Yahoo Lifestyle Social Video Diverts Audiences From TV and Films? This Study Begs to Differ
When Warner Bros. Discovery research chief Natasha Hritzuk first began studying short-form video, the conventional wisdom was that platforms like TikTok and YouTube were having a cannibalizing effect on TV and film consumption. But as she shares in her latest study, the deeper she explored audience behavior, the more she saw that social video served as a potent discovery tool for the very programming to which it seemed to pose a competitive threat.
Hritzuk’s research unearthed through a mix of survey and first-party data work what she describes as a an “extremely strong relationship” connecting users who who viewed social-video content related to a specific TV show or movie and viewing of full-length of TV episodes or movies.
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“I think the first instinct was, ‘Oh my God, is our lunch being eaten by these new platforms? Is this like an existential threat to the TV and movie business?'” said Hritzuk on the latest episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast. “And on the surface, it definitely looked like it could be. But I thought, ‘This is simplistic to assume that this is a bad thing until we dig a little bit deeper.'”
She believes the explosion of social video represents an opportunity for studio marketers to rethink traditional promotional practices to more effectively reach audiences rather than simply wedge the traditional 30-second spots into a medium that calls for a radically different approach.
“When consumers see a clip, a trailer, a compilation, even fan-generated content, that becomes a powerful signal, a powerful discovery tool, especially for younger generations, that then encourages them to go on and watch the content,” said Hritzuk. “So I would go so far as to argue that short-form video is a critical media platform for studios who want to promote their content to younger generations.”
Visit Variety Intelligence Platform to see exclusive excerpts of data from Hritzuk’s research. VIP+ previously documented the rising tide of entertainment marketing content on TikTok with exclusive data.
And for more on the competitive friction between short- and long-form video, VIP+ has two special reports:
• 2025 Vision: Hollywood Blind Spots in the Attention Economy
• Social Video vs. Paid Streaming: The Race to Replace TV
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
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