Short-form content refers to short videos of from 1 to 10 minutes. It is a concept reflecting the consumption patterns of the public who enjoy content anytime, anywhere using mobile devices. Recently, famous celebrities such as Henry, Clara, and Ji Seok-jin have used short-form contents to promote themselves or give people a laugh. How did short-form contents come about and start affect people? The Pharos wants to answer these questions, for you.

 The reason why short-form content has become popular is the increase in mobile device usage. Electronic devices have become indispensable to modern people, and mobile device usage has increased as electronic devices are used more frequently. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that Korea’s mobile device traffic (total amount of data transmitted to servers) is expected to increase more than 10 times by 2023. With mobile device usage increasing more than the usage of TV and computers, people are starting to want content that they can enjoy anytime, anywhere in a short time. Also, the demand for short-form content increased as the main consumers are teens and twenty-somethings who prefer short video lengths. In the past, long-form content used to contain various contents and pursued making videos with natural movements. However, as viewers like to watch videos but feel tired of watching one video for a long time, people now prefer videos that contain only core content and comprise relatively shout episodes.

 What is the appeal of short-form content? First, it is convenient because it does not require professional editing skills and the production process is not long. Along with the creation of many video applications such as TikTok and YouTube, video content production has experienced lowered entry barriers and become more accessible. The biggest advantage was that anyone could easily create and share videos using the services provided by the video application. Second, the public, not producers, also use short-form videos to easily encourage people to participate in various activities. The reduced challenge of communicating with short-form content makes it easy to convey the message you want to convey. A case in point is the “Thanks To” challenge expressing gratitude to medical staff suffering from COVID-19. Third, it has a high transmission effect. Long videos can contain a lot of content, but they can be boring. Short-form videos are also used in marketing. For example, the Dongwon Tuna Company made a short commercial that included an addictive song. The song makes the commercial exciting and helps remember the product by repeating the chorus “Cham-Chi” (Tu-na in English).

 Short-form content is used in advertisements, promotional tools, cooking videos, etc. Unlike other food channels, the COOKAT YouTube channel has about one to two minutes videos. They show the cooking or cooking process with subtitles in a short period of time so that viewers can easily imitate and enjoy cooking without thinking it’s hard. Publishers also use short-form content to promote books. The Facebook community size, “Folding the End of a Book,” offers videos that are 5-10 minutes long and consist of book sentences and illustrations to create videos that introduce the plot of the beginning part of a book. In particular, fresh video titles, such as “How to Destroy the Earth with 100 Won,” have stimulated curiosity while the continuous production of such videos has led to voluntary viewing. It is said that there have been more requests for e-books and publishing companies to advertise in an interesting way.

 Short-form content is being explored in more and more fields and now permeates our lives. This has led to rapid changes in the video platform market, but that is not the only consequence. Attempting to compress information that needs to be explained in a long and detailed way to a short period of time can lead to a reduction in the quality and delivery process of the video. It is recommended to use long-form content and short-form contents properly. Beyond our interest in short-form content, the Pharos is looking forward to how the video will change gradually.

Planning Editor•KIM JIN•coo0714@naver.com