One of the biggest trends on social media right now is short-form video, with TikTok taking the lead and showing competitors how it’s done, becoming a full-fledged video service over the past couple of years.
There are many benefits of short-form video such as increased watch time due to the video length, higher engagement, and it attracts the younger demographic which is vital as they have a huge impact on the success of social media platforms. However, there are also negatives that come with short-form video, the biggest being monetisation. It’s incredibly hard to effective monetise short-form content, you might remember that Vine found this out the hard way. They were extremely popular pre-2016 with their six-second-long videos, however, as they were unable to come up with ways that creators could effectively monetise on the platform, their biggest creators moved on to focus on different platforms. Unfortunately, this was the big downfall for Vine, and TikTok understands this.
Why Is TikTok Rolling Out 10 Minute Videos?
Due to the lack of monetisation opportunities with short-form videos, TikTok has announced that they are rolling out longer 10-minute video uploads to all users globally. Before this, videos were limited to only 3 minutes in length (originally 15 seconds when they first launched), which is why you might have seen creators uploading videos in several parts. This is a huge move from TikTok as they are becoming an even more direct competitor to YouTube which made $28.8 billion in ad revenue in 2021. However, with TikTok rivalling for a share in YouTubes’ ad revenue, YouTube has made the shift to start focusing on TV ad revenue.
How Will Users React?
It will be interesting to see how users respond to this longer video content, as it is a risky move considering that people use TikTok for the fun, viral, short-form content. We also don’t know how this will be featured within the app, as they will need to create a separation between long-form and short-form videos. Will users be happy seeing 10 minute long videos in their ‘For You’ feed? They already feature live streams within the main feed which hasn’t impacted user engagement, so they will have ideas on how to implement this.
If successful, this will allow TikTok to increase user engagement and create a wide variety of content and advertising opportunities for brands and creators. This is an inevitable move as it will help improve the longevity of the platform, but the real test will be how users react.
The option to film longer videos will be rolled out to users worldwide on TikTok over the next few weeks, however, users will be notified when they can start creating the longer videos. At GA Agency we work with clients on their marketing strategies, together with the client defining their strategy, then taking responsibility for its execution. A well-functioning media buy campaign can complement your digital marketing strategy and widen your target audience. Contact us to see how we can help!
