TikTok Shorts and Long Videos in 2025: How to Leverage Both Formats to Maximize Your Audience

In 2025, TikTok confirms its position as an essential platform for video creation, with a notable evolution in the formats it offers. While ultra-short videos (Shorts) remain a pillar of engagement, the rise of long videos (up to 10 minutes) is revolutionizing content strategies. This duality provides creators with a broader palette to capture attention, build loyalty, and diversify their audience. This article analyzes this major trend and offers precise advice on how to make the most of these two complementary formats.

1. The Rise of Long Videos on TikTok: A Strategic Shift

Historically, TikTok became famous for its short, dynamic, and viral videos, often between 5 and 17 seconds. However, recent data shows that videos longer than one minute are gaining popularity and effectiveness. According to studies by Buffer and TikTok, long videos generate:

• A 43.2% higher reach compared to short formats.

• An average watch time increase of 63.8%, with an average retention of 11.3 seconds for videos between 1 and 10 minutes.

• Less competition in the long video category, offering greater visibility to creators who position themselves there.

This evolution is also driven by growing user demand for more in-depth, educational, or narrative content that requires more time to capture and hold attention.

2. The Enduring Success of Short Formats: The Power of TikTok Shorts

Despite the rise of long formats, short videos remain essential on TikTok. Their effectiveness lies in:

• An ultra-fast format (5 to 9 seconds) that immediately grabs attention.

• A high engagement rate, with 2.5 times more interactions than long videos.

• Consumption adapted to mobile usage and rapid content scrolling.

• Strong virality thanks to easy sharing and an algorithm that favors strong hooks in the first 3 seconds.

Shorts remain a preferred tool to quickly increase brand awareness and generate engagement spikes.

3. The "Dead Zone" of Intermediate Formats: Should You Avoid 10 to 60-Second Videos?

Analyses show that videos between 10 and 60 seconds often have lower engagement, a phenomenon some experts call the "dead zone." This intermediate length benefits neither from the speed of Shorts nor the depth of long formats. To maximize impact, it is recommended to focus on:

• Very short formats for punchy messages, challenges, or trends.

• Long formats for educational content, storytelling, tutorials, or interviews.

4. Adapting Your Content to Leverage Both Formats

For short videos (Shorts):

• Craft a hook within the first 3 seconds to grab attention.

• Use trends, popular music, and targeted hashtags to maximize virality.

• Offer simple, entertaining, or informative content that can be consumed quickly.

For long videos:

• Structure your content with an engaging introduction, clear development, and strong conclusion.

• Include interactive elements (questions, calls to action) to maintain attention.

• Exploit narrative possibilities to deepen a topic, tell a story, or provide a complete tutorial.

• Optimize visual and audio quality for an immersive experience.

5. Synergies Between Short and Long Formats: A Winning Strategy

To maximize your audience, intelligently combine both formats:

• Use Shorts to tease or introduce a topic developed in a long video.

• Encourage viewers of short videos to discover your longer content for more details.

• Use long videos to build a loyal, engaged audience, then re-engage them with regular Shorts to maintain visibility.

• Analyze the performance of each format to adjust your content and optimize your editorial calendar.

6. Impact on TikTok Visibility and Algorithm

TikTok’s algorithm favors format diversity but places particular emphasis on:

• Completion rate: long videos must maintain attention to rank well.

• Rapid engagement: Shorts must instantly capture viewers to generate interactions.

• Editorial consistency: channels offering varied and complementary content gain credibility.

Conclusion

In 2025, TikTok offers a unique opportunity by combining the power of short and long formats. Knowing how to leverage this duality is essential to maximize your audience, diversify your content, and strengthen your presence on the platform. By adapting your creations to the specifics of each format and building a coherent strategy, you optimize your visibility and engagement in an ever-evolving ecosystem.

“On TikTok, the key to success lies in balancing the speed of Shorts with the depth of long videos to captivate and retain your audience sustainably.”

Keywords:
TikTok 2025, TikTok long videos, TikTok Shorts, TikTok content strategy, TikTok engagement, video formats, TikTok visibility, TikTok marketing, TikTok audience