Much ado about attention spans. Long form content will never die

Anyone who says long form content is dying will be forced to eat their words in the long term.

Welcome to another edition of Second Guess. If you missed the previous newsletter, catch up here. Never miss another edition of the newsletter when you subscribe.

Six centuries ago, Johannes Guttenberg invented the printing press, which led businesses at the time to create pamphlets and brochures to market their products. Centuries later, business owners like Benjamin Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanack, a book designed to promote his growing printing business.

Much later, in the early 1900s, the French tire company, Michelin, published The Michelin Guide, a large publication with advice about auto maintenance and travel. That era also saw the rise of niche consumer publications like Architecture Magazine, Advertising World, and Popular Mechanics. These publications catered to highly specific audiences, giving brands their first opportunity to place targeted ads.

As we can see, content marketing has been around for centuries. And until 10 years ago, the media forms we’d been using as a society were very limited in their bandwidth—be it TV or radio. Because the production and distribution costs were so high, there wasn’t much margin for failure. And so only the most trusted content was published by creators and businesses. With comparatively limited outlets to distribute and consume content, humans of that era were content with their limited variety….

…Until the rapid rise of home computers, smartphones, and the internet came and changed the world in the early 200s. Email technology, websites, and social media presented new and exciting opportunities for marketers who then switched focus from TV and radio to websites and email newsletters, and now social media—which we call digital marketing today.

In 2022, creators don’t face all the obstacles—cost, time, high technical skill gap, etc—in creating and distributing content that creators in the 1990s did. It’s far easier to upload a 60-second video or publish a 1,000-word article in your bedroom in 2022, something that was almost impossible in 1980. And because of the ease of accessing information these days, the past ten years have ushered in the age of information overload.

With billions of content screaming for our attention every day, it’s no shocker that people now think shorter is better. After all, In 2015, Microsoft claimed that human attention spans had sunk to record levels, and TIME claimed humans “now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish.”

Three years before, Naomi Sharp wrote:

“When readers started moving to the internet, media analysts thought long-form journalism was in trouble. Attention spans were going to shrivel. Readers wanted short, they wanted snappy, they wanted 140 characters and not much more (though a listicle on the side couldn't hurt). Who would want to scroll through an 8,000-word article on an iPhone screen?"

It was the time when social media really started to pervade millennial culture, and so many specialists believed that long-form content was not going to be replaced by short, snappy, consumable media. It was the time when experts decried, “Long-form content is dead! No one will read your 2,000-word posts or watch your 20-minute videos anymore!” Media, as we knew it, was going to be overhauled and lose appeal.

And yet, since I began writing online in 2014, I’ve seen way too many premature obituaries for long-form content—a short-sighted way to look at content today.

In the age of the TikTokization of everything, too many marketers scream that long-form is dead, causing too many businesses to over-optimise for brevity and virality. Everyone wants to latch on to the next TikTok trend thinking it’s the only way to get noticed. But the stats—and user behavior — say otherwise. I’ll list a few examples of instances that prove long-form content is king.

1. SEMRush data

Data analysis of more than 700,000 articles by SEMrush, notes that long-form content—3,000 or more words—earns three times as much traffic, four times as many shares, and 3.5 times as many backlinks than articles of average length (901-1,200 words). It’s important to note that the findings are based on data and not a survey. That is to say, the finding is based on the performance of content, not opinions.

A key takeaway from this 2021 study, The Anatomy of Top Performing Articles, showed that “7,000+ word articles drive almost four times more traffic and 43% more shares than articles of average length (900-1,200 words). Meanwhile, short posts (300-900 words) gain 21% less traffic and 75% less backlinks than articles of average length (900-1,200 words).”

2. Data analysis of 40,000 “most-shared” posts by BuzzSumo and LinkedIn

In 2017, the prevailing wisdom was that online copy should be no longer than 650 words. Anything longer would really test the patience of an action-oriented, attention-deficit digital media audience. But research by LinkedIn and BuzzSumo found that the opposite was true. The study pulled data—again, not a survey—from 400,000 social media updates to determine the 40,000 most shared posts across 10 vertical markets.

The report found that “the sweet spot for content length comes in at between 1,000 and 2,000 words.” and earned an average of 485 shares with a median of 180. On the other hand, posts of less than 1,000 words, were shared with an average of 348 with a median of 165.

The authors later concluded:

“Plenty of content marketers have convinced themselves that, since human beings now have an attention span less than that of goldfish (a complete myth by the way – there’s no scientific evidence for this whatsoever), they have to keep dumbing down content, making it ever-more digestible and snackable. Our study proves that this is a mistake.”

3. Movies and series are getting longer

In 2021, Netflix released all the episodes of the original series Squid Game at once and quickly racked up record viewership. Each episode’s length ranged from 32 to 63 minutes, and in a week, the series quickly rose to top the rankings of Netflix’s most viewed TV series ever.

In an age where 15-60-second video production is rife, people gave up sleep and paused their lives to binge-watch hours of video content

Squid Game is just one example of tonnes of video content people enjoy enough to break consumption records—and there are many others: Marvel and the Avengers franchise, The Batman, Synder Cut of Justice League, etc that prove there’s a tremendous hunger for long-form content. People stop everything to stream live events in their sitting rooms. There are several long videos on YouTube that drive millions of views in 2022.

Even TikTok and Instagram, initially driven by 15-second video formats, have had to increase their length restrictions to allow for longer form content.

4. Medium’s and Pubishers’ Research is a yes for long-form content

Medium’s own research says that 7-minute articles capture the most reading time; working out to approximately 1,700 words. This means that while people like to read shorter pieces, they’re also willing to continue reading longer pieces if they find them valuable.

In 2021, Publishers Weekly reported Combined print book and e-book sales hit 942 million units in 2020 a 9% increase over 2019 and the most unit sales recorded in a single year since 2004.

Newsletters like Second Guess one have devoted readers who continue to come back, read and share their favourite long-form stories. On ZIKOKO!, my personal finance interview series on how lovers manage money in their relationships have been widely shared and hit tens of thousands of pageviews week-on-week. These articles average 2,000 words—the best-performing article was 2,700 words long!

Not bad for Generation goldfish, eh?

Despite the noise that shorter content was the future of the internet, many are now beginning to realise that the “death" of long-form content has been greatly exaggerated. Digital marketers, SEO experts, and marketing professionals from all over the world are now realising that extended content is extremely valuable for both users and search engines alike.

Think about the last time you shared an article. I’d bet it was a well-researched piece of analysis, a credible personality’s fully fleshed-out industry opinion or a memorable story that struck a chord, rather than a blog post titled “5 ways to do this thing you want to do even better.”

When done right, carefully created, memorable, and relevant content with a unique twist can become a cornerstone of any content marketer or storyteller’s digital real estate.  Longer form content gives storytellers the room to express themselves more and develop deeper connections with their audience. With compelling content, a creator can drive traffic and support a virtuous circle of discovery, sharing, conversation, and conversion—qualities that are virtually impossible with a 30-second video or a 200-word listicle.

People will consume longer stories so long as the content catches and sustains their attention. Creators and marketing need to find a balance between short snappy stories and longer-form content to attract and retain new audiences. All lengths of content have their place and the ultimate sweet spot is where they are made to complement each other.

So, no, short, snappy content is not dying., not by a long shot. And anyone who says it is will be forced to eat their words in the long term.

See you next Thursday!