Dear SHORT FORM video creators

If you publish to TikTok, Reels or Shorts, this is important. You're putting in SO much work into something that I'm worried will not pay off for you. ​

Check out @raffitimedia video about the fall of shortform:

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24 Responses to Dear SHORT FORM video creators

  1. Nicole Hernandez April 9, 2023 at 11:15 am #

    As someone who is new to creating content on YouTube. I’m working on creating more long form and short content that converts to long form. The higher views on the shorts keep me motivated. Not looking at the shorts for the $, but I get subs from the shorts and keeps me going as I learn how to better my long form.

    • Palabras de Sanidad April 9, 2023 at 1:02 pm #

      I am doing the same, die to the fact I have not 1000 subs yet.

    • JJ Bones April 9, 2023 at 8:58 pm #

      @Palabras de Sanidad Me too but I would like Youtube to let us know that we can “sample” short content to make long content. The algorithm doesn’t seem to like duplicate video footage. Plus they have only encouraged long format creators to “sample” content to make shorts. Y’all ask the creator support team…I ask too!

  2. Salma Jafri - YouTube for Biz April 9, 2023 at 11:16 am #

    Wow, that’s quite the position Pat. Using Shorts for business ultimately needs to be tied to a business and income strategy (and Im not talking about adsense)

    Although I do have to challenge one thing you said in this video: about shorts disappearing after publishing. I’m seeing views on my shorts coming in from Search, and they’ve been very consistent the last 6 months. I too was surprised to see the staying power of certain shorts.

    I will be continuing to create both long form videos and continue experimenting with shorts.

    I’m also launching a shorts only channel (in a different niche) with an income plan that doesn’t revolve around adsense. We’ll see what happens 🙂

    • John Summerfield Photographer April 9, 2023 at 11:41 am #

      There’s at least one Chrome extension that blocks shorts. To me, that says there’s a lot of people that don’t like them. Me? I’m autistic. They are just annoying. I think I have watched maybe three.

    • Pat Flynn April 9, 2023 at 11:46 am #

      Thanks Salma! I appreciate your take on this. Search is something that is new to short form and I’m glad there’s some more staying power there, and I do hope I’m wrong with some of this but I just have a gut feeling about the LTV and ROI with work put in that short form is def going to change and it doesn’t point to for the better.

      Again, this video is meant to start this discussion and allow us to share our opinions together, so I appreciate your side of it too.

  3. Fawaz Al-Malood April 9, 2023 at 11:17 am #

    Great content and advice as usual Pat .

  4. Dan Kelly April 9, 2023 at 11:52 am #

    For business minded creators, the only good reason to use Shorts is to drive viewers to long form videos.

    • Emanuel Turis April 9, 2023 at 1:41 pm #

      Or to website/landing page.

    • Chanpreet Speaks April 9, 2023 at 2:43 pm #

      I agree

  5. Therman T April 9, 2023 at 12:14 pm #

    Interesting stuff right here.

    I’m not a youchube creator (yet), but I do consume a lot and I’ve actually found shorts to be extremely useful and entertaining, but not something that drives me to subscribe.

    I subscribe to really helpful, non-short creators/content.

    To Pat’s point, the shorts definitely feel like door-to-door Halloween candy.

  6. Bobert-Rob (Animations) April 9, 2023 at 1:33 pm #

    Funny, when it comes to views, I’m having the exact opposite effect. I’ve been on Youtube for 16 years, and for 15 of those years, I’ve been struggling. Well, 13 really, because the first couple years I was doing well. Then I struggled, lost my audience, and I’ve been trying to build back interest in my content. I’m an animator, it was difficult to produce quality content fast enough. Long story short, I’ve been experimenting with producing shorts heavily since last fall and I’ve actually grown more of an audience doing that than I did from 15 years of doing long-form content. I will admit that the audience is pretty hit or miss, especially since barely any of them will go on to watch the long-form videos. I’ve seen an increase in long-form views compared to what it was, but it’s generally still incredibly low. I’m lucky to get anywhere near what you’d expect a channel with my sub-count to get. Also, I have absolutely NO long-form video that brings in regular money, whereas I have at least 5 shorts that regularly get tens of thousands of views a day. They only earn one or two dollars at best, but still, a majority of whatever little money I earn is currently using short-form content. I’d love it if they’d watch the longer form content, especially since my shortform work is just the longer cartoons chopped up in 15 – 20 second segments. They usually consist of one or two individual jokes from the cartoon as a sort of advertisement for the longer content. Links posted everywhere in the video. But I can’t force anyone to do anything, and simply making long-form only will only result in me continuing to be ignored. Shortform may not be the best content to make solely, but I honestly feel these days the best strategy is to do both. It’s too easy for long-form videos to be buried if they don’t immediately do well.

  7. Fox Run Environmental Education Center April 9, 2023 at 2:01 pm #

    Thanks, Pat for the honest good advice as always. I’m small but my shorts just don’t cut it for me. For me, long content is the way to go.

  8. Joe Goe Motorcycle Adventures April 9, 2023 at 2:10 pm #

    Well said brother. Short form is a good entrance to get people on your channel. You just can’t connect with people through short form. I feel more satisfied when I can keep someone watching 5 or 10 minutes on a long form videos.

  9. Chanpreet Speaks April 9, 2023 at 2:43 pm #

    Beautiful video! Thank you n yes m feeling full, a sense of being served some valuable info like frm a fav teacher! Definitely there is a deeper connection we have with those giving us long form content. I knw a sprinkle of short form content is imp to get new eyeballs bt i will be honest it kept me stuck for a long time like i was not making any content at all for last 3 months!! I have been re-Strategizing my content n m soo happy I found this video! Thank You Pat❤

  10. Della Clementine April 9, 2023 at 2:55 pm #

    Well said Pat. Finally people are starting to say what I’ve been thinking since the start!

  11. Pat Makes Stuff April 9, 2023 at 4:10 pm #

    Thanks Pat, you are a great example of what you preach, I didn’t get to know you through instagram but I got to know you through your podcast, and I know you provide value, whereas if I saw a short from you, I doubt I would have even gotten to know your name…

  12. Terry Wade Thompson April 9, 2023 at 4:16 pm #

    Great video Pat. Long form video is where it’s at. Some of the biggest creators are reaching more people with longer videos that are even upwards of 3-4 hours.

  13. Poke Matteus April 9, 2023 at 4:30 pm #

    Very insightful Pat (As usual). I am definitely always disappointed and frustrated with shorts. Now it makes sense. I think it is messing up our society as a whole in general. Good ok microwave society, consuming fast food, fast content, fast (fill in the blank) and then we wonder why we have absolutely no attention span, and need everything now now now.

  14. U Nown April 9, 2023 at 5:01 pm #

    I am not a Youtuber and never really considered doing so, but I just wanted to say that it is rare for someone like yourself to share their experience and knowledge with others just for the sake of helping them improve themselves. I realize you do get some revenue out of this, but I don’t think it is why you do this. I think you do this just to help others do better. Like the old saying goes, you can feed someone easy enough but it is better to teach them how to feed themselves so they can do it on their own.

  15. ADHD Hobbies with Kriselle G April 9, 2023 at 6:32 pm #

    I feel so attacked (but in the best way haha).

    Many years ago I posted videos here on YouTube but later stopped because I got burnt out from content creation (and later found out I have ADHD which likely played a big role too).

    Now with TikTok, I’ve had a ton of fun getting back into content creation on a more casual level, experimenting, but I do think often about going back to YouTube.

    This is kinda the reminder/push I needed. I’m being laid off from a dream job soon and while I’ll be job hunting still, I’ve been thinking about content creation like this again because I miss it and have ideas that I’m tired of leaving as ideas.

    Since I have time before I have to leave my current job, I’ll take some time to plan out my action plan for getting back into long form content. Thanks for the encouragement, Pat!

  16. Woodfork Law April 9, 2023 at 6:58 pm #

    Finally! an expert creator makes a definitive statement about short-form videos. It’s hard to find an expert who doesn’t hedge their expert advice on the subject of short-form effectiveness.

  17. Kobe Collects April 9, 2023 at 7:01 pm #

    Pat i haven’t been “not busy” for 3 years. I had the realization that my life is only going to get busier.. so im doing something wrong with my organization and planning. Could you please share a video on day planning, organizing and general things to make things more stream lined?

  18. Saro Dog Training April 9, 2023 at 7:15 pm #

    As a creator and educator, I feel that I can’t provide proper information or content using shorts. In my industry (dog training) a short video is like here is a quick tip which I am completely against it because a dog and a dog owner don’t learn things quickly. It takes time to learn something and a long-form video can help with that. I don’t enjoy creating shorts but I was doing it because of peer presure. Everybody is doing it and is saying to do it so I’ve been making shorts. Now, I am going to stop it because what you shared makes so much sense. Thank you.

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