These days, TikTok aspires to be more than just a short-form video application. While the original format boosted the social network’s popularity, the Chinese giant is increasingly moving towards longer-form content. And it’s working, since users now reportedly spend half their time on the app watching videos lasting longer than a minute.

       TikTok is embracing longer formats and is keen to communicate its new strategy to content creators. At a private event held in New York in early October to motivate creators to make long-form videos, the Chinese giant assured them that users are increasingly showing interest in long-form content: “TikTok told creators that users are now spending half their time on the app watching content that’s longer than a minute,” reports The Information.

       That’s good news for the social network and for creators in search of monetisation. TikTok had already developed strategies to entice users to increase their output of longer content on the platform, promising more money as long as creators posted videos longer than one minute, the minimum length required to activate content monetisation.

       This strategy has paid off, according to statements from the platform reported by The Information. In addition to accounting for half the time spent on the app by users, the latter are also more likely to follow creators who post long-form content.

       “Over the past six months, creators who post videos longer than a minute have five times the growth rate in followers of those who post only short videos,” The Information reports.

       Recently, TikTok even mentioned the possibility of extending the maximum length of videos to 15 minutes.

       By offering long-form content, and in particular Lives, as an alternative to television, the Chinese social network is encroaching on a market dominated by major players. The platform has even emerged as a veritable source of entertainment, ahead of Netflix.

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       “YouTube went out of its way to become more like TikTok, and now TikTok is trying to become more like YouTube,” said Matt Koval, founder of consulting agency Creator Dynamics, who worked at YouTube for nearly a decade, speaking to The Information. – AFP Relaxnews