How does the future of civilisation stand a chance when the avocado-eating, flat white-drinking, wokerati-youth of today can’t even concentrate on a TikTok video for more than 5 seconds?

The average view length on social media is pitiful as more apps consume more attention, and we sleepwalk into The Matrix - with Mr Zuckerbug and perhaps the Chinese state controlling us like Mr Anderson.

But is it really the case that humans can’t concentrate on anything for longer than it takes to tell a barista what milk-alternative you’d like in your coffee? Or, is it that many content marketing campaigns are lazy and a bit shit?

Ten years ago as paid social grew, many strategies were no more than boost the TV commercial. After all, they work between England v Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup, so why shouldn’t they be on Facebook feeds?

On TV, the 30 second spots were only skippable if you went to the kitchen or the bar, and through frequency and repetitive hooks or characters they burnt into our minds. But with the dawn of paid on Facebook, not only could people flick past them as easily as England falling out of another major competition, inducing two more years of hurt, but we had actual data.

• We knew the average view time of these videos were, let’s say, 15 seconds

• So we can assume people don’t watch ads longer than 15 seconds on social

• Therefore social ads should be no longer than 15 seconds

So 15 second videos happened and:

• The average view time became 7.5 seconds

• So people don’t watch ads longer than 7.5 seconds on social

• So social ads should be no longer than 7.5 seconds

It created a race to the bottom where the wrong thing was being questioned - instead of looking at the platform and data, why was the quality of the content all too often overlooked?

Fast-forward to 2024 and still focus is being diverted to the wrong thing.

It’s easier to blame the Generation (be that Z or Alpha) or the evil platforms creating addictive user experiences - instead of the content which is being made.

When the content is actually good

There was a cultural phenomenon when Barbenheimer took over the world - two movies which collectively run for 294 minutes and five seconds sent people flocking to cinemas to watch them back to back.

Similarly, Netflix’s most recent phenomenon Baby Reindeer - seven episodes, averaging 34 minutes in length - has created discourse, debate and even more content off the back of it, including (whether you agree with it or not) 14m people who’ve watched Piers Morgan’s hour long interview with Martha Fiona Harvey on YouTube.

The Overlap has thrived on social media, with short form videos featuring Gary Neville, Roy Keane et al sharing stories and debating football. The Drum reported the channel has:

• One million subscribers

• 260m views 

• And most notably - an average view time of more than 30 minutes

And of course there’s podcasts - a still under-utilised content form by marketers because a listen requires 60 seconds on Spotify and not just to be opened on TikTok for a vanity metric on a post-campaign report - where each listener spends 56 minutes on average per episode according to Edison's latest report. 

I could go on. 

It is undoubtedly true that social platforms have changed habits, and we are inundated with choice.

But it’s also obvious people don’t have to be just satisfied with content they don’t really like - because with so many options, they know they can easily find something they love. 

No longer is the choice between three TV channels - audiences can access a seemingly infinite amount of content whether that’s a static meme forwarded onto a WhatsApp group, or discovering a 300-page classic paperback.

Are you ready for the fight?

We’re so privileged to live in an era where we have so much choice, so many options and ways to educate, inform and entertain ourselves. But with that, comes an awful lot of crap. 

The fight for attention is real - and if you’re a brand or publisher entering the war, you better bring something special to the battlefield otherwise you’ll be left bloodied, embarrassed and forgotten (or more likely, no one will even notice you turned up).

You don’t have to come with the largest army or most expensive weapon - whether that’s volume of posts or budget - but a knowledge of the landscape, your USPs and who else is in the competition.

Clearly understanding the mission is vital:

• Why are you making content?

• Who is it for?

• How do they behave and on what platforms?

• What do they want?

• And from these answers decide your plan of attack

“I kept hearing people [say] everything’s got to be short-form, everything’s got to be 90 seconds, 30 seconds, to fit on Instagram, or Reels or TikTok,” said Gary Neville to The Drum.

“And I kept thinking, ‘yeah, but if you have the right people having a conversation about a sport that people love, surely there’s still a place for that, still a place for detailed conversation, for stories to be told in a more long-form way.”

Has the Manchester United legend and figurehead of The Overlap broken the algorithms and social decline of society single handedly? 

Of course not.

But what he - and others - have shown, is it is possible to engage audiences today and beyond with long form content.

It is of course harder - there’s more players on the pitch - but if you work hard, the prizes at the end are worth it.

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I would recommend reading Ted Gioia’s interesting piece on The State of Culture, where he looks at how platforms and algorithms are attacking art and entertainment with the rise of ‘distraction’ feeding addiction.

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We’ve helped numerous businesses including The NBA, Optimum Nutrition, Resident Advisor and more create new and effective content strategies - involving short and long form content to engage audiences.

If you’d like to discuss any of these ideas, or find out Something About Us please get in contact.