Are short-form videos engaging?

Today, content creators are looking for innovative ways to engage with audiences. One of the most significant shifts recently, has been the rise in the consumption of short-form videos.

Many platforms have grown in size, merged with others, and started monetising. These platforms have been pivotal in bringing individuals online.

But where are short-form videos and video commerce headed? How much time do users spend on these platforms?

To understand how engaging short-form videos are, and how brands perceive them, afaqs! recently hosted a panel discussion on the topic ‘Short video and its role in video commerce’ during the seventh edition of vdonxt asia conference and awards.

Moderated by Venkata Susmita Biswas, executive editor, afaqs!, the panellists included Gaurav Jeet Singh, head of agency, Meta India; Geet Lulla, VP sales & head - Asia-Pacific, Comscore; Manika Juneja, managing partner, Dentsu Creative; and Samir Vora, CMO, VerSe Innovation.

The panellists talked about the amount of time one spends on various platforms to watch short-form videos.

“The time spent on a platform like Josh, is as high as 38 minutes per day per user. Josh has multiple sessions in a day. Each session could be as low as one or one-and-a-half minutes,” points out Vora.

“Also, we’ve started seeing polarity in terms of which part of the day has longer sessions - morning and evenings tend to be higher. Compared to this, Daily Hunt’s side of the ecosystem is a little more linear and structured.”

Singh mentions that the time spent on Meta platforms, is much higher than 38 minutes per day per user.

“Many short-form videos are being created lately. 40% of businesses on the platform globally serve Reels ads to the consumers. Other than the creators, brands and publishers also make short-form videos.”

How do brands perceive short video formats?

Juneja mentions, “It depends on the kind of briefs given by the brands. Irrespective of the platforms, the creation of the content is quite important. Short video formats is something that brands are unable to skip (ignore) at this point of time.”

Lulla adds, “There is a huge convergence between short-form videos and social media, which leads to the question, how do we monetise?”

You can watch the full panel discussion below: