Short-form video apps harness the voice of people and have very quickly found a prominent place in people’s life. This is not a trend, but a game-changing movement. The impact has been so strong that it has taken a bit of sheen from the shining armour of the two biggest companies at the forefront of digital, once considered invincible.

Here are 3 underlying trends that are shaping short-form video consumption in 2022:

A huge shift has occurred in the way people interact with content. Large platforms got built by finding creative ways to utilise people’s network. They set out this notion of staying up-to-date with one’s social circle through timelines powered by interactions of their network. That would determine the type of content on their screens but were limited to a list of friends, family, and acquaintances whom they followed. Now, the AI technology allows you to effectively recommend content from a very large corpus that is way better than what people would get if the feed was to solely rely on their social circles.

This has allowed people to explore their choices beyond the realms of their own network. The old way has smoothly shelled out a new, entertaining path of content consumption that matters to us as individuals on an everyday basis broken down to short, entertaining videos that go down to effortless watching.

The experience of watching one compulsively watchable short-video after another draws people to return to short video platforms multiple times a day. This is transforming how people get inspired by their preferences in popular culture. And, those micro-moments of desire, lend to the discovery of people, places, and things from the video.

This shift creates a huge opportunity for existing brands, solo creators, and upstarts. It is becoming increasingly clear that short-form video platforms are the future of discovery, search, and e-commerce.

When people are scrolling through platforms, there’s always that one vacation video from the beach they just found out about from which they’ve wanted to steal those sunglasses, or know the shade of lip colour flaunted with a pout or a swimsuit they found alluring that ultimately finds its way into the bucket list.

The ban on Tiktok has seen the rise of short-form multiple video content platforms, and it is clear that we are entering a new era of multiple platforms that would differentiate based on content, creators, and audience. Most Indian creators want to be present across multiple platforms seeking faster recognition, monetisation, and fame. Many creators who have built their stardom on short-video space have leapfrogged into the world of professional performing arts in playback singing, fashion, comedy, and movies. The example of Sireesha Bhagavatula, 24 who hails from Vizag, found her first major playback singing break with the maestro AR Rahman, was co-winner of Hipi G.O.A.T. – a singing contest on Hipi is particularly fascinating.

The opportunities that short video platforms offer to break out are not only restricted to the young but are now being embraced by people in middle age too. Garima Gupta, 50 won the Supermom challenge on Hipi by showcasing her unique ability to sing a song in reverse effortlessly and got an invite to perform at a big reality show on national TV.

We’ve been living through the greatest disruption in video content generation and consumption since the birth of the mobile phone. It’s an extraordinary and unique opportunity to take this to more people, inspire them, and for them to bring more joy to more people