Short Form Video: Content or Creator?
If we learned anything from this year's Emmy Awards, it's that streaming platforms are king. HBO/HBO Max and Netflix won a combined 64 awards this year, cementing their respective places as top platforms for entertainment. Even one of the few talked-about network shows - ABC's Abbott Elementary - uses Hulu to get more viewers. So it comes as no surprise to anyone that Americans continue to move towards streaming as their main vehicle for watching entertainment, with nearly half of their overall time spent on streaming, compared to less than 40% on cable and even less on digital antenna.
What also won't come as a surprise to most is that a person's generation might be the biggest factor when it comes to streaming habits. Gen Z, by far, spends the most time streaming, followed by similarly placed Millennials and Gen X, and Boomers at the bottom with the least amount of time streaming.
Although HBO/HBO Max beat Netflix in terms of awards at this year's Emmys, Netflix continues to dominate the streaming platform market. Nearly two-thirds of Americans have a Netflix subscription to Netflix, compared to slightly less than one-third who have a subscription to HBO Max, which is tied with Disney+. Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are also competitive in the rankings, with about half of Americans saying they pay for access to those platforms. Those with the smallest percentage of Americans with a subscription are Peacock, Paramount TV, Apple TV, and YouTube Premium.
Generational differences persist into subscription preferences as well. Nearly all of Gen Zers and Millennials surveyed (96%) have at least one subscription, compared to two-thirds of Boomers. However, among every age group, Netflix continues to reign supreme, followed by Hulu and Amazon.
But viewers aren't just moving towards streaming platforms and away from cable when it comes to entertainment content - they're also moving towards short form video (SFV) content, (think YouTube and TikTok videos). Indeed, a plurality of Americans watch SFVs, with YouTube leading the pack as the platform of choice for this format. Interestingly enough, as much as we hear about TikTok, it ranks below Facebook and Instagram reels in terms of use (40% compared to 50% and 42%, respectively.
YouTube consistently ranks the highest when it comes to SFV viewing, although Gen Z is more likely to concentrate this type of entertainment consumption on Instagram and TikTok, and they're also the only generation that prefers Instagram and TikTok to Facebook reels. The dat is clear that this form of entertainment is not only popular, but given the high levels of engagement across generations, it is arguably likely to stay.
With this in mind, this all begs the question - what makes one SFV platform stand out from the other? Is it the content itself, or the creator behind the content?
From a 10,000 foot view, SFV watchers tend to be more in it for the content, but the creator is clearly an important factor as well. Once we start taking a closer look at people’s opinions a more nuanced view becomes clear. The vast majority of SFV viewers are in it for both the creator and the content. About one in five Americans say it these two factors are equally important, while 4 in 10 report it has little to do with the creator themselves.
As is the case with just about all of the data we looked at on these topics, we find that there are big generational differences. In fact, the younger you are, the more likely you are in it for the creator, even though content is ranked as most important among all age groups.
Interestingly enough, though, when we ask SFV viewers whether they watch the videos of creators they enjoy or just take a more passive approach and watch what is being served up to them by the respective platforms we see the power that the creators have. Nearly half of viewers’ time is spent watching specific creators they follow. This is again impacted by generational divides, with Gen Z more in control of what they're viewing compared to older generations, spending more time watching specific creators. Millennials split their time evenly, while Gen Xers lean towards what the algorithm weaves into their feed, and Boomers are just along for the ride, spending nearly two-thirds of their time viewing content in their feeds.
Further painting the power of the creator, especially among Gen Zers, when we break down the distribution of responses and look specifically at the percentage of time spent watching content from specific creators (vs. just watching what's in their feed), nearly three-quarters of Gen Zers report that they spend more than half their time viewing content from a specific creator. This is compared to two-thirds of Millennials and about 3 in 5 Gen Xers who do the same, and less than half of Boomers.
Lastly, these generational differences even exist when it comes to opinions on the ideal length of SFV. There's quite the range when it comes to time limits on SFV platforms - Instagram recently increased the time limit for reels from 60 seconds to 90 seconds, while YouTube time limits range from 15 minutes to 12 hours based on whether or not the account's been verified by Google. Gen Zers and Millennials prefer both short and long term content, with a half-and-half approach on whether +/- 10 minutes is the ideal time length. Gen Xers and Boomers, on the other hand, prefer their SFVs short - with more than two-thirds of each group preferring videos under 10 minutes.
As is the case with many things spanning a variety of topics, products, and industries, the generation a person belongs to can sometimes be the most important factor impacting a preference or opinion. SFV are no different, however it is very clear that this is a medium that must be paid attention to and is likely to be a factor in our viewing repertoire for years to come.
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