Half of TikTok's Playtime Will Come from Long-Form Content Consumption
Within the next 12-24 months, 50% of playtime will be from long-form content as TikTok aggressively pushes to double stay duration.
In the next 12-24 months, we must stop referring to TikTok as a short-form content platform because 50% of its playtime will come from long-form content (videos up to 15 minutes long). This is approximately how much time users on Douyin (TikTok’s sister app in China) spend on long-form content consumption.
You might wonder why I often reference Douyin. The reason is because TikTok will almost always pursue the exact roadmap that has worked for Douyin until it is clear that it doesn’t work. For the most part though, it has worked, which reinforces this approach.
TikTok’s user growth is slowing, which means that the company needs to increase the time spent in the app in order to serve more ads to users. If TikTok can follow in Douyin’s footsteps, it will double stay duration (the amount of time users spend in the app) via the growth in long-form content consumption. The newly announced Creativity Program, which rewards +1 minute videos, is a strong sign of TikTok’s commitment to growing the supply of long-form content.
If you are a creator or brand with more than 10K followers and you’re not already leaning into long-form content, you’re falling behind. You need to evolve to the next level of content creation and come up with new templates and storytelling formats that keep your audience engaged for more than 60 seconds. If you’re a creator or brand with less than 10K followers, then master the short-form format first and grow your audience that way.
Leaning into longer-form content will not only help you capture more of the time users spend on TikTok, but it will also help you build a stronger relationship with your audience. The creators who are best at monetizing paywalled subscriptions are those who can keep an audience engaged for long stretches of time. It’s hard to convert a fan into a superfan in a 30 second video being served in a sea of other 30-second videos. This is exactly why podcasters, who engage their audiences for hour-long episodes, do so well with Patreon and similar products.
I previously led creator monetization at TikTok and now advise companies in the social commerce, consumer social, and generative AI space. Should we work together? Don’t hesitate to reach out.