By esantiago@hubspot.com (Erica Santiago)

Let me tell you the most challenging part of my job. Often, I will delete TikTok and Instagram from my phone because I can’t help but waste time endlessly scrolling through these apps, watching dozens of short-form videos in one sitting.

Then, like clockwork, I redownload these apps because I must write about them for work. Thus, the cycle of endless scrolling continues.

Sure, I could blame the nature of the job, but my endless scrolling stems from the fact that I love short-form videos.

And I’m not the only one. 73% of consumers prefer to watch short-form videos to learn about a product or service, and 56% of marketers reported that short-form video was the top trend they planned to invest in in 2024.

So, why are short-form videos so popular? Turns out there are a few reasons, one of which involved a bit of psychology. Let’s get into it!

What are short-form videos?

Why are short-form videos so popular?

What are short-form videos?

Short-form videos are videos that are less than 60 seconds in duration. However, some marketers and content creators agree that short-form videos can be up to 3 minutes. But, if you want my opinion, I would stick to the 60-second rule.

I take this stance because attention spans are getting shorter, but we’ll get into that later.

Anyway, short-form videos deliver information in a digestible, bite-size format so viewers can quickly watch and bookmark the content if they’re on the go or watch it multiple times.

Why are short-form videos so popular?

There are a few reasons short-form videos are more popular than ever among consumers and marketers, and I‘ll visit those in a bit. For now, I want to get into the psychology of it all—that’s why we’re here, right? Walk with me.

Consumer Attention Spans are Shrinking

Science tells us that one of the crucial reasons we love short-form videos is that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.

Dr. Gloria Mark, a psychologist, recently wrote a book called Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity, and she says her research indicates people’s attention spans have been shrinking over the last 20 years.

Dr. Mark shared her findings on Speaking of Psychology, an American Psychological Association podcast.

Her findings came from a decades-long experiment she participated in, which was first conducted by shadowing participants and tracking their activities via stopwatches.

“We would record the start time and the stop time,” she said.

She explains, “So you’re on a screen where you’re working in a Word doc. As soon as you get to that screen, we click …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron