TikTok's Tim Edwards Talks Long Form Content, Monetization and the Power of Search By Jo Ruddock, SVG Europe
Wednesday, May 29, 2024 - 2:22 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
How to create, share and monetize content on social media was discussed in depth at today's (23 May) Create Share Engage, with Tim Edwards, sports lead - UK and Nordics, TikTok, providing insight into how the platform is used to attract and engage viewers, and the monetization opportunities available. Edwards revealed that TikTok is opened, on average, 21 times a day by its 1 billion active monthly users worldwide. While there are no hard and fast rules around which content performs particularly well on the platform, and Edwards was keen to encourage people to experiment, behind the scenes videos and those that are athlete-led continue to dominate in the world of sport.
He highlights people looking to find out about debunking sports topics, so education, education around certain sports, finding out about certain athletes or tips about how to do certain sports as particularly popular content.
The popularity of this type of content has driven recent developments at TikTok where the focus has been on search. There's also been growth in users watching longer form content.
As TikTok is seen as a source for different kinds of content, that's been the big driver behind search being a really, really big driver of content discovery, rather than just the For You feed, he adds.
He continued: Long form has been a big growth area for us within the last six to eight months. Our users' expectations, and our expectations really, about what length of video users are comfortable coming to TikTok and watching is massively changing. Over a minute plus is the fastest area of content growth for us. So yes, we are still the place where you might watch the same video 20 times, but we're also the place where you might watch a one minute video, a two minute video, or even more than that. And you might watch that once, but what that brings to you in terms of longer term engagement and retention onto your account delivers very different upsides.
Our users' expectations, and our expectations really, about what length of video users are comfortable coming to TikTok and watching is massively changing
Indeed, users, on average are now watching over 90 minutes of content on the app per day. When it comes to sport, younger users are watching more than three hours of non-broadcast, non-highlight sports content per week.
So, for those looking to tap into that highly engaged market, what tips would Edwards offer?
Really interrogate and break down everything that might be different about your sport, everything that the players might do in a day, everything that might happen on a trip away, for example, he advises. For someone who doesn't fully understand your sport that will probably be something that they don't know. And so think about those and how it can be a hook.
Of course, TikTok isn't a rightsholder so how does it navigate those relationships and add value to those who have paid for rights?
We're always working with broadcasters and rightsholders to maximise the value of those rights and to find a different audience to what they might get within the traditional broadcast. But also if you're taking something like archive, it can also help keep your brand alive, if there's a really large gap between events, he added.
He cites the International Paralympic Committee, which has been a top performing sport account globally in the last few years, all driven by archive footage.
Of course, reaching new audiences and keeping them engaged between events is crucial, but how to monetise that content is still proving tricky. Edwards shared a couple of developments at TikTok that aim to improve this situation.
We've got a lot of different monetisation options that exist for different types of accounts and we are always at any given time testing a lot of different monetisation options for types of accounts worldwide.
He gave the example of Live Gifting and the recently launched TikTok Shop.
TikTok Shop is a really fast-growing area, both in terms of content and in terms of new ways of adoption of commerce. That's definitely an area where you can merge that trending content on TikTok and also make a purchase as well, he said.
The company has also recently announced its Pulse Premier scheme, which is being gradually rolled out for accounts including Sky Sports, BBC Studios and Channel 4, which gives advertisers the opportunity to buy ad space in front of their content.
For those partners, that's also a revenue opportunity that is being launched very carefully. But we're really excited about the long-term potential of that.
He concluded: I think if you are a broadcaster, a brand, rightsholder, team or athlete, and you're looking at what you have across the year, and through your social media content you're trying to grow your audience online and really achieve virality, I think all the audience would point to the fact that TikTok is the place where that's most likely to happen these days.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
TikTok's Tim Edwards Talks Long Form Content, Monetization and the Power of Search By Jo Ruddock, SVG Europe 
