In The Drum’s latest in-depth look, “Media Convergence,” Flight Story’s Pollyanna Ward wonders to what extent people are watching TV on TikTok and whether it’s stealing audiences or encouraging them.
We have a direct Slack channel where we share updates on what they’ve seen in our ever-changing world that could impact brands today.
My contribution was a screenshot of the TikTok page of the streaming service Peacock with a tweet (X??) that asked the question: “Is TikTok the new TV?”
This prompted me to take a poll on Instagram Stories to see if “non-marketing people” actually watch TV on the endless video app. Surprisingly, many people did just that – although not as much as they would have spent the night watching TV on the sofa, they were quite happy watching clip after clip of the TV show while lying in bed.
So what’s really going on here: TikTok is now replacing television?
Is long content back?
Does your concentration increase?
Let’s find out.
Wait, haven’t we been here before?
Drum back in 2014, announced the launch of Snapchat Discovery as a place to watch TV clips and news. Between 2018 and 2022, there was an impressive line-up of TV shows made for Snapchat, including series like Endless Summer, Ryan Doesn’t Know, and Dead of Night.
The series spans a variety of genres, from comedy to horror, and features a host of celebrities including Ryan Reynolds, Jaden Smith and Addison Rae. This format has now been discontinued.
Facebook has also trialled a Facebook Watch tab, giving advertisers another place to show ads alongside long-form original content, including the popular and sometimes controversial Red Table Talk, hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith. This has also been removed, and in its place is now a shared Videos tab that brings together all video content on the platform. But perhaps most famously, Quibi’s rise and fall during the 2020 lockdown is something we should all remember.
The startup was supposed to be created to change the way we all watch content, with shows designed to be viewed in portrait or landscape mode. He received a huge amount of investment ($1.75 billion). Fast forward six months and the entire business has closed. The company said the lockdown had destroyed windows of short engagement from which it could have benefited.
So how did TikTok manage to rack up millions of views on TV shows that other platforms tried and failed?
Since TikTok is not a social app or a streaming app, it is an entertainment app. During the lockdown, TikTok even promoted its service on television, perhaps to attract the attention of advertisers who had untapped TV spend to demonstrate that it was just as good as TV at attracting attention in an audio environment. Moreover, it is not built on a social graph, but on a YOU graph; you are provided with content designed specifically for you. It doesn’t matter where the content comes from, whether it’s a borderless vertical video or a half-size square post, a literal “For You” (FYP) page title sends the message to users that this video is for you – and they haven’t been wrong yet, right ?
I was recently at a conference in Athens where one of the speakers said that they were dumping a ton of content from their clients’ accounts several times a day, trusting that the algorithm would find the right audience for them. An interesting approach, especially when we think about the fact that TikTok doesn’t timestamp videos – so the content doesn’t have an “expiration date” and it definitely doesn’t seem “outdated” by the time it gets to your FYP.
Another strange thing that happened with TikTok that didn’t happen on the other platforms mentioned is that the comment section of these TV clips is filled with thousands of comments from people sharing their feelings, opinions, and fan theories about the show. .
Before our media landscape was so fragmented, you could guarantee that the morning after a television episode aired, the entire office would be talking about it. But now, how often do you find yourself thinking, “Did you see that?” No? How about this?” before it slowly dawns on you that the other person has completely different TV viewing habits than you.
TikTok appears to be the solution here. Whether the show is new or old, it attracts communities of people who have a passion for the show. These comments don’t just stay on TikTok: Airline’s Jane Boulton attracted a whole new generation of viewers to the program since it was featured on This Morning.
There’s another side effect of this: TikTok benefits television because people find shows there and then head to their preferred streaming service to watch. A friend sent me a private message explaining that TikTok gives her the best of everything, so she doesn’t have to waste a lot of time on a series that might never be interesting.
This brings me to my final discovery in my quest – the format of these television clips. On one hand, you can watch Grey’s Anatomy in its entirety via TikTok, but what really drives views is when the clip shows the best moments.
The video of Ross and Rachel getting back together has 2.7 million views (from Friends for those of you too young to watch), 1.1 million views for the heartbreaking scene in Grey’s Anatomy and Jane Boulton trying to board a passenger from an airplane. The coffee shop was viewed by 1.5 million people.
Staff writer Christopher Milazzo of The State Times comments, “The clips most likely to go viral are the scenes with the most tension, the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat.”
This brings us to the importance of creating content that grabs attention. A good friend of mine runs a successful horse riding brand and I remember when her content started to take off, she shared that she was watching the top content creators on YouTube and TikTok put their videos and thumbnails together.
To support this approach, there is an excellent podcast episode from Content Mines, using the Mr Beast YouTube video formula that explains how each scene change is a way to lead the user to the end. But the most important takeaway for brands is this: “It creates the entire idea of an entire video in the first seven seconds.”
Even if you don’t watch the rest, you’ll get the idea. That’s exactly what happens with these viral TV videos: they are short, emotional, and capture a key moment that sends a message to those who see it, encouraging them to take action (leave a comment, find the next video).
With all that said and done, it’s worth considering the viewing value.
As brand custodians, we want people to know and remember our brand in purchasing situations; this requires our clients to provide some attention to our advertising. When you receive reports from your media agencies, remember that the way views are counted varies; for example, TikTok counts a view as the moment it starts playing in someone’s feed, while TV measures ad delivery quality, reach, and business results who were affected by it. One is better than the other, there is no escape from it.
Achieving a true apples-to-apples comparison between TikTok and television is difficult, and given the different attribution methods, we still have some work to do when it comes to fair reporting. I recommend keeping this in mind whenever you see someone talking about 16 million views achieved on a TikTok video: it’s a completely different ball game. One that I believe will require more careful media planning and critical measurement in light of TikTok’s latest feature update: freeing up auto-scrolling.
In conclusion, while writing this article, Peacock has removed all episodes from its page. I don’t know why, but my gut tells me that during the ongoing Hollywood strikes in the US, releasing content without still paying the writers and actors probably didn’t go too well…
Check out The Drum’s latest “Media Convergence” to learn more about how the lines between channels are blurring as they steal each other’s features, adopt universal standards, and simplify for the convenience of consumers.