Video is not going away. But its consumption is rapidly changing, with viewing habits clustering around two distinct categories: long-form and short-form.
We increasingly consume our information and entertainment via video, as the statistics show. The average American watches over 6 hours of video content daily, with over half of that spent watching video online. 60% of our time on social media is now spent watching videos. However, as we diversify the ways we consume video content, the formats are also changing and defining themselves. We see the primary split now that can help us streamline our thinking about how best to leverage digital video within media organizations.
The two primary forms of online video that have emerged are long-form and short-form video. As their names imply, short-form is typically short (1-2 minutes or less) and long-form is long (over 10 minutes, often extending to 30 minutes or more). Short-form is vertical. Long-form is horizontal. Short-form content is designed for quick consumption and immediate impact. It’s highly engaging, with a focus on capturing attention quickly.
Long-form video allows for a deeper exploration of topics and, as in narrative and documentary production, much more complex storytelling. We consume short-form primarily on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. Long-form distribution is dominated by YouTube but is found on other streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and many more. Short-form emphasizes creativity and trendiness (production value can be low). In contrast, long-form lends itself to immersive storytelling and educational videos, requiring more planning and resources. But, it typically proves valuable enough to monetize, as opposed to shorts whose value is in traditional marketing goals: increasing brand loyalty, demonstrating value, and growing sales.
However, the primary difference, for our purposes, is psychological: viewers have completely different intentions when sitting down to view one vs. the other. When we watch short-form, we, of course, hope to be entertained or to learn new things, but we want it quickly. We are typically more passive, scrolling through suggested videos without committing to anything in particular. We don’t know what we want, and we are open to almost anything. With long-form, we are active. We seek out content specifically and then watch with a higher level of focus. We want to connect and understand on a deeper level.
These differences alone suggest that content creators and media decision-makers will be better positioned to execute their organizations’ larger strategy if they separate short-form from long-form development (processes and procedures) with separate slates of projects for short-form versus long-form. If you think of your content creation department as a movie studio, you are the studio boss, and your main divisions would be led by two key executives: the VP of Long-Form and the VP of Short-Form. Then, they would independently develop slates of projects and establish processes and procedures adapted to the specifics of each format. Even if you don’t have a large organization, thinking in these terms can still be helpful to organize things in your mind.
Purpose and production: long-form vs. short-form
As mentioned above, short-form is ideal for quick and powerful engagement, resulting in sharing on and off of the platform. In contrast, long-form is better for in-depth storytelling and detailed exploration of topics. The more popular short-form genres to emerge are daily life, opinions, trends/challenges, behind-the-scenes, quick stories or anecdotes, news bites, comedy sketches, music videos etc. These perform when they succeed in quickly capturing attention and that resonates emotionally (positive or negative) with their intended audience. Popular long-form genres include documentaries, narrative drama and comedy, educational videos, serialized reality, gaming videos, vlogs, podcasts, film/TV analysis, etc. Success in long-form comes from strong storytelling, nuanced exploration of ideas, and typically necessitates higher production value and promotion.
While production for both short- and long-form will require a familiarity with your audience, storytelling abilities, creative vision, and passion for the craft, a successful short video producer is going to need to evoke strong emotion quickly, be timely (trends and news cycle), have a sense for novelty and uniqueness, and be able to communicate simply and with clarity. They will need to be steeped in popular culture and able to keep things visually appealing. On the other hand, a long-form producer will be an expert storyteller above all else. They’ll have attention to detail in research and consistency, deep professional production and post-production expertise, patience, and a collaborative mindset. They’ll also need a higher level of project management skills that may be of little benefit to the producer of shorts.
The critical failure of efforts like Quibi was to make short-form content within a long-form slate (or with a long-form mindset). They made it for the phone, which was good. It was short. However, they used massive resources and had high production budgets, which was unnecessary. They could have made more creative content cheaper and devoted those resources elsewhere. Additionally, people could only share videos within the app as it was a paid environment. That removes a key component of short-form success. They needed to recognize the key differences between long-form and short-form, but they confused them with each other, which largely led to the product’s failure.
Audience behavior and consumption patterns: long-form vs. short-form
There are two key differences in audience intentions when viewing long-form and short-form content: Spontaneous vs. Intentional and Low Commitment vs. High Commitment. I’d reference the classic quip: “I don’t have the time to watch a two-hour movie, but I have the time to watch two hours of two-minute videos.” The difference is in the intent and commitment.
We consume short videos on a whim, usually while multitasking or in dead time throughout the day. We still want entertainment or information, but we want it “snackable.” We consume long videos when we want to, for instance, watch a film, immerse ourselves in a story, or learn something new. We deliberately choose the content and commit to it on some level. That commitment is often linked to a sincere desire to understand something new or fully immerse ourselves in a story or experience.
From an audience intent standpoint, it becomes clear that groups at either end of the spectrum might be watching “video,” but they are seeking out very different experiences. Depending on your organization’s goals and stage in audience development, you can utilize these different formats at different times and places along your audience development roadmap.
Audiences also expect immediate gratification in short-form. They expect it to be trendy and topical. They expect long-form to have a detailed narrative and high production value. You can gain a lot of value in planning long-form content: planning in terms of 1.) project-to-project, i.e., within the story, and 2.) across the slate in your editorial calendars. However, that kind of long-term planning may be less valuable for the short-form slate and could, in fact, squander production resources.
Platforms trend one way or the other
Short-form is often mobile-first. You can assume that your short-form audience watches on a handheld device, scrolling through vertical videos. They are going to be on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube shorts. Short videos will be tightly integrated into the platform, with music, tagging, links, and locations all tied into distribution and working to make them shareable and easily accessible.
Long-form videos are typically on large screens, horizontal, and viewed across many devices: tablets, laptops, and TVs. Immersive narrative content tilts more toward large screens, whereas educational content is often viewed on a phone or tablet. YouTube and Netflix are the dominant platforms for long-form video, but high-quality narrative content is also distributed on other platforms. The videos are typically not interactive, and while these platforms do suggest content for their users, most viewers are intentionally seeking out the videos they watch.
You can better tailor content to specific audiences and platforms with separate slates.
Your short-form content is going to need to be quick, impactful, and culturally relevant. You’ll want to be funny or tap into a current news item. Your long-form content can more deeply explore certain concepts and assume that the audience has already chosen to take a deep dive into that area. Trying to develop one show or a series to do both of these things is obviously going to take a lot of work, and trying to create them in tandem in one slate may lead to trouble trying to differentiate them… potentially confusing your audience.
Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.
Seth Godin
Since many of the platforms have a demographic tilt, it will be easier to segment your audiences after first choosing a format (short or long). Additionally, it will be easier to segment by values, interests, lifestyle, etc., after selecting a format. You will more readily satisfy your audience if you first decide their intentions. For example, defaulting to “short form is for young people and long form is for old people” may or may not lead to success. But if you make snackable content for young people, snackable content for older people, deep-dive content for young people, and deep-dive content for older people, you will have much better chances of meeting your audience where they are.
Each format also requires different creative approaches, production processes, and distribution strategies. Short-form content is likely going to be done by a solo producer/content creator or a small team, whereas long-form necessitates a larger crew. The solo creator can make decisions quickly, and their brand is often the product’s brand. The long-form content needs to be developed with more thought and more heads in the room, and since more money is involved, the decision-making structure is going to be more formal. Distribution of short-form is going to be time-sensitive, whereas long-form can be dropped and promoted afterward. If you have a separate slate, you can more easily develop separate approaches, processes, and strategies.
The most crucial benefit of separating slates is maximizing engagement. This is why we are doing the work. We want to ensure that each type of content is optimized for a purpose and a specific audience. This will lead to higher viewer retention and engagement and it is much easier to accomplish if you’ve already done the broad brush work of dividing between long- and short-form, I.e. you are going into planning, development and production with your audiences overriding intention defined.
Summing it up…
The digital landscape has evolved to a point where it is clear that video is indispensable. Now, the most important thing we can do is organize our production workflows and processes with an acknowledgment of the reality of online audience behavior. That behavior has led to the development of two very different types of video: long-form and short-form content. As consumption increases, that difference will become more apparent.
The two formats serve different purposes, appeal to different audience needs, and thrive on different platforms. Recognizing the inherent differences will help organizations optimize production processes and more fully engage their audiences, leading to more desired outcomes, growth, and long-term success of the brand.
Separate production slates for short-form and long-form is one major change you can make within your organization to take advantage of these natural developments.