you want to join.
- In the comment section, locate an icon resembling two smiling faces.
- Tap that icon to send a request to the host.
- If the host accepts your request, your screen will be split in half, and you will appear on the live stream with them.
3. Contact TikTok Support
Those who had TikTok Live access before but can’t use it anymore are able to try to contact TikTok’s support. Being an uncertain method, there are some cases where people have reportedly succeeded through it.
Requesting Live access:
- Open TikTok and go to your profile.
- Tap the three-line menu button in the top-right corner and select “Settings and Privacy.”
- Choose “Report a problem,” then go to the LIVE section.
- Tap “I can’t start a LIVE.” When asked if the issue had been resolved, select “No.”
- Use the feedback box to provide a clear description of your situation and ask whether the Live feature can be re-enabled for your account.
- Submit the request and await the reply.
Conclusion
Going live on TikTok in 2024 is one of the best ways to build an audience, engage with followers, and earn some income! To start Live streaming, you need to have at least 1,000 followers and be 16 years old. Monetisation, however, requires an age of 18+. Having 1,000 followers on TikTok may seem like a really tough requirement, but following the right growth paths, trends, and consistency, most creators hit this milestone in 1-3 months.
If you are genuinely interested in building your TikTok presence, your first big milestone should be acquiring those 1000 followers to activate TikTok LIVE.
Sources
FAQ.
In 2024, usually, one needs to have at least 1,000 followers to open the gates to a TikTok LIVE streaming. Also, it is fine to be 16 or 17 years old to stream, while only a person above 18 years may receive virtual gifts to monetise. However, exceptions exist where some users have reported going live with fewer followers, maybe owing to region-specific rollouts or testing by TiKTok.
Officially speaking, fewer than 1,000 followers will not allow you to go live on TikTok. But if you co-host with someone who meets the standard, you can still appear on TikTok LIVE. You ask to join their live stream using the “co-host” icon when they are on the air. Alternatively, you can try contacting TikTok support for assistance, particularly if they took away your rights to this feature in the past.
TikTok LIVE allows creators to communicate in real-time, strengthen engagement with followers, and retain revenues through virtual gifts. It has become the leading livestreaming service with over 8 billion hours of watch time and US$10 million in revenue on a daily basis. It supports engagement and retention via live comments, polls, and Q&As.
Moderators are selected by the live streamers to assist them in chat management during the live stream. They can mute viewers, block comments, and enforce community guidelines on the creator’s behalf.
To change your live tools and settings, simply tap More at the bottom of your screen, then select “Settings”. Here you can filter or turn on/off comments, add moderators, control your audience, and so forth.
Barry Elad is a tech enthusiast who loves diving deep into various technology topics. He gathers important statistics and facts to help others understand the tech world better. With a keen interest in software, Barry writes about its benefits and how it can improve our daily lives. In his spare time, he enjoys experimenting with healthy recipes, practicing yoga, meditating, or taking nature walks with his child. Barry’s goal is to make complex tech information easy and accessible for everyone.
