Is the time not right for long videos on Tik Tok yet?

This article mainly discusses the recent sudden popularity of long video content on the TikTok platform, especially long videos with the theme of interpreting famous works, which have been loved and shared by a large number of users, triggering thinking about the reasons for the rise of long videos on short video platforms and their commercialization.

The video, which lasts 7.5 hours and is comparable to a full day’s work, has become popular on the short video platform Douyin.

Recently, the famous book interpreter @米三汉 became popular on Douyin. The video "Reading "Dream of Red Mansions" in one breath" has been played 230 million times, setting off a "cultural craze" on Douyin.

It is not new that Tik Tok creators quickly become popular. What is worth noting is why a long video content can attract so much attention on the short video platform.

In fact, Douyin has been planning long videos for a long time. Last year, Douyin's long video APP "Qingtao" was renamed "Douyin Selection", positioning itself as a knowledge video platform for young people's interests, and connecting various interactions with Douyin itself. It is observed that "long videos" have become the first-level entrance of Douyin, and their importance has been greatly enhanced.

The question then arises: Why can these bloggers become popular on Douyin? Why is Douyin obsessed with long videos? Why are long and short video platforms obsessed with exaggerating their "territory"?

1. Over 100 million views, book blogger @米三汉becomes popular

Short video platforms are quietly gathering more long video creators.

According to Relang data, on the afternoon of June 7, @米三汉 posted a shocking "450-minute in-depth interpretation of "Dream of Red Mansions"" on Douyin, covering the original content and incorporating relevant historical background. The video quickly became popular, with over 230 million views. As of July 1, it received over 9.95 million likes and over 6.029 million collections.

Image source: TikTok

Observing @米三汉's video content, it is not difficult to find several popular videos, all of which are more than 6 hours long. Among them, the episode commentary of "Dream of Red Mansions" released in January 2023 is about 30 minutes per episode, and the number of likes is mostly around 2,000. The "Dream of Red Mansions" commentary that has exploded this time is a collection of previous videos, with a total length of up to 7 hours and 34 minutes.

After the video became popular, @米三汉 posted a series of posts such as "I finished watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in one breath", "I finished watching "Journey to the West" in one breath", and "I finished watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in one breath". Among them, the video "I finished watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in one breath" is 6 hours and 22 minutes long, and currently has 1.091 million likes.

Image source: TikTok

Many viewers were also shocked by the length of the video.

“First glance: Why is this video so long? Second glance: What kind of app is this? Tell me again!”

"Brother, do you know this is Tik Tok?"

After being shocked, many netizens started the "challenge mode", determined to finish watching the video at a higher speed. Douyin even pushed a topic list "I am studying literature on Douyin".

"I will watch it all in one go, no speed increase, I will be there for 7.5 hours, welcome to supervise"

"I've been watching for a long time, but there's no progress at all."

@米三汉's popularity has attracted more attention to Douyin's long video content. In fact, he is not the first long video creator to become popular on Douyin. @一只肖包子's "226-minute in-depth interpretation of "The Three-Body Problem"" received 1.369 million likes, and "240-minute in-depth interpretation of Bai Luyuan" received 988,000 likes. While sharing their views, they are also constantly outputting in-depth content.

Image source: TikTok

It is observed that the content of this type of creators is often divided into "long videos + short videos", such as @一只肖包子's "In-depth Interpretation of The Three-Body Problem". In addition to the 226-minute long video, the content is also divided into 7 short videos, using different lengths to meet the needs of users with different viewing habits, thereby maximizing the reach of the content.

2. Bilibili started, and TikTok became popular

It is observed that @米三汉's content was updated on Bilibili in the early days. The in-depth interpretation of "Dream of Red Mansions" that became popular on Douyin this time was released on Bilibili as early as 2022. The current number of views of this video on Bilibili is 4.71 million.

Image source: Station B

Although the number of views is considerable, it is limited by the fierce competition for mid-length video content on Bilibili and the style of the video content. Currently, @米三汉 has only 315,000 fans on Bilibili, and most of his videos have only tens of thousands of views.

Related videos @米三汉 also posted on the video account, but the number of likes was very small and did not make much of a splash. It was not until the recent Douyin video of "Dream of Red Mansions" that @米三汉's Douyin fans increased significantly.

In addition to the length and depth of the content, the popularity of this type of ultra-long videos on Douyin is inseparable from the strong support of the Douyin platform.

It has been observed that "long video" has become the first-level entrance of Douyin. The page is different from the short video and has a double waterfall flow setting.

(Left is a long video from Douyin, right is from Bilibili)

Although the layout of the homepage is similar to that of Bilibili, the content under the long video entrance of Douyin is still different. After browsing for a few hours, the editor found that the long videos of Douyin now have the following characteristics:

1. Most of the content is a collection of short video creators. It is observed that many of the current long video content on Douyin are collections of previous short video content, and these creators often distribute them on multiple platforms.

To a certain extent, this means that the number of creators who currently only make long videos on Douyin is relatively small, and most of them operate on the entire platform or in the form of "long video + short video".

2. Most of the content is medium-length videos of about 10 minutes. It is observed that under the long video entrance, most of the content is medium-length videos of about 10 minutes.

Compared with short videos, medium videos have a slower pace and contain more information. Compared with long videos, this type of content is less stressful to watch and puts less pressure on creators.

3. Content longer than 30 minutes is mostly "one-take-watch", animation collections, crosstalk, etc.

The creation of long videos means high investment costs and higher creation thresholds. Therefore, at the current stage, the more prominent long video content on Douyin is concentrated on content such as storytelling, which has relatively low production costs and higher user stickiness.

Overall, the current long video content of Douyin does not differ significantly from other platforms. There is some overlap with creators on the medium and long video platform Bilibili, and the richness of the content still needs to be improved.

3. Douyin is struggling to find a comparable case as it focuses on long videos

Tik Tok has been planning for long videos for a long time.

Since 2020, Xigua Video, a subsidiary of the company, has launched the "Mid-length Video Partner Program", spending 2 billion yuan to support mid-length video creators, trying to open up a new market between short and long videos, and launched a horizontal version of Xigua Video to meet the needs of viewers. However, despite the huge investment, the platform incentives are still insufficient to meet the commercial needs of creators.

Last September, Douyin further adjusted its strategy and renamed its medium-length video APP "Qingtao" to "Douyin Selections", fully opening up data interaction with Douyin itself. Douyin is trying to use this as a tool to transition to a deeper PUGC model and seek depth and breadth of content.

At the same time, Kuaishou also joined the battlefield and launched the "Mid-length Video Plan" in an attempt to get a share of the mid-length video content field. However, the originality and uniqueness of the long video content on the Douyin platform still need to be improved, and many contents can be found in similar versions on other platforms, such as film and television book analysis. Despite this, Douyin is still promoting the growth of long video content by incentivizing creators and users.

In addition, compared with Douyin, Bilibili still has a significant advantage in the field of medium and long videos. From the results, Bilibili still has a relatively large advantage in the field of medium and long videos. Even when many users see long videos on Douyin, they can think of Bilibili as the platform.

Currently, content like @米三汉's is still a minority on short video platforms, and users cannot watch or collect them without curiosity. However, after curiosity recedes, how many users will remain on the "beach"?

As time goes by, some users may collect long video content and put it aside, and then it will be deposited in a corner along with the 1-hour weight loss tutorial, 5-hour PS tutorial, and 10-hour programming self-study in the favorites, and covered with dust. Some users may spend a lot of time "chewing" this kind of content.

However, the excellent data of creators like Mi Sanhan have, to a certain extent, sent positive signals to other creators, attracting more creators to join in and enrich the content ecology of Douyin's long videos.

In addition to the content ecosystem, the commercialization of long videos is also a top priority. In the current profit-oriented environment, major platforms are increasing their commercialization, and Bilibili is no exception.

Whether Douyin's medium and long videos can stand out from the competition of long video giants such as Bilibili, iQiyi, Tencent Video and Mango TV and break the curse of commercialization remains to be seen. But it is undeniable that some creators have tasted the sweetness of Douyin's long videos, which brings more possibilities for Douyin's future content ecology and commercialization.

Author: TopKlout

Source: WeChat public account "TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)"