Coronavirus: UK's first 'TikTok house' opens during outbreak

Six of the UK’s most popular TikTok content creators have moved in together and are trying to meet a surge in demand from teenagers in lockdown, despite some doubts about the timing.

The Bytehouse collective planned the move prior to the coronavirus pandemic and completed it before the UK lockdown on 23 March. It is the UK's first "TikTok house", a phenomenon already established in the US.

The video-makers are proceeding despite their families and others having expressed reservations about the timing of the initiative.

One industry expert has also suggested the pandemic will make the effort less lucrative than it might have been.

The TikTock-ers have a combined following of more than 14 million people. Their videos currently reach more than 73 million people a week.

The short-form video-sharing social media platform was 2019's second most downloaded app after WhatsApp.

Useful content
People in the UK have been spending a lot more time on TikTok since lockdown and social isolation measures were announced. There was a 23% rise in average viewing time between January and March, according to analysts Sensor Tower.

The housemates, Shauni, 19, SurfaceLdn, 22, Seb, 20, Monty, 17, KT Franklin, 19, and Lily Rose, 20, will be responding to challenges and trying to create useful coronavirus-related content - as well as the more usual dance memes and pranks.