Short-Form Video: Why Less Is More in Today’s Attention Economy

In today’s digital landscape, where goldfish may have longer attention spans than most of us, short-form video has taken the crown. With attention spans now averaging a mere eight seconds, brands are facing a stark reality: either capture your audience immediately—or lose them.

Enter short-form video.

Defined as clips under 90 seconds, these bite-sized bursts of content are dominating platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. And the numbers don’t lie:

• Short videos generate more than 2x the engagement of their long-form counterparts.

• 73% of consumers use short-form videos for product research, turning entertainment into action.

• 50% of viewers watch short-form content all the way through, a major win for brands fighting for full attention.

• Over 50% of social media marketers are now using short-form video as a core tactic in their content strategies.

What This Means for Brands: Be Quick, Be Smart, Be Everywhere

Short-form video isn't just a trend—it's a behavioral shift. People are scrolling more, watching faster, and deciding quicker. From discovering a new restaurant to falling in love with a product, the decision-making journey has condensed, and video is leading the charge.

UB Media: Where Short-Form Video Meets Real-World Engagement

We bring short-form storytelling offline and into the spaces where people actually live, relax, and hang out. Across our Restobar, Cinema, Campus, and Residential networks, we serve high-impact, under-90-second video ads that mirror the habits of digital audiences—but in the physical world.

Snackable, personalized ad experiences

Our screens deliver curated short-form ads interspersed with user-generated content (UGC) and culturally relevant moments, creating an authentic viewing experience that feels more like social content than traditional advertising.

Contextual, real-world placements

From students bingeing content in residence to friends catching up over drinks or moviegoers waiting for their feature to start, our screens align perfectly with today’s content consumption habits.

Looping relevance, not repetition

We don’t bombard with repetition. Instead, we rotate a mix of short-form video advertisements, entertainment/UGC content, and news/weather snippets—keeping attention high and fatigue low.

Want to connect with an audience already trained to consume short and fast? Let UB Media help you bring your message to life.

Source(s): Lifewire + Vidico