66 reasons for brands to enter the video market!

If short videos have become a red ocean, do medium videos have a chance to become another blue ocean? After reading this wave of discussions about mid-length videos, I have summarized 66 reasons for brands to enter the mid-length video market. Let’s discuss them together.

1. Video, like live streaming, is becoming a standard feature of all major platforms.

2. The mobile Internet traffic dividend is growing rapidly, but the cake will not expand any more. Long videos, short videos, and medium videos all have their own forms. There is no substitution relationship between mid-length videos and other content forms. Rather, it is more of a collaboration in which each performs its own function and works together under the changes in new media and consumption environment. Long videos create IP content, short videos create traffic-generating products, and medium videos give companies ample time of 1-30 minutes to talk about your products and company image.

3. From the perspective of industry development, short videos are too fragmented and entertaining, and medium videos are inevitable for the advancement of vertical categories.

4. In 2019, only Kuaishou and Douyin relaxed the length of videos and supported uploading videos longer than 5 minutes. But now, platforms such as Weibo, Zhihu, Baidu, Xiaohongshu, etc. have followed suit with medium and long videos. Even WeChat has opened up more capabilities to video accounts, allowing the length of uploaded videos to exceed 1 minute, and has added barrage functions, etc. It's hard not to acknowledge that users have an inherent demand for medium-length and long-length videos.

5. In 2020, Xigua Video was the first to propose the concept of medium-length videos. In terms of length, medium-length videos mainly refer to video content ranging from 1 minute to 30 minutes. Within this length, the creator can tell a story in its entirety and express it more coherently and calmly. Users can also obtain more information and deepen their memory.

6. In fact, before Xigua Video proposed the concept of mid-length video, people had already been making "mid-length video" for a long time. Do you still remember "Never Expected" and "Baozou Comics" during the era of long video disputes?

7. Currently, the proportion of video viewing time of more than 1 minute in the total viewing time of Douyin has exceeded 20%, and users have gradually developed the habit of in-depth content consumption.

8. If short videos are the vanguard and open up enough traffic in the funnel model, then medium and long videos will take over the traffic below the funnel. Transferring the content of these opened openings to medium and long videos can better explain the brand power and product power.

9. If short videos are fast food and long videos are holidays and annual feasts, then medium videos are daily meals. To a certain extent, they solve the problems of incomplete and one-sided information caused by fragmentation.

10. People nowadays are generally less patient and their reading ability has declined. This is the fundamental reason for the transformation of graphic content to video content.

11. On e-commerce platforms, users spend money to exchange for good goods. On video platforms, users spend time exchanging good content. But through content, the two can be connected to each other.

12. In a report, among various speeds, relatively more users use 1.25x, 1.5x and 2x speeds, accounting for 5.6%, 7.3% and 6.4% respectively. The two main reasons for users' choice of viewing speed are that the plot is too dragged out or they don't like it, and that they have limited time and want to improve viewing efficiency. It can be seen that even when faced with long videos, users are intentionally watching them as medium videos.

13. Videos that are "too short" or "too long" are very torturous for creators. The best time for creators to tell a story clearly is not 15 seconds or 1 minute. It takes an average person five to ten minutes to tell a story clearly.

14. There is a certain threshold for creating medium-length videos, and the length of the videos limits the quality of the content to be included.

15. From the perspective of commercial conversion, medium-length videos are more likely to be popular and are easier to achieve synergy between brand and effect.

16. Last month, Xigua Video launched the mid-length video partner program. Video content can be published to Xigua Video, Douyin, and Toutiao with just one click, and traffic revenue can be obtained from these three platforms. This is also the first time that Douyin has launched a traffic sharing plan.

17. On many platforms like Xigua Video, making a micro reality show or micro documentary can relatively get more support from the platform. The platform welcomes high-quality and valuable content.

18. The core value of medium-length videos lies in three aspects: the first is connotation, the second is experience, and the third is a sense of gain.

19. Opportunities are fleeting. Xigua Video announced that it will invest 2 billion yuan to subsidize high-quality creators. This is a rare opportunity for both brands and creators.

20. In the era of video content, the time users spend on videos continues to increase. In December 2020, the usage time share of Tencent apps decreased by 6.7 percentage points year-on-year, while the usage time share of ByteDance and Kuaishou apps both increased by about 3 percentage points year-on-year.

21. The number of Internet users in China has reached 980 million, and online video users account for 93.7%. It is estimated that by 2023, the number of global online video users will reach 3 billion. In 2020, video accounted for 82% of all internet traffic. Global users spent nearly 1 trillion hours using online video apps throughout the year.

22. If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. This year, Xigua Video and TikTok jointly released the professional version of Jianying for PC, which has become the official creation tool of Xigua Video. It has lowered the threshold for producing professional videos. I strongly recommend everyone to download it. The liberation of productivity means a huge market explosion.

23. The diversified forms of expression of mid-length videos have emerged, such as horizontal screen switching, barrage interaction, and VR game immersion.

24. According to Xigua Video statistics, in the past year, more than 400 creators earned one million yuan a year. The number of authors who received business orders through the platform has increased fivefold compared to last year, with the highest single amount reaching 400,000 yuan.

25. Short videos are easier to spread, and medium videos have stronger information density. In this regard, Douyin and Xigua Video, both of which are ByteDance companies, have strong complementary value.

26. The survey shows that the top 6 users who watch medium-length videos can be divided into workers, middle and senior managers, government and public institution personnel, freelancers, blue-collar groups and entrepreneurs. They are the backbone of society and the main force of consumption.

27. Short videos have helped brands reach consumers, and medium videos can help brands impress them even more and help to express the brand story with “texture”. At the same time, medium videos can better transform brand content into IP. Li Ziqi is the best example.

28. On YouTube, video lengths are divided into two categories: "short (less than 4 minutes)" and "long (more than 20 minutes)". Based on YouTube's definition of "medium video", which is 5-20 minutes, and observing the recent rankings of various categories on Bilibili, the vast majority of popular videos fall within this time period. Taking YouTube as an example, among its current video stock of over 5.2 billion, the average length of videos in the top 250,000 channels is 13 to 14 minutes.

29. Against the backdrop of saturated Internet traffic, peaked dividends, and slowing user growth, mid-length videos are becoming a "battlefield" for major platforms to enter. If the platform is willing to support it, it is the best time for brands to enter the market.

30. The greatest marketing value of medium-length videos for brands lies in shaping and building scenario-based thinking, creating a strong sense of immersion, enhancing the depth of promotion, and promoting user behavior conversion.

31. Why didn’t short videos become popular before the emergence of TikTok? Platform support and personalized algorithm recommendations are the decisive factors. If Douyin defined short videos, then Xigua Video is now trying to define medium videos.

32. We are in the stage of transitioning from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. Graphic and text content can no longer meet the needs of users, and video is the trend of the times.

33. To a certain extent, the "involution" in the short video industry is forcing high-quality creators and brands to enter the blue ocean of mid-length videos.

34. Today’s mid-length videos are actually quite similar to the early days of the WeChat public account boom. There is no shortage of content, creators, brands willing to spend money, or users. All it needs is a platform that can close the entire chain. Everyone can find their place in it.

35. The next traffic pool after “Weibo, Weibo and Douyin” is the short, medium and long-term configuration of video content.

36. The so-called bonus is nothing more than whether your decision and the platform's decision can form the maximum resonance. When judging trends, creators must predict the platform's actions in advance.

37. It is said that a creator in the knowledge field used the money to pay the down payment for a house on the day he signed a contract with a platform. "Money prospects" determine the future prospects in a certain sense.

38. YouTube's advertising revenue in 2019 reached 15.15 billion US dollars. Compared with short videos, high-quality medium videos will have stronger monetization capabilities due to their increased length, information volume and value, whether in terms of advertising model, accumulation of fans, conversion and monetization, etc.

39. If you observe the trend carefully, you will find that short videos are going up and long videos are going down. Even if no one defines medium-length videos, this market segment will definitely exist and this market will become bigger and bigger.

40. It is recommended to differentiate the layout of medium-length videos from short videos. For example, there are still great opportunities in areas such as science popularization, knowledge, and skills that short videos cannot satisfy.

41. Medium-length videos are more suitable for operating a long-term, high-quality personal IP, which is different from the short video field that pursues the popularity of a single content.

42. It is very important to occupy a position in a single field. To watch seafood catching, go to Xigua Video. This was once the stage-by-stage "positioning" of Xigua Video and laid a crucial foundation for expanding into more video fields in the future.

43. Users choose to watch short videos for the following purposes: to get some light knowledge, to gossip, to keep up with trends, to help with consumption, and to broaden their horizons. This is the user's transition process from kill time to save time.

44. In terms of value attributes, short video marketing mostly takes place in fragmented time and spreads faster. However, the advertising and content marketing implantation is not large. The marketing of medium-length videos will be stronger, but its dissemination rate will be relatively slower.

45. When the "Dianxi Brother" who has 2.8 million fans on Xigua Video was shooting food videos, many shots had to be reshot many times because of flies in the countryside of Yunnan. The Xigua Video team can already try to provide corresponding solutions, such as designing a program to identify fly models and achieve one-click processing.

46. ​​I really like Xigua Video’s description of medium-length videos, which is “just right”. It’s not only about the length, but more importantly the “rhythm”. The content is lighter, the sense of gain is stronger, and the information value it brings to users is higher.

47. To make a good mid-length video, the creator must have certain expertise, as well as certain light knowledge and general expertise. Knowledge is not important. The most important thing is persuasiveness, that is, credibility.

48. The logic behind medium and short videos is people, the rapid growth and commercial value of internet celebrity IPs and MCNs, rather than cutting the video short and then directing traffic to the entire site.

49. From a practical perspective, the simultaneous advancement of the three "frequencies" of long, medium and short is more reasonable and has been fully verified. For example, the promotion of TV dramas and movies makes good use of the complementary advantages of long, medium and short videos.

50. The possibilities of mid-length videos in integrating brand and effect may go beyond brand placement. For example, grass-planting dramas and IP interactive dramas can build consumption scenarios and fully display consumption decision-making information, allowing users to complete purchasing behaviors in the plot.

51. Mid-length videos are essentially content-driven. High-quality, continuous and differentiated content supply is the key to a platform’s success.

52. Besides paying money, what else did Xigua Video do? Official data shows that Xigua University has held 12 sessions and trained 28,000 people. If we look at the efficiency of converting an author from a novice to an average (mature author)/high-quality (high-quality) author, the efficiency is 12% if the author does not join a university, while it is 27.57% if the author joins a university. It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.

53. The emergence of this type of medium-length video is actually an exploration of whether there are better possibilities for enhancing the mind and the possibility of non-exposure branding.

54. First-mover advantage is crucial in any field. The earlier you enter the mid-length video industry and the earlier you transform, the ones with strong content creation capabilities will be able to occupy a certain position.

55. Purchasing, experiencing, sharing and displaying in the video can greatly stimulate consumers' desire to buy, and then purchasing and sharing, etc. This behavior gradually forms a closed sales loop.

56. The more vertical and in-depth the short videos are, the more they can help brands convert high-quality content into brand traffic and break into more new scenarios.

57. After the State Administration of Radio and Television proposed a study in February last year to oppose "watered-down" content and regulate the length of TV series, the content of online dramas has become more refined and the narrative has become more compact. The trend of online dramas becoming shorter is also inevitable.

58. The existence of short videos makes professional knowledge that was originally difficult to understand accessible to more people. For example, teacher Li Yongle uses popular science videos to better spread scientific knowledge, which is his greater value as a teacher. This type of knowledge-sharing video is more popular than you might think.

59. Different from short videos where brands can only commercialize through blunt exposure, there are more forms to explore in medium-length videos. Like all other marketing methods, not all brands need to compete on product exposure and brand exposure. By combining the creator's own story and embodying the spirit advocated by the brand in the video, this form can easily resonate with the audience.

60. In addition to traffic monetization, another major concern for creators is the protection of original copyright. Xigua Video’s recently launched “Mid-length Video Partner Program” also includes “Copyright Hosting Services”. Authors can host video copyrights on Xigua Video, Douyin, and Toutiao. If other platforms publish infringing content, the platforms will protect their rights on their behalf. At the same time, video revenue can be increased by 1-2.5 times. Compared with the complicated steps of providing evidence and verification, the "copyright escrow" service is more lightweight and direct.

61. The user demand corresponding to medium-length videos is that users want to obtain more information while also wanting higher efficiency. These "rigid" demands are particularly reflected in content such as product reviews, beauty science popularization, and learning skills.

62. The Career Development Report of Medium-Length Video Creators jointly released by Xigua Video and Xinbang shows that in the past year, the number of users who frequently consume medium-length videos has reached 605 million, and the Internet user penetration rate is 64%, which means that 3 out of every 5 Internet users frequently consume medium-length videos.

63. The vast majority of official media have also recognized that short videos have become an important carrier and efficient means of disseminating knowledge and popular science, promoting the popularization of knowledge such as children's safety education and anti-fraud.

64. Medium videos have become an important way to link long and short videos. In the future, the competition may be about the ability of short, medium and long videos to coordinate and arrange with each other.

65. From a marketing perspective, short videos can satisfy users’ sense of gain while allowing brands and products to tell heartfelt stories.

66. The core indicator for evaluating videos is “concentration”, that is, the professional and layered information concentration and the emotional concentration with stories and touchpoints.

Author: Jun Xiaobao

Source: Jun Xiaobao