Four years ago, with much fanfare (and budget), a platform called Quibi emerged with the promise that people would watch short vertical episodic shows and that would be the future of entertainment. Then, despite their $1.75 billion funding, they crashed and burned. Around the same time, TikTok was just starting to take off. Since then, the growth of vertical video has exploded.
This week there was a feature in Fast Company about the rapid rise of two short form video platforms (DramaBox and ReelShort) that are both enjoying success both financially and attentionally as their paid user base is growing. These apps offer one-minute-long episodes of short, soap opera style stories and you swipe up to keep watching. Content aside, one other reason the article suggests for their success is how they offer multiple free episodes to get you hooked and then ask you to pay for access … unlike Quibi which started off with a monthly subscription model. Another explanation may come from the fact that these new platforms did not rely on splashy high budget content featuring name brand actors. As a result, it’s possible that their content could be seen as more genuine and closer to the vertical videos people are already accustomed to watching.
Whether it’s time, casting, business model — or some combination of all of these factors — the long-awaited promise of short form video as a new form of entertainment (and maybe even art) seems to finally have arrived.
