Keywords

Introduction

Short videos that embody entertainment and learning are offered through various social media platforms; marketers can use short videos as an advertising tool to attract consumers who have grown intolerant of advertising, including short-length adverts. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, people used technology to build their emotional resilience to cope with negative situations (Ozuem et al., 2021a) which, in turn, increased their consumption of short video content. To understand the importance of short videos in the marketing and advertising industry, we must consider the global market and value of short videos, and the channels in which they predominantly appear. According to a Statista global survey, short videos, with a duration of 4 minutes or less, were significantly popular with 96% of Generation Z consumers, followed by 94% of millennial consumers (Ceci, 2022a). In the spring of 2022, the short video audience in China amounted to 925 million, who on average spent 53 hours per month viewing short videos (Thomala, 2022a); in India, the short video audience is estimated to be 650 million users by 2025 (Basuroy, 2022).

Further statistical studies reveal the multiple social media platforms most popular with consumers for the viewing of short video content, which vary across countries. A worldwide survey revealed that the platforms on which users spent the most time viewing short video segments were Instagram Reels, TikTok, Snapchat Spotlight and Triller (Dixon, 2022). In the USA, however, YouTube (65%), Facebook (60%), Instagram (46%), Twitter (36%), TikTok (35%) and Snapchat (31%) were the most visited platforms by short video audiences (Ceci, 2022b). In India, a legislated ban was applied against TikTok, which is a major platform for the short video market; this ban allowed domestic video platforms like Roposo and Josh to emerge, and is expected to influence 75% users to continue using the domestic platforms even if the TikTok ban is lifted (IANS, 2021). Making the most of the TikTok ban, YouTube Shorts was launched first in India, then introduced globally, receiving up to 30 billion daily views from global users in June 2022 (Ceci, 2022c). In China, TikTok is known as Douyin; a decision was taken to manage Douyin under different data hosting parties to counter allegations of illegal international data transfer. The Douyin (TikTok) market in China has approximately 612.96 million users, which will probably increase to 835 million by 2025 (Statista, 2022a). These market statistics probably justified the decisions of 62% of advertisers in China to focus their attention on using short videos as part of their social marketing strategies (Thomala, 2022b), and may further encourage global marketers to explore how they can enhance customer engagement using short video content. This chapter will examine the features of short videos and their application in advertising efforts.

Short Video Adverts: Definition and Perspectives

A short video refers to video-based content that has a shorter duration than traditional adverts and other video clips. The duration of short videos varies depending on the creator, platform and the context of the content, with some ranging from 30 seconds (Cao et al., 2021) to a maximum of 5 minutes (Fu et al., 2022). However, TikTok, which had previously limited short videos to 60 seconds, expanded its time limit to 10 minutes to allow more time for creativity and entertainment. The emergence of the short video is argued to be influenced by the decreasing influence of long-form video content; however, some contend that content with longer time durations is more effective. For instance, a longer duration allows creators more time to deliver context, including time to persuade audiences with elaborated marketing messages (Rohde & Mau, 2021). In addition, a longer duration can arguably enhance an audience’s retention of the context delivered through the content, because the audience may require minutes to process, encode and commit information communicated from video content to memory.

Content of a long duration applies in particular to vlog-based content that is commonly posted on YouTube. Vlogs often include diary, demonstration and review-based content, which typically requires minutes rather than seconds to allow the audience to process the information, with the aim of enabling the audience to apply some of the information to their own real-life activities, such as cooking, gaming and even studying, and to assist in future purchase choices, such as holiday destinations, technological gadgets and systems, fashion, movies, books and other entertainment. For instance, the YouTube channel MsMojo and its sister channel WatchMojo produce top-10 discussion-based content ranging from 10 to 25 minutes on various topics, from music and entertainment culture to reported world events. Likewise, Yunnan-based vlogger, Dianxi Xiaoge, presents 10- to 20-minute videos on country life, food and harvests in the southwestern province of China and demonstrates how to create Yunnan cuisine in mountainous areas.

However, a long video does not always correspond to an audience’s strong memory for the content of the video, particularly for adverts. Unlike long video adverts, short video adverts can be repeatedly shown to an audience, and the shorter time to introduce a brand or information can generate greater memory performance (Johnson et al., 2021). When considering product recommendation adverts, the narrative element of a long video can be integrated into short video adverts to influence the audience’s immediate engagement and enhance their potential purchase responses (Chen & Ren, 2022). Short adverts are considered essential to reducing consumers’ irritation with adverts (Jeon et al., 2022), which according to Zhao and Wagner (2022) has played a role in users’ positive experiences of TikTok, which is a platform that utilises interactive technology and previously maintained a short-length content criterion. Short video clips can also create a sense of anticipation in audiences and a desire to learn more when they obtain limited information. Liu et al. (2018) found that shorter clips of movie trailers, from 10 to 30 seconds, increased viewers’ intention to watch the movie as opposed to a full movie trailer that can run as long as 2 minutes. This reveals that shorter clips can provoke an emotional experience and stimulate further behavioural actions from the audience. Given that both long video-based and short video-based content has attracted global success, the length of a video advert is not the sole factor in generating effective consumer engagement results. As suggested by Chakraborty et al. (2021), a marketer’s choice of advertising tactics, including content style and matching adverts to audiences, should ensure that short video adverts enable viewers to process the information with little of the irritation often caused by content of a long duration, while maintaining their informative and engaging features.

Short Video Adverts: Fashion Context

The digital media and entertainment industries have played a significant role in driving online sales and customer traffic for the fashion industry, with short video platforms as the mediating communication channels. The 2021 South Korean survival drama television series Squid Game had over 1.6 billion viewing hours within the first 28 days of its release (Statista, 2022b) and was the most watched programme in 94 countries. What made the show more significant was its influence on the fashion industry. Demand for the white slip-on trainers the contestant characters wore rose 9900%, as did demand for the green retro-inspired tracksuits and red boiler suits (Pearson-Jones, 2021). The show’s popularity likewise had an impact on the short video content created by fans and followers of the show. Cosplay, or “costume play”, individuals created short videos demonstrating their self-created versions of the exact clothing style worn by the Squid Game characters. Fashion influencers and enthusiasts used fashion products of various brands to display their own versions of a Squid Game-inspired character by using similar colours and various clothing items to reflect their unique styles. This influenced the decisions of fashion and luxury fashion brands to engage in this trend by creating product lines inspired by the Squid Game, to increase the likelihood that their product lines would be mentioned and displayed by consumers and influencers in their short video content.

Short video adverts enable fashion companies to widen their audience reach and engage with their audience more effectively with the use of interactive and entertaining content. According to Statista (2022c), 70% of fashion and luxury brands employed the short video platform TikTok to engage with new consumers. Instagram faced a significant backlash from users because of its inclusion of more video-based content. However, Vogue Business argued for the increasing importance of this content because of its popularity among young audiences (Millennials and Generation Z) and their pursuit of online entertainment (Maguire & Benissan, 2022). As well as adopting short video platforms for advertising purposes, fashion and luxury brands have attracted and directly invited influencers and industry representatives to be featured in live short videos to strengthen consumer engagement. This combined initiative to combine short video content and key influencers can arguably change fashion consumers’ perspectives of short video adverts; fashion consumers could view short video adverts as making online purchasing informative and entertaining. For these reasons, fashion and luxury brands may want to employ the design features of short video adverts; these are discussed in the next section.

Short Video Adverts: Design Features

Short video platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram have rich technological features embedded in their systems that empower users with capabilities to self-create or co-create online content, and allow them the independence to access or communicate their information and entertainment feeds to others in a collaborative setting. A study by Song et al. (2021) revealed four main design features that allow users to identify the key user experience affordances offered through a digital platform: meta-voicing, searching, algorithm-based recommendations and livestreaming. James J. Gibson coined the term “affordances” in the field of ecological psychology; Gibson stated that the affordances of the environment “are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill” (Gibson, 1979, p. 127). In a similar manner, the environment of short video platforms provides users with online tools that prompt their motivation to adopt the design features to search, create and share content within the short video platforms. The four main design features that shape the short video platform environment are discussed in the next three subsections.

Meta-Voicing

Meta-voicing refers to the perceived presence of others and their real-time reactions to other present users as well as to the online content and activities (Song et al., 2021). This feature facilitates communication between users by enabling them to share content with each other, and it prompts users to express a response that reflects their timely interaction with the content (Ozuem et al., 2021b). The self-presence of active users is established through video-based platforms; active users can develop their own organic and unscripted content, which authentically attracts target segments to begin the interaction process between the content creators and audience (Castillo et al., 2021). Common responses include comments implying individual perspectives and emoticons (emojis) that represent emotions like love, care, shock and laughter. For content platforms like YouTube, users attempting to establish an online following will seek to attract subscription clicks, which indicate others users’ intention to continue following and to engage with future published content. These features were embedded to establish a perceived social presence of other users with the aim of enhancing users’ perceptions of the credibility of the online content, including the authenticity of the users they would be interacting with. For marketers, this creates opportunities for more interpersonal communication of content and opportunities to enhance users’ learning and emotional experiences. Audiences can respond in a timely manner to the information communicated to them, including react, comment, subscribe or follow for further information and content. The short duration of an advert can influence content creators to embed narrative strategies to increase the audience’s empathetic attention and memory (Jeon et al., 2022) and to prevent the likelihood of evoking users’ irritation at adverts, which may lead to users responding by scrolling past or selecting the skip button within the first 15 seconds of an advert.

Searching and Algorithm-Based Recommendations

Searching refers to users’ ability to search for content created and posted by other users (Chan et al., 2019). Searching gives users an opportunity to learn about and interact with other online users present in the online platforms through the video-based content they develop. Algorithm-based recommendations are systems within video-based platforms that customise the potential content listings and recommendations users may encounter based on their previous video viewings and on the hashtags they have clicked (Song et al., 2021). Algorithm-based recommendations are automatic listings of content on the timelines of various video-based platforms, whereas users conducting a search will direct themselves and search for content based on certain topics and hashtags created by other users. Arguably, a user’s searching reflects their desire to find certain content and content creators, which then affects the recommendations they receive later through algorithm-based features.

The algorithm-based recommendations that a user receives may include a list of potential video shorts based on the user’s frequent viewings of a specific YouTuber, who they subscribed to in order to receive notifications for new content, or a stream of content that reflects a topic they regularly search for. This feature is predominantly managed by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, along with human marketing data analysers who are able to draw insights from the algorithm results and enhance their strategies for future short video adverts. This data analysis facilitates targeted advertising strategies that aim to encourage interactive behaviours rather than increase the reach of adverts to general populations (De Vries et al., 2017). This is common practice for marketers intending to publicise advertising content through mobile platforms: they use systems to locate individuals conducting online behaviours that match the intended pre-posted content, thereby increasing click-through rates and online word of mouth (Wang et al., 2022).

However, online behaviour alone will not guarantee effective response rates from online audiences or convert the engagement to potential customer purchases. Market insights collected from Statista indicate the positive impact of targeted advertising on customers’ sentiment towards advertising displayed on the internet if the advertising considers consumers’ perceptions (Guttmann, 2022). A survey revealed that 41% of individuals were annoyed by internet advertising in general. However, 37% of respondents to the same survey revealed that adverts based on their online browsing history was the reason for their disapproval of online adverts (Kunst, 2022). For this reason, marketers have to ensure that their adverts engage with customers’ interests rather than just their browsing history.

Customer frustration is likewise extended to short video adverts; this has increased marketers’ concerns about the global adblocking rate, which is estimated to be around 37% (Statista, 2022d). Marketers can use tactics to reduce the impact of the adblocking threat, such as ensuring the first 5 seconds of their adverts capture users’ attention through emotional appeals and narrative, and by applying AI to their algorithm systems. They can also allocate adverts to the appropriate audience, and edit adverts to shorten their duration and display segments of an advert that attracted the highest engagement. A combination of such tactics will reduce the likelihood of customers becoming frustrated with short video adverts and skipping or passing the adverts as a result.

Livestreaming

Livestreaming is a feature that allows users to broadcast and record videos simultaneously to a live audience (Song et al., 2021). Livestreaming is distinct from meta-voicing, which though it facilitates real-time responses from users, does not guarantee users will respond within close time frames. Various platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter contain vlogs and video-on-demand, including short adverts; some of these are livestreamed while others are pre-recorded, using the previously discussed design features of video platforms, and then directly uploaded or posted by the creators. Livestreaming allows multiple initiators and viewers to showcase their live activities and have direct interactions at the same time regardless of the geographical location (Xie et al., 2022). Livestreaming generates revenue based on the level of engagement from the viewers, which appears in the form of emojis and text that contain emotional or facial expressions, that is used as data to inform sentiment analysis (Grewal et al., 2021).

Livestreaming has become a key tool for commerce models to engage internet consumers’ interest in advertised products. Livestreaming for product and service advertising arguably offers advantages that pre-recorded short videos, including vlogs, do not provide. For example, pre-recorded videos, long or short, do not effectively facilitate real-time communication between the streamer (seller) and the audience, especially among multiple audiences. Also, when the product or service is being shown live, the audience are able to make a more effective evaluation and can even conduct a purchase with the streamer during the live streaming. As indicated by Xie et al. (2022), the success of livestreaming commerce models aligns with the value of the streamed product, the media that presents the product and streamer, the social situation or environment the streamer is presenting in, and the audience responses during the livestreaming. These shorten the perceived distance between the streamer and the audience, while increasing the possible purchase of products, services and virtual gifts, including digital content like non-fungible tokens, avatar designs and even virtual yachts (Guan et al., 2022).

Currently, according to a Statista survey on the Asia-Pacific region, the dominant market share of livestreaming commerce consumers live in countries from the Asia-Pacific region: 77% of consumers in China have purchased products through livestream channels, followed by India (75%) and Thailand (72%). This is significantly larger compared to other countries, including Australia, where it was reported that 22% of consumers use livestream commerce (Ganbold, 2022). Nonetheless, this reveals the impact livestreaming will have on short video platforms as commerce and advertising channels. In the USA, young consumers desire gamified and interactive experiences; thus, according to Forbes, the livestream shopping market is forecasted to rise to US $57 billion in 2025 (Cutaia, 2022). While livestream videos may extend beyond the expected short-time duration, it should be noted that streamers must consider how to engage their audience within the first 2 minutes of their livestream. For example, Tommy Hilfiger sold 1300 hoodies within 2 minutes of their livestream show to 14 million viewers in China. This arguably indicates that real-time interactions, context settings and an influential streamer are key for attracting instant sentiments from consumers through livestreaming short videos to build engagement and purchases through the e-commerce environment.

Short Video Adverts: Content

Due to the volume of short online videos encountered by viewers, online adverts need to attract and retain customers within a short period of time before they encounter another short advert. This means that short adverts can have a short durability, increasing the pressure on marketers to enhance the immersion and social features of the content, including personalisation and customisation, narrative storylines and competition among the short video creators. Tian et al. (2022) stated that in addition to these features is the need to emphasise control features, whereby the viewers can have control over their browsing and interactions, and creators have creative and delivery control, to enhance the perceived pleasure of the experience and reduce viewers’ potential perception that they are being manipulated by marketing algorithms that can alter the content individual viewers encounter. Short video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts feature two main forms of content: content professionally generated by marketers, often referred to as firm-generated content; and user-generated content (UGC), which can be referred to as natural content because the creators do not have an official marketing practitioner status and the content does not require the creator to obtain professional training to develop it. However, non-practitioners can develop short video content that is perceived as professional and influential for short video advertising. The types of content commonly employed for short video adverts include, but are not limited to, product teasers, soundless video optimisation, influencer adverts, explainer videos and brand challenges, which are discussed below.

Product Teasers

A product teaser is a short video that presents a brief narrative of a product or service to intrigue customers and create a sense of anticipation for the upcoming brand offers. The narratives or information in product teasers are purposely limited to encourage audience engagement and motivate the audience to conduct further searches or wait for more teaser content to reveal more of the advertised product or service. Notable examples that adopt a similar form of short video content are the American subscription streaming service and production company, Netflix, and the television network Home Box Office (HBO). These companies attract their audiences with their ad-free subscription offers, but nonetheless have to apply advertising tactics to engage their audiences in their upcoming content. They launch teaser campaigns in which they cut a long advert (1 to 2 minutes) into smaller clips (10 to 20 seconds) and post these clips separately. The audience could encounter these multiple short advert clips at different times when watching online content. This content may be seen through entertainment-oriented websites or other short video platforms like YouTube; thus, they are seen by viewers who do not have an ad-free subscription. The short clips can influence viewers’ anticipation for clips that promote new information about upcoming films or TV series that are exclusive to Netflix or HBO, which can potentially motivate their desire to become subscribers. According to Liu et al. (2018), the shorter versions of original film trailers create a higher intention to watch the film, which differs from other product types where the whole product and its features may be captured in one short video advert.

Another example of a product teaser is Google’s promotion of the Google Pixel range, including the Google Pixel 7 Pro. Google posted several short videos, ranging from 16 to 30 seconds, featuring narrative experiences of consumers: the customers provided personal and entertaining input on the qualities of the individual features of the Pixel models. Features and benefits discussed separately included photobomb filtering, automatic facial skin toning, the centralisation of all Google systems in one phone model as well as its perceived simplicity for multiple demographic groups of consumers. This content can be traced under the hashtag #TeamPixel across multiple social media platforms, and is associated with a community of UGC creators who are also users of the Google Pixel models. This community was used for teasers for the Google Pixel 7 Pro campaign. The campaign was initiated in September 2022 when a short video was released in which Google gave a randomly selected sample of Pixel fans access to the Pixel 7 Pro recording their reactions in the process. In a manner similar to film trailers, the content did not reveal information about the new features of the Pixel 7 Pro; this point was further emphasised when one of the fans asked, “Can you tell me any of the new features or is that top secret?”. Product teasers are beneficial because they generate emotional responses in consumers, but they require marketers to consider the content the audience observes as well as the short duration of the advert.

Soundless Video Optimisation

Soundless video optimisation refers to video content that does not require digitally recorded audio for the viewer to understand or process information from the video. Audio-based content is the second-most consumed content after video-based content. According to Statista, 383.7 million internet users worldwide listened to a podcast at least once a month in 2021, and the number is expected to increase to 504.9 million by 2024 (Götting, 2022). However, videos without sound have become a significant factor in a market where individuals are tuning into silence to relax in their environment (McKinsey, 2022). According to Forbes, a study by Verizon Media of over 5000 US consumers found that 69% viewed videos with the sound off when in public places and 25% would do so in their own private environment. Additionally, 50% of consumers required captions so they could watch videos with the sound off (McCue, 2019). Soundless video started with the adding of captions, which enhanced accessibility for consumers who required them. Eventually, consumers become conscious of the noise disturbance of videos in public spaces, thus opting to mute their videos and rely on captions if necessary when they had no headphones.

Soundless videos also became an impactful marketing tactic for advertising and brand messaging. Videos that contain audio and verbal expressions require viewers to listen carefully if subtitles are not available. Some brands that are required to deliver some detailed information opt for embedded subtitles, whereas others choose a content strategy that does not require audio or text captions. An example of such is BuzzFeed, which is a US internet media, news and entertainment company, which has multiple video series, including Tasty which is dedicated to comfort food. Tasty content comprises showcasing the preparation of various foods and dishes. Some of the channel’s videos did not include any verbal explanation of the show’s hosts and producers. Videos can be designed so that viewers’ understanding or engagement with the content in the video is not lessened if they choose to opt out from listening to the audio content; in this scenario, audio context within the narrative of the video is arguably an extra. The self-explanatory nature of these videos arguably justifies their short duration because of a reduced need for verbal context. They are effective as adverts because viewers can immediately understand the content, which reduces the time taken to process the information that can delay consumers’ responses or actions.

Influencer Adverts

Influencer adverts are a form of advertising linked to the influencer marketing category, which is expected to have a worldwide market size of US$337 million by 2027 (Statista, 2022e). According to a Statista (2022e) survey, 59% of a sample of 400 marketers responded that influencers’ impact on enhancing consumers’ interest and purchase intentions is the most valuable impact for brands, which justifies their decisions to recruit influencers for their marketing activities. There are various types of influencers, such as mainstream celebrities, and macro, micro and nano influencers. Micro and nano influencers are categorised based on their number of followers, which ranges from 1000 and 20,000, which is smaller compared to celebrity and macro influencers (Ozuem & Willis, 2022). Micro and nano influencers are very involved in short video creation and are a major segment on short video platforms. The platforms that had the most micro influencers in 2020 were YouTube (51%) and Instagram (47%), whereas nearly half of TikTok’s influencers were nano influencers (Statista, 2022f). Micro and nano influencers are known for focussing on a specific topic of interest and for attracting like-minded individuals to become their followers or subscribers. Followers’ responses to micro and nano influencers are influenced by their perceptions of the relatability of the influencers to themselves, which enhances their positive reaction towards adverts created by the influencers.

Influencers and brands form collaborations in which the brand sponsors an influencer to showcase a product, service experience or brand message in the influencer’s video content. These collaborations include several endorsement activities that an influencer can use as part of their advert content creation. One type of endorsement activity involves an influencer developing short adverts that directly promote companies the influencer uses to develop their personal merchandise, such as T-shirt print companies, or digital software and delivery services. Other endorsement activities include an influencer’s promotion of a brand’s products and services as part of a video that is tailored to reflect their usual content. For example, a beauty influencer may create a video on coordinating outfits or a lifestyle influencer may create a post on starting a good day with a specific breakfast. If the post contains no brand-related material or the influencer does not have a marketing affiliation programme set up through the content, then brand disclosures would not be required and the influencer could make a non-sponsorship disclosure or disclose any partial sponsorships they receive. If the influencer has a contractual sponsorship with the brand, then they are required by consumer protection legalisation to make a full advertising and sponsorship disclosure and they should ensure they accurately represent the brand. A brand’s usage of an influencer and their content can create a feeling that the adverts are tailored to the consumer, and the brand can take the opportunity to conduct product placement using short and engaging video content.

Explainer Videos

Explainer videos, also referred to as educational videos, are short videos that explain complex subjects or ideas in an entertaining and engaging manner. Explainer videos that are used as adverts will most probably not exceed 1.5 minutes, while non-advert explainers may range from 2 to 10 minutes depending on the explanation level required for the topic of interest. These short videos describe how-to, do-it-yourself (DIY) and behind-the-scenes concepts, which range from basic day-to-day activities and hacks to assisting in complex purchase decisions. The content style of these videos can range from live action to animation; for fashion-related products or service explainer videos, fully live action or a combination of live action and animation features may be employed. The live action element ensures that actual people, including voice-overs, are featured within the content to establish an empathetic connection between the content and audience, and the animation features provide some entertainment to videos. These videos can be both informational and conversational. For fashion influencers, part of their effectiveness is achieved by enhancing the enjoyability and aspiration of their content. However, fashion consumers also value the informative quality of an influencer’s content, which has a significant impact on their influencer following and on product purchase decisions.

There are various types of topics and conversations on fashion that can be converted into explainer videos. Many micro and nano fashion influencers create how-to and DIY short videos that provide information on personal or brand styling; some offer advice to their high-end fashion enthusiast followers on how to purchase products for these types of styles without exceeding a specific budget. In the education sector, the YouTube channel of London College of Fashion provides short videos that feature lecturers and course leaders who explain the main concepts of what prospective students will be taught at the college, providing justification for the relevancy of the modules to fashion industry practice. Similarly, this provides prospective students with insights to support their decision-making for their choice of course, college or university enrolment. The majority of these explainer videos do not exceed 8 minutes, as the intention behind explainer videos is to simplify consumers’ decision-making processes while providing an informational and engaging experience. These examples emphasise that how-to and DIY explainer videos provide consumers with product or service information and the knowledge to make more informed and independent purchasing decisions about their potential clothing style or careers in fashion-related industries.

Behind-the-scenes explainer videos can be beneficial in communicating the inspirations and disruptors that influence fashion companies, and various key opinion leaders (KOL) can deliver this information. Teen Vogue, a sister publisher of Vogue that is directed towards the teenager segment, provides a series of explainer videos ranging from the difference between jeans at various price points to external factors that affect the fashion industry, such as climate change. The channel has also featured actor Charithra Chandran, who starred as Edwina Sharma in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Chandran provided behind-the-scenes insights into her character’s wardrobe, styling and lifestyle, in the historical time period the series is set in, as well as her own interpretation of her character; this led fashion publishers and influencers to create content on similar topics in their own channels. Some viewers may find this content informative and entertaining, and others may find it useful for purchasing decisions if they are consumers who wear historical-based fashion. Chandran’s featured video does not exceed 10 minutes, the maximum length allowed by TikTok, emphasising the importance of content creators being time conscious of their explanations and ensuring they deliver rich and engaging information.

Brand Challenges

Brand challenges are campaign-based challenges that attract a large population of individuals who upon observing the task being completed by others become motivated to conduct the same task. The most common challenges that attract viral activity include displaying a talent, creating pictures or videos using specific filters, performing dance moves, lip-syncing and product usage demonstrations. The fashion industry has exerted a major influence on the creation of these challenges, including personalised catwalks using the creative art features provided on short video platforms (the most common method being stop-motion that allows users to showcase multiple outfits in one short picture clip). A common trend topic may influence these activities; for example, vintage and historical inspired fashion has been used for hashtag campaigns challenging consumers to present their wardrobe choice based on a specific fashion era. This is an opportunity for consumers to engage with a community and compete to present aesthetic differences. Other dress-up challenges are group-oriented, whereby a couple or friends are featured showcasing a coordinated clothing style and may conduct a dance or other choreographies in line with the challenge.

Fashion brands have adopted the above-described examples because they provide an opportunity to showcase their products while enhancing the engagement of their audience through entertainment. UK fast fashion retailer Boohoo.com created a dance challenge with a custom-made song using #itsfromboohoo for the campaign, with a £1000 cash prize offered to the top five participants. ASOS launched a 3-week brand hashtag challenge on TikTok, #AySauce, challenging influential content creators in the UK and USA, including Michael Le and Jordan Fisher from Netflix’s Work It, to showcase three outfits of their choice within 15 seconds. These two particular brand campaigns gave short video platform users creative control over their content to increase the perceived authenticity of the content while achieving brand awareness and follower responses.

Short Video Adverts: Strategies

Machine learning and data algorithms analyse viewers’ content interests, sorting and recommending content for viewers to watch, which increases the perceived relevancy of the content viewers encounter in short video platforms. This provides automated support for marketers who aim to deliver advertising content to the target audience; it increases online consumer traffic and click-bait, and reduces viewers’ potential usage of the skip-button selection option or immediate scrolling past of content. There are two main strategies marketers can adopt when sorting their advert content through the big data systems: in-feed adverts and KOL endorsement.

In-feed adverts involve the integration of a short advert into a short video; the advert may appear at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a video the viewer originally clicked to watch. A separate marketing message with a link is provided below the video so the viewer can click to access the product, service or advertised brand. If the viewer clicks the link immediately during or after the advert’s display, then the platform that sorted the in-feed adverts will charge the seller a service fee. Service fees are also applied when viewers watch the advert for more than 30 seconds, which aligns with the cost-per-view concept. As these adverts were assigned by algorithm systems for viewers to watch, this short video advertising strategy is associated with the skip-button option. Usually, it is recommended that in-feed adverts with a minimum of 12 seconds’ and a maximum of 3 minutes’ duration should have the skip-button option available for viewers. The skip-button helps reduce viewers’ frustrations and reduces the potential service fees sellers would be charged for advertising activity that did not lead to online sales or customer traffic. Additionally, with the increasing efficiency of AI and machine learning, it should be ensured that viewers are forwarded in-feed adverts that are relevant to them and are not solely based on their watch history.

KOL endorsement is a form of online word-of-mouth that can implement conversational responses following a short-video advert. KOLs have positive connections with followers who can become potential customers, and can play an ambassador loyalist role for brands (Ozuem et al., 2021c). Marketers will recruit KOLs to generate website and social media traffic and promote goods and services to their followers. KOLs is a term introduced by the Chinese market, referring to an influencer who is considered an expert practitioner in a specific field, and has marketing influence that enables them to directly sell products, enhance brand exposure, as well as build online traffic. In contrast to in-feed advertising, the KOL strategy depends of the social influence and trust between the influencer and audience. To establish influence and trust, the KOL needs to invest in ensuring their followers perceived them as valid endorsers of products and services. Likewise, they need to make sure that their audience views them as relatable and like-minded, and adore them enough to repeat their visits to the KOL’s online content. Unlike in-feed adverts, which automatically assigned to videos that are consistent with the adverts that viewers may find relevant, marketers are employing individuals that may be required to conduct further persuasion towards consumers. Marketers therefore must create selection criteria to ensure there is an efficient match between the KOL and the potential endorsement, with the relevant the target audience.

Marketers are highly likely to conduct both in-feed and KOL advertising strategies according to the nature of the product or service and campaign being promoted. Any of the types of short-video content discussed earlier can be applied to both of these strategies; posted material will have combined types of content to enhance the returns the in-feed adverts and KOL endorsement strategies. To make an effective choice, marketers must consider whether the viewer is self-sufficient in responding to the short advert sorted using the in-feed advert strategy, or if the viewer requires some information expansion which the KOL endorser can provide. Furthermore, if a seller wants the audience to deliver conversational responses, then they consider whether in-feed adverts or a specific KOL will have more influence.

Product teaser is appropriate for in-feed advertisement, if the content requires viewers to conduct a purchase for products and services but requires little persuasion efforts. Influencer ads could also be applied for the same activity, but influencers will attempt to balance this activity with content they create and post on their own channels where their followers are engaging in. The key outcome these two content types should aim for is to promote products and services within a short time-length and reduce the decision-making process required from potential customers. Explainer videos and voiceless videos can be sorted as in-feed ads, but their the nature of the topic and context may increase the time required for the viewer to process the information, causing the advert to be subject to the skip-button option if the viewer is uninterested. The presence of KOLs, or influencers, may be more suitable for explainer videos, as featuring familiar individuals could reduce the psychological distance between the audience and the advert thus decreasing the intention to skip. Alternatively, brands could collaborate with the influencer, whereby the influencer integrates branded product and services into their content, including demonstrating or explaining the product or service usage, and stating sponsorship of the company and any deals the company is offering to consumers through the influencer’s activity. Voiceless videos should, likewise, emphasise informational and entertainment aspects that are relevant to them, preferably engaging them within the first 5–10 seconds of the video. Finally, brand challenges are likely to require KOLs and key online communities; brands may choose to present clips (5–15 seconds) of the brand challenge campaign through in-feed adverting to broadcast the event. However, the purpose of brand challenges is to achieve virality; KOLs and their followers will engage on their own socials, which will provide the wider network greater accessibility to the content and lead to great campaign engagement.

Conclusion

Short-videos have played a significant role in extending advertisements informational and entertainment aspects. The length of short-video adverts prompt marketers and influencers alike to emphasise narrative and social presence that attracts their attention of the audience within the first 5–10 seconds, increasing their motivation to continue engaging with the content rather than skipping the adverts or scrolling past the posts. The existing technical features, including the meta-voicing, search and algorithm recommendation settings and livestreaming, that are embedded in short-video platforms provide marketers, influencers and others effective platforms and channels to sort and deliver short-video adverts. To enhance the effective application of these features in motivating audience engagement through these platforms, marketers and influencers have to consider the type of content that will attract their audience and ensure they achieve their desired results. They have several content strategy choices including product teasers, soundless videos, influencer adverts, explainer videos, and brand challenges, each will be applied according to the goal of the marketer, including product promotion and sales, and brand awareness and online traffic and engagement. The created advert video that can be sorted through either an in-feed advertisement or KOL endorsement, or a combination of the two, through the channels the brands intended audience is present in. Marketers must anticipate the consumers’ response to the type of content and the level of engagement they will conduct. While embedded algorithms and machine learning systems can help them sort the video to their intended audience, marketers must ensure the content and advertisement strategy are an effective match to increase the consumers consumption of the content and the desired behavioural intentions.