Uploading 15-minute videos on TikTok - Another 'and' for marketers!

Recently, a social media consultant shared a screenshot of a message on the TikTok app that the users could now upload up to 15 minute long videos. Last year, the platform had allowed users to upload 10-minute long videos and introduced the landscape viewing feature. The trend clearly indicates that TikTok is looking to attract more content creators who have been publishing long-form videos on YouTube. How does this impact other platforms like YouTube and Instagram; users from different demographics; content creators; and specifically, marketers? Make sure you listen to the end…

Attracting to win over the competition

The social networking arena has always been a highly competitive space. If you are a Gen X or Millenial, you might remember messenger apps like ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger. The past 2 decades have witnessed boom in this space led by the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Each platform brought forth their own unique features that attracted different kinds of demographics and gave them a distinct presence. As this space matured, the platforms struggled to come up with innovative features that could sustain their distinctiveness.

Naturally, they started copying each others' features to attract users from the competitor platforms. The popularity of these platforms is broadly measured in the number of monthly active users they have.

As of October 2023, the monthly active users of the most popular social media platforms were:

Social Media Platform	Monthly Active Users
Facebook	3+ bn
YouTube	2.4+ bn
WhatsApp	2 bn
Instagram	2 bn
WeChat	1.3+ bn
TikTok	1.2+ bn
Twitter / X	~0.6 bn

Source: Statista

I would expect changes to these numbers. It seems that TikTok has nearly half of monthly active users compared to YouTube and double that of X. There are no marks for guessing that TikTok is focusing on increasing its user base which would mean pulling users off competing platforms.

In the highly competitive world of social media, content and content creators become very crucial. It's quite straight forward in a way, you enable a functionality on the social media platform - like length of the video, in this case - for content to be uploaded with as much ease as possible. This will attract content creators who are always looking for platforms and ways to expand their reach and engagement. More content means more total users and monthly active users on the social media platform. More users will translate into increase in presence of major brands and ad dollars.

How does it impact competing platforms?

Like I said, it's ultimately a race for building a massive user base for businesses to target and rake in the ad dollars. So, TikTok moving to allowing longer video length is a move to become a viable platform for curating long-form content. And it's not TikTok alone.

YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts as a response to TikTok's and Instagram's short-form content functionality. They also introduced "Edit into a Short" tool on iOS and Android last year. The tool allows content creators to select up to 60 seconds from their own existing long-form video content to create "Shorts". Shorts created from VODs or Videos on Demand will link back to the original long-form video.

On the other hand, Instagram and X have also extended the maximum video length allowed on the platform. In August this year, Instagram confirmed testing the capability to upload Reels longer than 3 minutes to up to 10 minutes. X, formerly Twitter, also offers the option to upload 10-minute videos to its Blue subscribers.

Such functionalities are a clear way of appealing content creators to develop and publish content on the social media platform. It is unclear if it will truly put a dent into the others' user base. The reason being the stickiness of social media platforms today. Look at Threads, for example. What I call as the "revenge social media platform", Threads is an exact replica of X.

Threads launched with a bang. The platform got a million users in an hour, and reached 70 million users in just 2 days. Since then, its user numbers have fluctuated. In a recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the app currently has "just under" 100 million users. Limited functionality and large presence of brand posts on users' feeds have been cited as key reasons for low user base and engagement on the platform, currently.

While Meta remains committed to making the platform better, the underlying message is clear - people being creatures of habit, will use the platform if it at least offers similar functionalities as the other apps they have been using. This indicates that existing platforms have figured out ways to keep users active and engaged. This is not a doomsday prediction for Threads. It's just that it needs to figure out ways to become sticky for its users. This also applies for all the social media platforms who have been introducing features like enabling varying video lengths to suit to users' preferences.

What it does uploading 15-minute videos on TikTok mean for content creators?

The entire social media landscape sits on the premise of bringing the best possible functionalities for creators to generate content and ease-of-use for users to access it. The healthy competition amongst the social media apps will only lead to more features and functionalities that will benefit content creators by providing ability to:

1. Develop diversified content - short videos for quick humourous or engaging visuals and longer videos for in-depth stories, tutorials, or educating users.

2. Monetize content as longer videos will enable space to include ads, sponsorships, or affiliate links.

3. Expand reach through short videos, and engage and retain them through longer videos.

4. Be more creative and innovative as longer videos will provide a canvas for intricate storytelling, explore different formats, trying out new techniques, and experiment with presentation styles.

5. Publish a content that would appeal to a wider range of audience, which means building a larger follower base and retain them.

6. Carve out a distinct niche in an already crowded and highly competitive world of content creation.

What does it mean for marketers?

On the other side, marketers have been reaping benefits of video marketing for increased brand awareness, customer engagement, conversions and sales, and build trust. Enhancement of extension (or shortening) of allowed length of video is quite significant and transformative for marketers. Increased length in videos will help them to:

1. Implement diversified content strategies with more space to tell stories, demo products, and showcase their brand's personality.

2. Build deeper connection with the audience through well-crafted narratives, addressing complex topics, and offer valuable insights that can lead to higher engagement.

3. Deliver educational content to attain a thought leadership position in their niche.

4. Maximize the reach and impact of their brand by leveraging newly available real estate for ad placement.

5. Gain better insights into the preferences of their target audience by analyzing when viewers drop off or interact with the content.

6. Cross-promote and collaborate with influencers or brands to extend reach and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Introduction of such features and functionalities by social media apps is always a welcome change because it benefits all - content creators, users, marketers and brands, and of course, the platform itself. This move by TikTok and other platforms is one of many evolutionary changes that we all can expect ahead. Looking purely from a Marketing lens, marketers will need to re-align their strategies either to re-purpose existing content or to develop more long-form content to strengthen the digital presence of their brand. For marketers, the strategy will be more about the 'and' than 'or' when it comes to content marketing.