I mentioned in another article that I should get around to writing about Tumblr. The platform is extremely underused and relatively unknown, and yet it’s been registering a growth in web traffic sent to third-party sites in 2023.

That was a period when even platforms like YouTube and Facebook were in decline. So, in this article, I’ll be looking at Tumblr’s user statistics.

Let’s get started!

Total Number of Tumblr Blog Accounts from May 2011 to April 2020

First, we’re going to look at the worldwide number of Tumblr blog accounts but historically and cumulatively. Meaning that I’m going to list the progressive total number of accounts from May 2011 to April 2020.

Here’s the chart we’ll be working with:

Period	Number of Tumblr Blogs
May 2011	17.5 million
September 2011	28 million
March 2012	50 million
July 2012	62.6 million
October 2012	76.4 million
January 2013	88.6 million
April 2013	101.8 million
July 2013	122.4 million
October 2013	141.4 million
January 2014	166.3 million
April 2014	181.1 million
July 2014	195.1 million
October 2014	207.3 million
January 2015	220.8 million
April 2015	227.1 million
July 2015	246.6 million
October 2015	260.5 million
January 2016	275.9 million
April 2016	291.7 million
July 2016	305.9 million
October 2016	319.8 million
January 2017	332.8 million
April 2017	345 million
July 2017	357.7 million
October 2017	373 million
January 2018	391.9 million
April 2018	409 million
July 2018	425.7 million
October 2018	441.4 million
January 2019	456.1 million
April 2019	463.5 million
July 2019	471.6 million
October 2019	480.1 million
January 2020	488.1 million
April 2020	496.1 million

So, in the span of 9 years, from May 2011 to April 2020, Tumblr grew its user base by 2,734%, from 17.5 million to 496.1 million. That’s not great. Not great at all, actually.

However, one thing to note is that the platform hasn’t lost users throughout these 9 years. It kept increasing its user base month after month.

Don’t get me wrong – an audience of 496.1 million users (blog accounts) is not a low number by any stretch of the imagination.

However, the rate at which Tumblr has grown is slow. Too slow in comparison to most of its competitors, in fact.

Picture this – TikTok was created in 2016. In 2018, it had 347 million users, and in 2020, just two years later, the platform had reached over 1 billion users.

But really, there’s no comparing TikTok to Tumblr. One is a short video social media platform while the other is a micro-blogging platform similar to Twitter.

Worldwide Website Visits from December 2021 to May 2022

In this section, I’ll show you the total number of website visits on Tumblr from December 2021 to May 2022. It might not be a long period but we’ll get an idea of the platform’s rise and decline in popularity.

Cue the chart:

Period	Website Visits
December 2021	308.8 million
January 2022	271 million (-13.33% from the last period)
February 2022	288.7 million (+6.53% from the last period)
March 2022	284 million (-1.62% from the last period)
April 2022	291.7 million (+2.71% from the last period)
May 2022	291.7 million (+2.71% from last period)

The number of website visits has definitely been dropping in the December 2021 – May 2022 period, which signifies a potential loss of interest from users.

However, it could also show a natural fluctuation in the number of website visits or a returning to normal after a period of high traffic.

In May 2022, it appears that the platform gained some web traffic back but that might have just been an unstable fluctuation again.

However, I have some more data that shows the regional distribution of desktop traffic per country. See it below!

Country Distribution of Desktop Traffic as of May 2022

This time, I’ll show you the desktop traffic for Tumblr per individual country. The analysis period is December 2021 – May 2022, so the same period as before.

Take a look below:

Country	Share of Desktop Traffic
United States	46.37%
United Kingdom	5.94%
Canada	5.07%
Australia	3.2%
Germany	3.1%

The vast majority of desktop traffic coming to Tumblr originates in the US, which is not a surprise at all. The company is a US platform, after all.

Other countries have their share of desktop traffic but sadly, I couldn’t find any information on this. The US accounts for almost half of the total desktop traffic to Tumblr, though.

Alright, now that I’ve piqued your interest in the importance of the US for Tumblr, how about some data on the total number of US Tumblr users from 2014 to 2022?

It’s in the next section 😀

Total Number of US Tumblr Users from 2014 to 2022

For this section, I’ll be using Statista’s chart but also more up-to-date information since the cart is relevant as of 2014-2015. The figures for 2016 onward are pure estimations.

Here’s the up-to-date chart:

Period	Number of Tumblr Users
2014	18.2 million
2015	21 million (+15.38% from last year)
2016	23.2 million (+10.47% from last year)
2017	25.2 million (+8.62% from last year)
2018	26.9 million (+6.74% from last year)
2019	28.3 million (+5.20% from last year)
2020	29.4 million (+3.88% from last year)

As you can see, the number of Tumblr users in the US has been steadily growing over the years but it isn’t anything too impressive.

Over a period of 6 years, the platform increased its user base by 61.53%, which is quite low. And, as you can see, the year-over-year percentage growth has also been on a constant decline.

It appears as though the platform had reached a bottleneck in terms of users, which is extremely odd considering that this user number is too small for a bottleneck.

But a platform’s user cap can arrive sooner if that platform remains unknown for a long period of time and doesn’t do any changes to attract new users.

This is what might have happened to Tumblr…

Percentage of US Internet Users by Gender & Age who Use Tumblr in Q3 2020

This statistic (and this one) is both short and boring:

• Male Users: 7%
• Female Users: 7%
• Users aged 15-25: 10%
• Users aged 26-35: 11%
• Users aged 36-45: 6%
• Users aged 46-55: 5%
• Users aged 56+: 3%

All in all, around 7% of men and 7% of women in the US used Tumblr in Q3 2020. That’s not a good-looking number at all.

It appears as though Tumblr is quite unpopular in the US. And remember, the US is its main source of desktop traffic.

And in terms of age, it looks like the largest audience is in the 26-35 age range, followed by the 15-25 age range.

If you ask me, this data is downright depressing and it’s no wonder Tumblr is relatively unknown. Not too many people use it.

Let’s move to the next section, though!

Percentage of US Internet Users by Annual Household Income Using Tumblr in 2018

This one should be interesting, so without further ado, here’s the chart:

Annual Income	Percentage of Tumblr Users
Below $30k	15%
Between $30k – $60k	22%
Between $60k – $70k	15%
Between $70k – $80k	24%
Between $80k – $100k	25%
Over $100k	27%

Alright, I’m a bit befuddled by this statistic. It appears that there’s a directly proportional connection between annual household income and Tumblr usability.

There are more individuals with higher annual household incomes using Tumblr than those with lower incomes. And the higher the income, the more likely it is that they’re using Tumblr.

Is Tumblr a platform for rich people, then? Well, not necessarily.

Correlation doesn’t imply causation, not necessarily. There might be other factors at work, including education level, personal interests, and profession, all of which could be associated with a higher income.

As for the reasons for this, there could be several:

• Rich people have more time at their disposal to spend on hobbies, and Tumblr appears to be a very niche platform
• They could also be using Tumblr for professional reasons, as a way to promote their brands and businesses
• Rich people are more likely to have access to technology compared to poorer people

All in all, these are pure estimations on my part and there might be other reasons at play here.

Percentage of US Internet Users by Urbanity Using Tumblr in 2018

This statistic goes hand in hand with the previous one since individuals living in urban areas are more likely to have a higher household income compared to those living in rural areas.

Let’s see the chart:

Living Area	Percentage of Users
Urban	22%
Rural	14%

So, there you have it. There are more urban US users than rural users on Tumblr, and the difference isn’t exactly small (a whole 8 percentage points).

Remember that this chart is based on an online questionnaire with 2,007 respondents. It doesn’t reflect the entirety of Tumblr’s US userbase but it does give us a hint.

Part of the reason why rural internet users are less interested in Tumblr is their different lifestyles. Urban dwellers are more attuned to social media because almost every aspect of their life revolves around technology and social media.

Rural individuals, on the other hand, do not do so much. They have more hands-on things to do, which gives them less time to spend on social media, especially niche platforms like Tumblr.

Blogging is a hobby, something you do in your spare time, or a passion that doesn’t necessarily bring you money. City dwellers might have more spare time due to their higher income (on average).

Tumblr Usage Penetration In the US from 2014 to 2020

Tumblr’s usage penetration should show us the measure at which Americans adopted the platform throughout the years.

The chart below will give us a better idea:

Year	Usage Penetration
2014	5.7%
2015	6.5%
2016	7.2%
2017	7.7%
2018	8.2%
2019	8.5%
2020	8.8%

Yeah, 5.7% of all US internet users were using Tumblr in 2014, and that number has grown to 8.8% in 2020. Not a big increase at all, if you ask me.

This statistic alone, if nothing else, should keep you away from Tumblr if you were planning on giving it a try for promotional content.

There are “far” better alternatives out there that’ll give you much better results in a shorter time. Tumblr is purely a hobbyist platform for micro-blogging.

The usage penetration grew by 54.38% in 6 years, from 2014 to 2020. That’s not nearly enough to impress anyone, let alone other prospective users.

Let’s see the next section, though.

Tumblr Use of Frequency in the US in Q3 2020

If you’ve been reading our other posts, then you might know that a social media platform’s usage frequency is the highest on a daily basis and it becomes lower the bigger the period (weekly, monthly, etc.)

Now check out Tumblr’s usage frequency in the US:

Period	Usage Frequency
Daily	31%
Weekly	68%
Monthly	88%

So, there you have it. Most of the US users of Tumblr use the app monthly, rather than weekly or daily. Only 31% use the app daily, and the usage increases with longer periods.

I have a few ideas about why Tumblr’s userbase interacts with the platform less frequently:

• The niche nature of the content leads to users interacting less often with the platform and its blog posts
• Tumblr is more focused on longer-form content rather than short-form content, which means users will engage on a deeper level but less often
• Tumblr has niche communities and subcultures that interact on a more isolated level, and the users are also more selective of the content they consume

These explanations are pure deductions on my part and may not be true. Other explanations might be more pertinent.

However, it seems reasonable to assume that, due to Tumblr’s niche nature and long-form content, users will interact less often with the platform.

Fortunately, I have more documented data on the reasons why US Tumblr users use the platform. Have a look in the next section!

Tumblr Usage Reasons in the US in Q3 2019

Why do US users go on Tumblr? What are the biggest reasons for usage in the US? This is what we’ll find out in the chart below, courtesy of Statista:

Reason for Using Tumblr	Percentage of Users
To get entertainment	60%
Other purposes	21%
To get news	17%
To follow brands and companies	15%
To strengthen professional network	12%
To maintain contact with friends and family	12%

So, the biggest reason for US users going on Tumblr is to get entertainment, apparently. And then, other purposes, whatever that means.

The very last reason is to keep in contact with friends and family. Only 12% of US users identify with this reason, which is to be expected.

As someone who has never once accessed Tumblr in their life, I find myself oddly uncomfortable not knowing anything about the platform.

The way I understand it, Tumblr functions on the premise of blog posts, written or pictures, and every user has an individual page where they post.

I’ll get into more details below, so keep reading!

What and Why Is Tumblr?

In the end, I’ll have to say that Tumblr remains a mystery to me. Very few people know about it, in my experience, and fewer even use it.

During my research, I’ve discovered that most of Tumblr is made up of very niche subcultures like “CleanCore” where users post pictures about…soaps, detergents, and so on. Weird? Think again.

There is also the “CottageCore” niche where users romanticize the idea of living as a rural girl in a cottage, making homemade food, and living the rural life.

LoveCore, DreamCore, and other “-core” niches exist (far too many to count), each weirder than the other. But who am I to criticize people’s passions and interests? It’s great that there’s a platform that addresses this need.

However, due to its very niche nature, Tumblr hasn’t seen excellent user growth through the years. Its userbase remains relatively small and engagement is pretty low.

Most users don’t even use the app daily, which is pretty telling by itself. Still, Tumblr is still around, alive and kicking for those interested in it.

In a future article, I’ll look over Tumblr’s financial history and see if the company is even profitable or operating at a loss.

Until then, stay tuned for more research on your favorite social media platforms!

Sources

1. Statista – Cumulative Total of Tumblr Blogs from May 2011 to April 2020
2. Statista – Number of TikTok Users Worldwide from 2018 to 2027
3. Statista – Worldwide Visits to Tumblr.com from December 2021 to May 2022
4. Statista – Regional Distribution of Desktop Traffic to Tumblr.com as of May 2022, by Country
5. Statista – Number of Tumblr Users in the United States from 2014 to 2020
6. Statista – Percentage of U.S. Internet Users Who Use Tumblr as of 3rd Quarter 2020, by Gender
7. Statista – Percentage of U.S. Internet Users Who Use Tumblr as of 3rd Quarter 2020, by Age Group
8. Statista – Percentage of U.S. Internet Users Who Use Tumblr as of January 2018, by Annual Household Income
9. Statista – Percentage of U.S. Internet Users Who use Tumblr as of January 2018, by Urbanity
10. Statista – Tumblr Usage Penetration in the United States from 2014 to 2020
11. Statista – Frequency of Tumblr Use in the United States as of 3rd Quarter 2020
12. Statista – Leading Tumblr Usage Reasons According to Users in the United States as of 3rd Quarter 2019