This glossary explains the TikTok values in ContentMate: what each one counts, its unit and the calculation behind derived metrics. The analytics guide covers using the dashboard, freshness and troubleshooting.
Checked: 11 October 2026. Definitions were compared with current TikTok documentation and ContentMate's actual calculations. Examples explain the maths; they are not benchmarks for good or poor performance.
Identify the data basis first
The connected TikTok API supplies profile snapshots and cumulative video counters. ContentMate imports them in the background. The interface presents three different kinds of measurement:
| Data basis | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Current / snapshot | A total at an available observation time | The profile has 1,200 followers. |
| Period / difference between imports | A change in video counters across the selected interval | A video increases from 10,000 to 10,600 views: 600 additional observed views. |
| Total / video inventory | A cumulative counter since the video's publication | The last import recorded 10,600 total views for that video. |
Per-post averages add a publication-date filter: they use videos published within the selected period and their cumulative values observed by the end of that period. We call this group the publication cohort. Older videos can increase account activity during the period without belonging to this cohort.
Compare figures only when they refer to the same metric, account, data basis and a comparable observation date.
Profile and community
Followers
Unit: accounts. The latest available follower count for the relevant reporting period. A count of 1,200 means that 1,200 accounts followed the profile at that observation. It is not the sum of daily follower counts.
Example: 1,000 followers on Monday and 1,020 on Tuesday produce a later count of 1,020, not 2,020. Historical ranges need suitable stored observations. An empty value does not establish that the account had zero followers.
Follower growth / net change
Unit: accounts; a positive or negative whole number.
Formula: observed end count − observed count before the period.
Example: 1,020 − 1,000 = +20. This could result from 30 new followers and 10 unfollows, or from 20 new followers without a loss. The two total counts do not reveal that breakdown.
Without a suitable start or end observation, net growth cannot be calculated reliably. The first import does not create a starting count of zero. Separate gross followers gained and followers lost are unavailable through this TikTok connection. Positive and negative changes in total counts are not substituted for these events.
Following
Unit: accounts. The latest imported number of accounts that this TikTok profile follows. This additional profile card is independent of the selected analytics period.
Example: “Following: 85” means 85 followed accounts, not 85 new followers of your own profile. It does not establish that those accounts follow you back.
Profile likes
Unit: likes. The latest reported profile-wide total of likes received across the account's videos. This additional profile card remains a current snapshot even when you select a historical reporting period.
Example: 80,000 profile likes and 300 likes in the selected period can both be correct: one is an accumulated total and the other an observed change. Profile likes are not unique fans and must not be added to the period's likes.
Total videos
Unit: videos. The latest number of publicly posted videos reported by TikTok. This card describes the profile inventory, not the number of new videos during the selected period.
Example: 42 total videos and 3 published videos in the last seven days can both be correct. Drafts and scheduled posts that have not been published are not publicly posted videos. The profile total and the already imported media inventory can temporarily differ.
TikTok documents these four fields in its user information reference.
Video metrics and period activity
Each of the following four metrics has a cumulative video counter and derived period values in the dashboard. The original fields are listed in TikTok's Video Object reference.
Views
Unit: video views. An individual video displays its latest stored cumulative view count. The dashboard evaluates observed changes.
Example: An older video has 10,000 views in the baseline import and 10,600 in the next import. The difference is 600; the video's total is 10,600. Do not add the two imported totals to produce 20,600.
Views are not unique viewers, unique reach or separately measured thumbnail impressions. The same person can watch more than once. ContentMate does not invent a unique audience count from this counter.
Likes / reactions
Unit: likes. The video counter is the reported like total for that video. Shared dashboard components may also use the general label reactions; for TikTok this means likes, not Facebook reaction types.
Example: A change from 100 to 115 likes produces +15 observed likes. If the counter then falls from 115 to 112, the net change is −3. Withdrawn likes or corrections can produce negative differences. This is therefore not necessarily the gross number of every like action ever performed.
Comments
Unit: reported comments. The cumulative total belongs to the individual video; the period value describes an observed change in its counter.
Example: A change from 12 to 17 produces +5. It does not mean five distinct people or five unanswered messages. ContentMate imports this TikTok statistic but currently provides no TikTok comment moderation or direct messages in its Inbox. Manage and reply to these comments in TikTok.
Shares
Unit: reported shares. The cumulative counter records the video's shares as reported by TikTok. Period activity is derived from stored changes.
Example: A change from 8 to 11 shares produces +3. Three shares do not establish three additional unique viewers or guarantee any particular number of subsequent views. Recipients, individual sharers and a complete breakdown by sharing service are not supplied here.
Interactions / engagement
Unit: interactions.
Formula: likes + comments + shares, using the same time basis.
Example: 120 likes + 20 comments + 10 shares = 150 interactions. For an individual video all three components come from its cumulative counters; for account-period activity they come from the corresponding observed changes.
One person can perform several actions. The sum is not a count of engaged people. If a necessary component is missing, the complete total is unknown. Saves, link clicks and messages are not included in this TikTok formula.
How import differences are calculated
For an existing video, an eligible later observation is compared with a baseline before the relevant boundary. A video newly published during the period can contribute its observed cumulative count. Its publication date needs to be known for that treatment.
Two-video example: Video A was published earlier and increases from 1,000 to 1,300 views. Video B is published during the selected period and reaches 200 views. Observed activity is 300 + 200 = 500. The videos' combined lifetime total is 1,500 instead.
Daily reporting requires suitable adjacent observations. A change spanning several missing import days is not arbitrarily assigned to one day. Daily gaps can therefore remain even when a longer interval already supports an analysis.
If an older video lacks a required baseline, the analysis is incomplete or unavailable. A total with incomplete coverage must not be treated as a completely measured account value. Today's counters cannot reconstruct historical daily activity from before the account was connected.
Engagement rates
Follower-based engagement rate
Unit: percent. This is the rate used in the account overview and engagement section.
Formula: (period interactions ÷ available follower count) × 100.
Example: 150 interactions ÷ 1,000 followers × 100 = 15%.
There is no additional division by the number of videos. The result does not mean that 15% of followers interacted: non-followers can interact too, and one person can perform multiple actions. Values above 100% are mathematically possible. A zero or missing follower count leaves the rate undefined.
Individual video engagement rate
Unit: percent. Media metrics compare an individual video's cumulative interactions with its views.
Formula: ((video likes + video comments + video shares) ÷ video views) × 100.
Example: 100 likes + 15 comments + 5 shares with 2,000 views produce 6%. Do not directly compare this result with the dashboard's follower-based rate: it uses a different denominator.
This rate is not a count of unique engaged viewers either. Zero or missing views do not produce a valid percentage. Multiple interactions per playback can result in more than 100%.
Averages per published video
These averages use the publication cohort: imported videos whose publication dates fall within the selected range. Their available cumulative values observed by the end of the range are used. Historical analysis needs corresponding stored observations; later activity must not be presented as performance known at that earlier date.
| Metric | Unit | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Average likes / reactions per post | Likes per video | Cohort video likes ÷ number of cohort videos |
| Average comments per post | Comments per video | Cohort video comments ÷ number of cohort videos |
| Average shares per post | Shares per video | Cohort video shares ÷ number of cohort videos |
| Average interactions per post | Interactions per video | Cohort likes + comments + shares, divided by its video count |
| Average views per post | Views per video | Cohort video views ÷ number of cohort videos |
Worked example: Two newly published videos have a combined 160 likes, 30 comments, 10 shares and 4,000 views. Their averages are 80 likes, 15 comments, 5 shares, 100 interactions and 2,000 views per video.
If an older video gains another 500 likes, account-period activity increases. The averages for these two new videos remain unchanged. Account activity ÷ new videos is a different calculation and is incorrect for these cards.
Without any newly published videos, a per-new-video average is undefined. Missing video values must not silently be counted as zero. A viral video can strongly influence the arithmetic mean. A median is not currently a separate TikTok metric in ContentMate: for 10, 20 and 300 interactions, the mean is 110 and the median is 20. This example explains the distinction rather than describing an additional available feature.
Publications and content charts
Videos published / posts
Unit: videos. The number of imported videos published inside the selected range. Scheduled posts awaiting publication and drafts do not count.
Example: Three videos published in the period produce 3, even if the complete profile contains 42 videos. An incompletely imported inventory can also leave this analysis incomplete. The connected video list covers public videos; a complete private-content analysis is not promised. See TikTok's List Videos reference.
Post history and monthly distribution
Unit: publications per day or month/year. Grouping follows the publication date, not the day on which a video receives new likes.
Example: A video published on 31 January remains in the January publication distribution even if it receives many views in February. Each publication counts once within the same distribution; do not double-count overlapping reporting periods.
Posts by weekday and average posts per day
The bar counts publications on that weekday across the daily records being analysed. The line calculates the average per available daily record for that same weekday.
Formula: publications on that weekday ÷ number of available daily records for that weekday.
Example: Eight posts across four observed Mondays produce 2 posts per Monday. Missing daily values are skipped; they are not measured zeros. The displayed average is rounded to two decimal places.
The chart describes publishing frequency. It does not measure follower online times or establish the best hour for a future post. An account-specific TikTok best-posting-time heatmap is currently unavailable in this dashboard. Separate TikTok Story and Reel analytics are not offered either.
Video duration
Unit: seconds or formatted minutes and seconds. This is metadata describing the video's length.
Example: 75 seconds is shown as 1:15. It does not mean viewers watched for an average of 75 seconds. Watch time and average watch duration are different metrics and are unavailable through this connection.
Comparison with the previous period
Percentage change
Formula: ((current value − previous value) ÷ previous value) × 100.
Example: 150 interactions instead of 100 produce +50%; 80 instead of 100 produce −20%. When the previous value is zero or missing, there is no valid relative percentage change. An absent comparison does not automatically mean unchanged performance.
Use the displayed date boundaries. In particular, do not uncritically compare a period still in progress with one that has already been fully measured.
Percent versus percentage points
When an engagement rate rises from 4% to 6%, the absolute increase is 2 percentage points and the relative increase is 50%. The comparison change uses the relative calculation. These two statements are not interchangeable.
Do not sum rates or average them without considering their denominators: a video with 10 interactions and 100 views has a 10% rate; one with 90 interactions and 9,000 views has 1%. Combined, 100 ÷ 9,100 × 100 is approximately 1.10%, not 5.5%. This is an example of a views-weighted video rate, not a redefinition of the dashboard's follower-based rate.
Unavailable values and missing data
The current TikTok connection does not provide unique reach, unique viewers, saves, profile visits, link clicks, watch time, average watch duration, completion rate, 15-/30-second views, country/city/age/gender breakdowns, or gross follower gains and losses. Metrics available in TikTok Studio, advertising products or other TikTok APIs are not automatically part of this connection.
0 is a known numeric value. —, a gap or unavailable means that no reliable value is available. A recent import timestamp does not guarantee complete coverage for every metric and historical day.
For next steps, see Understanding TikTok analytics and Connecting a TikTok account.