TikTok pivots toward authenticity and longer videos for 2024

The company is also shifting toward longer form videos, but some creators are resistant to the change

(Image credit: Roslan Rahman / Getty Images)

published 18 December 2023

When TikTok first emerged, other social media companies struggled to mimic its format, as users seemed to gravitate towards the shorter content that made the platform famous. But now the company is "changing course" and pushing users and creators to "make and consume longer videos," CNN reported. On December 16, the company started to phase out its "Creator Fund” and will replace it with its new “Creativity Program Beta," which requires videos longer than one minute if creators want to monetize their content. The platform estimates that creators can make over 20 times more than before.

The change comes as the platform predicts a shift in mindset within the TikTok community "characterized by curiosity, imagination, vulnerability, and courage," per the company's "What's Next 2024 Trend Report." TikTok has named the mindset "Creative Bravery" and predicts that brands that "continually spark global curiosity, upend traditional storytelling norms, and build trust with their audience" will have the most success on the platform in the next year. Authenticity and vulnerability seem to be critical selling points now.

TikTok has emerged as an important market for digital marketers over the past few years and has built a loyal, growing base of users, particularly among younger generations. While the platform is banking on authenticity to drive revenue in 2024, some creators are hesitant to deviate from the shorter formats they're used to.

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Prepare for 'more authentic, niche groups'

Even though 2023 was a turbulent year for big media and tech companies, global marketing agency Forrester predicted that they are poised to “further cement their value with advertisers” in 2024, Marketing Brew reported. According to the agency's "Predictions 2024: Media And Advertising" study, TikTok in particular is on track to "potentially claim the majority of ad budgets that marketers targeting Gen Zers are diverting from linear TV," Marketing Brew summarized.

In the face of challenges and "regulatory scrutiny in 2023," Tech Wire Asia's Muhammad Zulhusni wrote, "TikTok has remained a cultural force" by driving social media trends and user engagement with its "unique blend of content." The app's user engagement and revenue will continue to grow next year "bolstered by diverse revenue streams, including in-app purchases and e-commerce integrations."

The site's pivot to longer content could make the app more lucrative for marketers. While TikTok's signature short-form content is easier to consume, "long-form drives higher conversion rates and develops a strong connection between brand and consumer," Silje Tunes Huse noted in The Drum. Shorter videos will always be around on TikTok, but "long-form has become the building block of creating human connections and authenticity," Huse added. With the platform incentivizing longer videos, "more authentic, niche groups" will appear, "all driven by long-form content."

The content length pivot takes away from what made TikTok popular

TikTok's push towards longer-form content "is in some ways a reversal of fortunes," CNN's Clare Duffy noted, because it is now "following its legacy peers into a content format that's often more profitable." The strategy may be encouraging teens to spend more time on the app, but teens already report that they use it "almost constantly." The shift is also not going over well with some frustrated creators who worry that the move will "take away from what initially made TikTok so popular," including "the ability to scroll through lots of different kinds of content quickly" and the ability to "easily make videos without extensive planning or resources."

"I don't always have a minute of content in me,” Nicki Apostolou, a TikTok creator known as "recycldstardust," told CNN. So many creators "came to TikTok because it was the short-form video app," she said, "and now they want to be like 'mini YouTube,' and I feel like it leaves out creators who came there for the short-form content."

Even though TikTok has made "notable" gains this year in advertising, viewing it in the context of what companies are spending elsewhere is essential. "One big one is that the money advertisers are pouring into TikTok is just a drop in the ocean compared to what they’re spending on tech giants like Meta," Krystal Scanlon wrote for Digiday. The platform's cultural impact "has always been more significant than its impact on ad dollars," Scanlon added. TikTok is "slowly bridging that gap," but it won't "truly close until TikTok manages to bring all its different parts together," she opined. If TikTok ad executives figure that out, "the app will be a must-have on media plans, not just a nice-to-have."

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Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.