Content consumption and creation habits have undergone dramatic transformations in tandem with the shifting landscape of technology and media. Content’s become accessible, its quantities exponentiated, and channels of delivery diversified.
However, the democratisation of content creation and convenience of access is a double-edged sword. Consumer demands are met with overwhelming supply but the creators derive fewer benefits.
The unavoidable and uninhibitable consumption of content, facilitated by social media and streaming services, has cheapened content. The availability of free or affordable content hooks people in and fuels demand further.
With social media and content engine apps trying to indulge consumer demands and make more money, they’ve become increasingly indistinguishable and have started to converge to a super-pandering platform that has everything– short videos, long videos, podcasts, livestreams, photos that disappear, text, and at its core, expression, promotion, and validation.
Media convergence will continue, with traditional distinctions between television, film, gaming, and social media becoming increasingly blurred. These apps have strayed from their original business models to stay thriving – Netflix has games now, YouTube has shorts, and Snapchat has TV shows.
Increased consumer choice mutually fuels productions — independent and studio-backed. The number and influence of social media creators have exponentially increased over the last decade both in the mainstream (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) and in the direct-to-consumer (Patreon, OnlyFans, Substack) domains.
With the advent of studio-backed streaming services, the number of scripted TV series in the U.S. grew from around 200 in 2002 to over 400 by 2015 to a record high, labelled “Peak TV” by FX, of 532 in 2019.
Social media creators have cultivated large and dedicated audiences, often attracting younger viewers who prefer shorter, more personalised content. TikTok, launched in 2016, saw rapid growth in the late 2010s and early 2020s, creating a new generation of young social media stars.
As social media creators produce engaging content with relatively low production costs, streaming platforms face increased competition for viewer attention. Attempting to capture viewers and profits, streaming services are taking notes — like collaborating with influencers for promotion and embracing short-form productions — from TikTokers’ playbook.
The past 50 years have seen a dramatic shift towards on-demand access, mobility, and customisation in how people consume digital content as its production has been democratised and decentralised.
Up ’til ~15 years ago, you had to watch what was on TV but now consumers have more choosing power. With power comes consumer freedom to consume what they like and drive the format and content of the content they consume with their demands.
Even back then, there were glimpses of the value of viewer choice as reflected in the mass-adoption of digital video recorder technologies. Streaming services saw the potential and hijacked, temporarily, the monopoly over content ’til they were forced to make more and more room for social media creators.
Moments of silent waiting on the bus are now largely occupied by content consumption and phone-interaction exemplifying a new, dominant culture of terminal consumption.
Generation Z consumption habits are driving how content-platforming apps are created and which features, such as shorts or stories, are highlighted. These apps then shove these features, increasingly conducive to attention-retention and catering to the decreased attention-span, down the throats of everyone else. Obediently, creators trying to thrive design their content accordingly.
This trend is reflected in the rise of clipping shorts from larger YouTube/Netflix videos or having more moving images in shorts to prevent churn. Attention is increasingly fleeting and content is increasingly desperate. In the future, it’s gonna be even more about standing out in an ocean of content.
The short-form trend persists even though short videos generate less ad revenue even when accounting for the increased views from the shortening.
Counter-culturally, there’s been an adjacent rise in long-form content. Many consumers, disillusioned by this new flood of short-form content, turned to equally plentiful longer-form options, well-epitomised by the characteristically raw, lengthy, unedited, and trend-setting podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, and broadly, the rise in podcast consumption.
Long-form content also extends to comprise the binge-watching of TV shows, a viewing habit increasingly common with the advent of on-demand, streaming sites.
This format — alongside, sometimes literally, short-form content — finds its place in people’s leisure time, often being consumed during dedicated viewing sessions at home or during commutes.
In 2022, the most common platforms that respondents1 used to watch screen content in the past 7 days were online subscription services (66%), free video streaming services (58%), and commercial free-to-air TV (excluding on-demand TV, 53%). In conjunction, the average person spends about 2.5 hours per day2 on social media.
In the early 2000s, the average American spent a few hours per day consuming media. By the late 2010s, this number had increased to 11+ hours per day, driven by the proliferation of smartphones, social media, and streaming platforms.
Content consumption channels are increasingly fragmented with the rise of new platforms like Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, and Spotify that have emerged alongside traditional channels. Creators now produce different content for different platforms. Fragmentation is paradoxically also accompanied by selective-adoption of profitable features from other platforms.
Consumers now watch or listen to whatever they’re attracted to. And unsurprisingly, their tastes are harvested for recommendations. Content becomes more personalised though also more likely to get the consumer stuck in a bubble with few recommendations from outside. This stands in contrast with traditional TV where you can browse a different channel with a press of a button.
Consumer viewing data, of course, is also sold to production companies which craft shows targeted to specific demographics. Their content strategies also now focus on having a mix of short and long form content.
Content consumption and creation have increased significantly over the last 30 years. In particular, the rise in short-form content has been dramatic. New consumption habits, facilitated by streaming services, have also led to a rise in long-form content in the form of binge-friendly TV shows and podcasts.
It used to be medium-length content delivered via TV, films, radio. Now, both short-form and long-form content are on the rise on mainly portable devices.
References:
1. 2022 TV Consumer Survey
2. DataReportal’s “Digital 2023” report
Quite an interesting read!!