Study: The Unstoppable Rise of Social Media Video 2023-2028

Industry Insights

by Alexandra ThompsonNovember 14^th, 2023

Some massive changes are taking place in the world of Social media. You can’t deny how much it has changed our lives – how we talk to each other and what we talk about, where we look for our entertainment, and where we get our news and information in general. We are spending a great deal of our time connecting online, and in the social media marketplace, time amounts to major advertising dollars.

Rethink TV, published by Rethink Technology Research, is a service that provides research and data on OTT technology predictions and how changing business models affect video delivery. They also monitor the leading Pay TV companies, streaming services, and their partnerships with tech providers.

280.4 billion hours of viewing each month!

Recently, they released the Rethink TV Social Media Video Market 2023-2028 report. According to the report, the fastest growth in the Social media sector over the past ten years is in short-form videos like TikTok and Instagram Reels, for example. Incredibly, video viewing is projected to surge to 90.8% of total Monthly Active Hours (MAHs) on Social media by 2028. This amounts to a staggering 280.4 billion hours each month. You read that right!

Additionally, the report shows that short-form OTT videos are contributing most to the increasing share of Social media’s advertising income. This trend is expected to become a $314 billion market by 2028 – far higher than Pay TV ($135.5 billion ad revenue) and long-form OTT ($123.9 billion ad revenue).

In fact, Social media may soon take over long-form OTT platforms. For example, using content from popular YouTubers is now viewed as an inexpensive and easy way to create additional FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) channels with ready-made content, instantly drawing dedicated followers.

Let’s look at the numbers

But even if you exclude YouTube, Rethink TV claims, social media’s ad revenue will grow 58.5% over the next five years to a whopping $270.9 billion in 2028. Compare that to just $123.9 billion ad revenue expected for long-form OTT platforms and $135.5 billion from Pay TV.

What brought about these changes? Partly, it’s Social media’s ease of access (who doesn’t carry a phone with them?), and the content is based on personalized algorithms for users based on their interests and preferences. Additionally, there is a surge in affordable, quality technology for content creators – just look at the iPhone 15 Pro.

So what’s the problem?

Rethink TV finds that “Social media poses a legitimate threat to the distribution landscape for more traditional media and entertainment assets.” This brings up concerns that Social media has become a crucial part of many discussions within the industry regarding things like codec adoption, fair contribution (to ensure that creators are fairly compensated for their work), and ad targeting (Social media collects a vast amount of data on their users leading to concerns that this data may exploit users for profit.) In fact, many key issues “are massively impacted by the decisions of just a handful of Social Media companies”, according to the report.

If you want to read more, RethinkTV has an archive of current reports and forecasts. However, you will need a subscription to access them. They do offer summaries of their reports for free on the RethinkTV website.

What do you think about how fast short-form OTT is advancing? What are the benefits and the pitfalls in your opinion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!