The average TikTok share rate in 2026 is 0.41% of views, but the most shareable content formats — relatable comedy and "tag a friend" relationship content — reach share rates above 2.5%. Shares carry an estimated 4x algorithmic weight compared to likes, making the TikTok share rate one of the most consequential engagement signals for content distribution. A single share can introduce your video to an entirely new audience cluster that TikTok's algorithm may not have reached organically.
Key Findings
A share on TikTok is fundamentally different from a like or comment. When someone shares your video — whether through direct message, to an Instagram story, or via a copied link — they are putting their own social reputation behind your content. This act of personal endorsement makes shares the strongest trust signal a viewer can send and the second-most weighted engagement action in TikTok's recommendation algorithm, behind only saves.
Here are the 2026 TikTok share rate benchmarks by performance tier:
| Performance Tier | Share Rate (% of Views) | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Viral | 2.0%+ | Top 2% of content; rapid organic spread |
| Excellent | 1.0% – 1.99% | Top 10%; high shareability, strong distribution |
| Good | 0.5% – 0.99% | Top 25%; content resonates beyond passive viewing |
| Average | 0.25% – 0.49% | Middle 40%; typical performance |
| Below Average | 0.10% – 0.24% | Bottom 25%; content is consumed but not forwarded |
| Low | Under 0.10% | Bottom 10%; no share impulse generated |
Key insights from the data:
- Shares are the most reliable predictor of virality. Videos that exceed a 1.5% share rate within the first two hours of posting go on to receive 5.8 times more total views than videos that stay below 0.3% in the same window. No other single metric correlates this strongly with viral outcomes.
- Content type is the dominant variable. The difference in share rates between the most-shared format (relatable comedy at 1.34%) and the least-shared (motivational quotes at 0.11%) represents a 12x gap — larger than any follower-tier or demographic variable.
- Share rates have increased year over year as TikTok has made sharing easier through interface updates and expanded share destinations. The platform average rose from 0.35% in 2024 to 0.41% in 2026.
For context on how shares fit within the full engagement picture, see our average engagement rate data by follower count.
TikTok Share Rate Benchmarks by Content Type — Primary Data
Most shared content
What makes someone share a TikTok? The psychological triggers behind sharing are distinct from those that drive likes or saves. Shares are driven by social connection — people share content to make someone laugh, to say "this is so us," to inform a friend, or to signal their own identity. Content that triggers a specific person in the viewer's mind is inherently more shareable than content that is merely good.
| Content Type | Avg. Share Rate | Top 10% Share Rate | Primary Share Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relatable Comedy/Skits | 1.34% | 3.41% | "This is so you" — tagging friends |
| Relationship/Couples | 1.18% | 2.87% | Sharing with partner or friends |
| Parenting/Family | 1.02% | 2.56% | Relating to shared experiences |
| News/Current Events | 0.89% | 2.31% | Informing others |
| Life Hacks/Tips | 0.74% | 1.92% | Utility sharing |
| Food/Recipes | 0.61% | 1.68% | "We should try this" |
| Travel/Destinations | 0.52% | 1.44% | Trip planning with friends |
| Fashion/Beauty | 0.38% | 1.02% | Outfit/product recommendations |
| Fitness/Health | 0.31% | 0.84% | Accountability partner sharing |
| Education/Tutorials | 0.27% | 0.72% | Sharing useful knowledge |
| Finance/Business | 0.19% | 0.53% | Informational forwarding |
| Motivation/Quotes | 0.11% | 0.38% | Occasional inspiration sharing |
The top three most-shared categories all center on relationships and shared identity. Relatable comedy dominates because it triggers the "I need to send this to someone" impulse — the viewer immediately thinks of a specific friend, family member, or partner who would find the content funny or relevant.
What makes content shareable — the five triggers:
- Recognition. "This is literally me" or "this is literally you" content makes viewers want to tag or send to someone specific.
- Utility. Hacks, tips, and recipes get shared because the viewer wants someone else to benefit from the information.
- Emotion. Content that evokes strong feelings — laughter, awe, outrage, tenderness — creates a compulsion to share the experience.
- Identity signaling. Sharing certain content communicates something about who the sharer is — their humor, values, or interests.
- Conversation starter. Content that raises a question or debate gets shared to spark discussion in group chats.
Creators in lower-share niches like education and finance should not force shareability at the expense of their core content value. These niches excel at save rates instead, which carry even higher algorithmic weight.
Algorithm weight
Shares hold the second-highest algorithmic weight in TikTok's engagement hierarchy, behind saves. The estimated weighting scale in 2026:
| Engagement Action | Estimated Algorithmic Weight | Why This Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Save/Bookmark | 5x baseline | Most deliberate, highest intent signal |
| Share (DM, external, copy link) | 4x baseline | Personal endorsement, extends reach |
| Comment | 3x baseline | Active participation requires effort |
| Complete View + Replay | 2.5x baseline | Passive but strong quality indicator |
| Like | 1x baseline | Low effort, high volume |
Shares are weighted heavily for a specific reason: they represent organic distribution. When a viewer shares your TikTok to a group chat, that video reaches people outside the algorithmic recommendation system entirely. TikTok tracks these off-platform shares and interprets them as a signal that the content is compelling enough to leave the app — a particularly strong endorsement.
The share multiplier effect. A shared video does not just reach the direct recipient. When someone receives a TikTok via DM and watches it, their engagement (likes, comments, follows) feeds back into the algorithm, potentially triggering a new distribution cycle. This is why share-driven virality often produces the steepest growth curves — each share creates a new entry point for algorithmic amplification.
Internal testing by creators shows that videos with a 1%+ share rate receive approximately 2.4 times more For You page impressions than videos with equivalent like rates but share rates below 0.3%. The algorithm interprets shares as a stronger quality signal because they require more effort and more social commitment than a like.
For a deeper look at how TikTok's algorithm processes engagement signals, see our guide on how the TikTok algorithm works.
TikTok Share Rate Benchmarks by Content Type — Extended Data
Share Rates by Follower Tier
Like all engagement metrics, share rates vary by account size. However, the decline is less steep for shares than for likes, suggesting that share behavior is more content-dependent than audience-size-dependent.
| Follower Tier | Avg. Share Rate | Share as % of Total Engagement |
|---|---|---|
| Nano (1K-10K) | 0.72% | 7.7% |
| Micro (10K-50K) | 0.51% | 8.6% |
| Mid-Tier (50K-200K) | 0.38% | 10.0% |
| Macro (200K-1M) | 0.31% | 11.7% |
| Mega (1M+) | 0.25% | 13.4% |
The proportional share of shares within total engagement increases with account size, mirroring the same pattern seen in save rate data by follower count. Larger audiences engage less frequently overall but when they do engage, they are more likely to take high-intent actions like sharing and saving rather than casually liking.
Most Shareable Content Formats
Beyond content category, the specific format and structure of a video influences shareability:
| Format | Avg. Share Rate | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| POV/Scenario skits | 1.42% | Creates "this is us" identification |
| Duets with reactions | 1.18% | Built-in conversation and commentary |
| "Tag someone who..." prompts | 1.07% | Direct call to share action |
| Before/after reveals | 0.83% | Surprise triggers sharing impulse |
| Ranked lists with debate | 0.76% | Provokes disagreement and discussion |
| Tutorial/how-to | 0.34% | Utility sharing to specific people |
| Photo carousels | 0.28% | Lower emotional trigger than video |
| Talking head commentary | 0.22% | Information-dense but less share impulse |
POV skits dominate share rates because they create character-based scenarios that viewers immediately map onto people in their lives. The "this is literally my mom" or "why is this my coworker" reaction is one of the strongest share triggers on the platform.
Year-Over-Year Share Rate Trends
| Year | Platform Avg. Share Rate | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.35% | — |
| 2025 | 0.38% | +8.6% |
| 2026 | 0.41% | +7.9% |
Share rates have risen steadily as TikTok has invested in making sharing frictionless. The introduction of one-tap sharing to frequent DM contacts, expanded sharing to external platforms, and the "share to story" feature on Instagram have all contributed to this growth. Creators who build shareability into their content strategy are riding a structural tailwind.
For creators looking to grow their audience, shares are the most efficient growth lever. Each share introduces your content to someone who may not follow you and who the algorithm might never have reached. Our follower growth calculator can help you model how increased share rates translate to audience growth over time.
Methodology
The share rate data in this analysis is compiled from 1.4 million TikTok videos published between November 2025 and January 2026, across 32,000 creator accounts spanning 12 content verticals.
Data collection and definitions:
- Share rate calculation: Total shares (including DM shares, external shares, and link copies) divided by total views, expressed as a percentage. A share rate of 0.41% means 0.41 shares per 100 views.
- Source data: Aggregated from third-party analytics platforms and voluntarily submitted creator analytics data from 2,200 participating creators in our research program. Publicly visible share counts supplemented the dataset where available.
- Content type classification: Videos were categorized by primary content type using hashtag analysis, creator account categorization, and content-based classification algorithms. Videos spanning multiple categories were assigned to the dominant type.
- Format classification: Content format (skit, duet, tutorial, etc.) was determined through a combination of automated video analysis and manual review of a stratified sample.
- Follower tier assignment: Based on follower count at time of posting. Accounts that crossed tier boundaries during the measurement period were assigned to their majority tier.
Exclusions: Sponsored posts, videos under 500 views, and accounts exhibiting artificial engagement patterns were removed from the dataset.
Limitations: Share data on TikTok includes both in-app shares (DMs) and external shares (copy link, share to other platforms). TikTok's analytics dashboard provides a single combined share figure, so we cannot distinguish between share destinations in this analysis. Additionally, TikTok does not provide a public research API — all data relies on third-party collection and voluntary creator participation. The algorithmic weight estimates are derived from controlled creator experiments and observed platform behavior, not official TikTok documentation.
For a complete view of how shares interact with likes, saves, and comments to determine content performance, explore our full TikTok engagement data hub. Understanding how posting frequency impacts engagement can also help you optimize your share rates by finding the cadence that keeps your content fresh without saturating your audience.