Peak Hours by Timezone
The best time to go live on TikTok depends on where your audience is located. Going live when your viewers are actively scrolling the app means more people discover your stream, your concurrent viewer count climbs faster, and TikTok's live ranking algorithm pushes you higher in the live feed — which attracts even more viewers.
US Audiences (Eastern Standard Time)
For creators targeting US audiences, two windows consistently produce the highest live viewership and gift revenue:
Primary peak: 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM EST. This is the highest-traffic window on TikTok for US users. People are home from work, done with dinner, and spending their leisure time on their phones. Live streams launched during this window see the highest concurrent viewer counts, the most active chat participation, and the strongest gifting activity. If you can only stream once per week, this is the window to choose.
Secondary peak: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST. The lunch hour window captures users taking breaks during the workday. Concurrent viewer counts are lower than the evening peak, but competition from other live creators is also significantly lower. This means your stream is more likely to appear prominently in the live feed, offsetting the smaller overall user pool.
Weekend adjustment: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM EST on Saturdays and Sundays. Weekend mornings bring a different audience dynamic — viewers are relaxed, have more free time, and are often more willing to spend money on gifts. This window can rival weekday evening peaks for per-viewer gift value, even if the total concurrent count is somewhat lower.
UK Audiences (Greenwich Mean Time)
Primary peak: 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM GMT. The evening window in the UK follows the same pattern as the US — post-work leisure time drives the highest TikTok activity. Creators targeting UK audiences should anchor their streaming schedule around this window.
Secondary peak: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM GMT. The lunch break window is slightly narrower in the UK than the US because lunch breaks tend to be shorter, but it still represents a worthwhile streaming opportunity.
Overlapping US and UK Audiences
If your audience spans both the US and UK, the overlap window is 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM GMT / 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST. This captures UK viewers in their evening prime time while also reaching US east coast viewers during their afternoon. The combined audience pool makes this an underrated time slot for creators with transatlantic followings.
Other Key Markets
Australia (AEST): Primary peak is 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM AEST. Note that this corresponds to early morning in the US, so Australian creators with mixed audiences need to choose which market to prioritize.
Central and Western Europe (CET): Peak hours are 7:00 PM - 10:30 PM CET, roughly aligning with UK peak times and overlapping with US afternoon.
Southeast Asia (SGT/ICT): Peak hours run 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM local time. Southeast Asian markets have particularly strong gifting cultures, and live streamers in this region often report higher per-viewer gift revenue than their Western counterparts.
Best Days of the Week
Not all days produce equal results. Data from creator earnings reports and TikTok's own live rankings shows clear patterns in which days generate the best live streaming performance.
Tuesday through Thursday: Best overall. Midweek days consistently produce the strongest live streaming results for a counterintuitive reason: there is less competition. Fewer creators go live on Tuesday through Thursday compared to weekends, which means your stream faces less competition for viewer attention in the live feed. Combined with the fact that weekday evening engagement on TikTok remains strong, these days offer the best ratio of audience availability to streamer competition.
Friday and Saturday evenings: High potential, high competition. Friday and Saturday nights bring the largest total audience to TikTok, but they also bring the most live streamers. If you have a large enough following to compete for viewer attention during peak competition, weekend evenings can be your highest-earning streams. If your following is still growing, midweek streams may produce better results per hour.
Sunday: Mixed results. Sunday evenings (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM in your audience's timezone) can perform well as people wind down before the work week. However, Sunday afternoons tend to be among the lowest-performing time slots as users are occupied with weekend activities rather than scrolling TikTok.
Monday: Weakest day for most creators. Monday engagement across all of TikTok — not just live — tends to be lower than other weekdays. Users are adjusting to the work week, and the mental shift from weekend leisure to weekday productivity reduces the impulse to watch and gift on live streams.
When to Avoid Going Live
Timing mistakes can significantly reduce your live earnings and audience growth. These windows consistently underperform.
Early morning (5:00 AM - 8:00 AM in your audience's timezone). Unless your audience is in a different timezone, early mornings produce the lowest concurrent viewer counts. The users who are on TikTok at 6 AM tend to be quick scrollers rather than live stream viewers, and gifting activity is minimal.
Late night after midnight. While there is a late-night audience on TikTok, the composition skews younger and toward passive viewing rather than interactive engagement. Gift revenue drops sharply after 11:00 PM in most markets. The exception is if you are targeting audiences in a timezone where midnight your time is prime time for them.
Major holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and similar major holidays see significant drops in live viewership. People are with family, away from their phones, or occupied with holiday activities. The week between Christmas and New Year's is an exception — that stretch often sees elevated TikTok activity as people are off work and looking for entertainment.
During major live events. When there is a widely watched sporting event, award show, or breaking news moment, TikTok live viewership drops because users shift their attention to those events. Check for major scheduled events before planning your live sessions.
Finding Your Audience's Peak Time
The windows listed above are generalized recommendations based on aggregate data. Your specific audience may behave differently. The most reliable way to find your optimal live time is to use your own data.
Check TikTok Analytics
TikTok's built-in analytics (available for all creator accounts) shows you when your followers are most active, broken down by day and hour. Navigate to your profile, tap the three-dot menu, select Creator Tools, then Analytics, and look at the Followers tab. The activity chart shows you exactly when your audience is on TikTok.
This data is specific to your follower base and accounts for their actual timezone distribution. If 60% of your followers are in the US and 25% are in the UK, the activity chart will reflect both populations. Use this chart as your primary guide for scheduling live streams.
Test and Track
Run a structured test over 2-3 weeks. Stream at different times and on different days, keeping your stream content and duration roughly consistent. Track three metrics for each session: peak concurrent viewers, total gift value, and average viewer duration.
After 6-8 test streams across different time slots, you will have enough data to identify clear patterns. Most creators find that one or two specific time slots significantly outperform the others, and those become their permanent streaming schedule.
Adjust for Seasonal Changes
Audience behavior shifts with seasons. Summer months often see later peak hours as people stay up later. Winter drives earlier evening engagement. Back-to-school periods in September shift younger audiences to later time slots as their after-school routines change.
Review your analytics quarterly and adjust your streaming schedule if you notice shifts in when your audience is most active. A time slot that worked well in January may underperform by June if your audience composition or behavior has changed.
Consider the Live Ranking Algorithm
TikTok's live ranking system determines where your stream appears in the live feed. Streams that build viewer count quickly after starting tend to rank higher, which creates a positive feedback loop — higher ranking attracts more viewers, which maintains or improves your ranking.
Starting your stream during a rising-activity window (just before peak hours rather than during peak) can help you build momentum. If you go live at 6:30 PM when activity is climbing, you can accumulate viewers gradually so that by 7:00 PM when peak traffic hits, your stream already has momentum and ranks well in the feed.
Use our live earnings calculator to estimate how different streaming times and durations affect your potential hourly earnings based on your follower count and audience demographics.