TikTok became popular because of its lo-fi, laidback method of creating and presenting content.

The platform was seen as more authentic than Instagram and easier to produce content for than YouTube. Content didn’t need to be polished—speed was of the essence, and creators could dash off videos in and around their work for other platforms.

But in the six-and-a-bit years since TikTok launched, things have changed. The maximum video length on TikTok has extended from 15 seconds, to 60 seconds,  to several minutes long, following in the footsteps of its Chinese sister app, Douyin. And in March 2023, the app announced a new feature for creators and audiences alike that extends content length even further: TikTok Series.

A series of unusual events

TikTok Series, the company says, is a step change from the type of content that has traditionally worked on the platform. Eligible creators can now post collections of paywalled videos that viewers would pay to access. A single series can contain up to 80 videos, each 20 minutes long.

“What we see in TikTok’s turn toward 20-minute content is the continued blurring of social media and more traditional forms of entertainment,” says internet culture expert Jess Maddox, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama. Maddox points out that 20 minutes is almost the length of the average American sitcom, “which will make TikToks feel more like television episodes than short-form video.”

TikTok’s path is similar to the evolution of content that YouTube went through as it extended its maximum video length, then introduced feature film-like content, best typified by Shane Dawson’s documentary-style exposes of fellow YouTubers like Jake Paul, Jeffree Star, and Eugenia Cooney. Dawson’s videos on YouTube resembled Netflix series, complete with trailers and countdowns to their release, making the exposes feel like appointment viewing.

Quibi Mark II?

TikTok Series has been compared unflatteringly to Quibi, the failed startup that empowered online creators to produce longer-form, episodic content for cell phones—but then blazed out of existence within months of its launch.

Quibi was funded with $2 billion and backed by Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg, suggesting that the only barrier to success was the concept itself—that the idea of paid-for, long-form content produced by those who have traditionally created free, short-form social media videos simply couldn’t work.

TikTok Series also hints at other ghosts of past failed social media video projects: Triller tried throwing cash at creators to produce content for them in 2020 to head off TikTok’s rise, while YouTube’s Premium slate of shows starred the site’s most beloved creators in clunky professional, TV-like programs that only highlighted the difference in what makes good presentation, scripting, and production for online video versus traditional media.

Despite those high-profile failures, TikTok seems keen to test the waters, dangling the chance to earn cash in front of creators. But with longer videos come higher expectations of production quality and levels of entertainment—which has a significant impact on the work people are expected to do.

The risks of long-form content

“On the creator side, I don’t know how successful this will actually be,” says Maddox. “Many TikTokers already make content cross-platform with YouTube, and often direct their followers there to watch longer-form content [for] free, and from a platform that pays them better than the Creator Fund,” TikTok’s way of supporting creators financially to publish their work on the platform.

Maddox believes this new feature could exacerbate pre-existing splits in the creator base for different platforms, including TikTok. “This will only further the divide between TikTok’s top-performing creators and the more mid-range ones, as those with millions of followers are more likely to have buy-in to this paid program than mid-tier ones,” she says. “Given TikTok’s anti-Blackness and [lack of] BIPOC creators problem, this is also sure to further racial divides of creator success on the app.” (In 2020, TikTok faced allegations that it had removed, muted, or hidden content related to the Black Lives Matter movement and by Black creators. TikTok apologized and vowed to implement measures that improved equity, but some say it’s not enough to have solved the problem.)

But some creators are excited about the financial opportunities that could come with TikTok Series. “I like that TikTok is embracing long form and becoming Quibi,” says Zaid Admani, a part-time civil engineer and full-time TikToker from Houston, Texas, who has 380,000 followers on the platform for his videos explaining tech and finance. “TikTok has replaced TV for many people, so a Quibi-style series makes a ton of sense. 

“I think platforms can foster creativity and incentivize top talent,” Admani says. “For example, let's say I start a finance show on TikTok. If TikTok offered some sort of partnership program where they paid the creator for exclusivity and helped develop the show, it could be a win-win.”

Like other creators who are enthusiastic about TikTok Series and how it might evolve, Admani can envisage a future where TikTok creates its own original content featuring its billboard creators. “It would be much cheaper than getting A-list celebs, and it would promote aspiration,” he says.

Admani acknowledges that there could be a big difference between the time required to produce content that would fit naturally into a Series versus a For You feed post. “One of the great things about TikTok is the production quality doesn’t haven’t to be at the level of YouTube,” he says. “You can purely focus on the content and not have to worry too much about editing or production. I don’t know if that will apply to Series.”

There’s also another concern playing on his mind, and likely other creators. Money matters not just for creators, but for audiences who are used to seeing everything on TikTok for free. “I need to figure out what content to make that people will pay for,” Admani says.