But now, the short-form video pioneer is changing course and pushing users to make and consume longer videos. “I think TikTok is now [thinking], ‘We need to show [advertisers] that we can keep people staying on one video longer,’” Stein said. Consumers are also more likely to sit through a pre-roll ad for a video longer than one-minute than a video that’s nearly the same length as the ad itself. The company also says it recommends longer videos the same way it does shorter ones, based on user preferences rather than video length. She said that even when making relatively simple “storytime” videos, where she’s just sitting and talking to the camera, making videos longer than 1-minute means investing significant time and effort.

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Persons: TikTok, — it’s, ”, Nikki Apostolou, ” TikTok, Zachary Kizer, Krysten Stein, “, ” Stein, Scott Kessler, ’ ” Kessler, TikTok —, Aly Tabizon, “ I’m, I’ve, ” Tabizon, it’s, Tabizon, Aly Tabizon TikTok, Laura Riegle, Riegle, she’s, ” Riegle, ” Apostolou Organizations: New, New York CNN, Facebook, YouTube, University of Illinois, CNN Locations: New York, University of Illinois Chicago, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany