Time is money. That age-old aphorism is particularly true on TikTok, where holding onto viewers for even a single second longer can translate into greater algorithmic reach and, thus, higher earning potential.
It makes sense, then, that a content style has emerged that favors epic sagas broken down into shorter clips. If Homer were a TikTok influencer, Odysseus’ encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops would cut just before our hero blinds the monster. For that, you’d have to watch the next video. And the next, and the next.
Creators have perfected the craft of offering just enough plot to keep viewers hooked and scrolling to find out what happens next. In February, Tareasa Johnson, better known as Reesa Teesa, captivated millions with a series entitled “Who TF Did I Marry?!?” Her creation, which comprised more than 50 videos, unspooled the many apparent fabrications of Ms. Johnson’s ex-partner, Legion, who Ms. Johnson said had lied to her about his career, family and wealth.
Scrolling through her account, the videos blur together into a grid of images of Ms. Johnson as she speaks directly to the camera in clips totaling over six hours of watch time. The clips, easily digestible dopamine hits, seemed to scratch a particular cultural itch in an era when attention spans are often short.
In the months since, a number of influencers and content creators have taken their cues from Ms. Johnson, stylizing their personal stories into multipart narratives. Recently, Brooke Schofield, the content creator who hosts the podcast “Cancelled” with Tana Mongeau, posted a series in which she accused an ex-boyfriend of telling a number of falsehoods during their brief relationship. Ms. Schofield’s former paramour, the musician Clinton Kane (best known for his song “Chicken Tendies”) has since rebutted with his own lengthy series of video clips. His series is titled “Who Did I Date Not Marry,” in a nod to Ms. Johnson’s opus.
Inspired by Ms. Schofield, the content creator Chris Olsen scored millions of views across a 19-part series about a negative experience in a past relationship. Haley Kalil, known online as @haleyybaylee, posted a similarly dramatic tell-all about an ex-boyfriend she claimed was a billionaire. (She has since deleted the videos and faced criticism online for the series, which some users believe she fabricated. Ms. Kalil did not respond to a request for comment.)
On social media, where fact-checking is often second to entertaining, fantastic and wild stories have become the coin of the realm. But telling stories in installments is a — pardon the pun — storied tradition. The modern-day iterations hearken back to the age of serialized fiction published in newspapers and pamphlets. Readers reportedly stormed the docks in New York City in 1841 when the final installment of “The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens arrived from across the pond. (Spoiler alert: The ending wasn’t a happy one for the story’s protagonist, Little Nell Trent.)
On YouTube, extra-long videos are known as storytimes, a format popularized largely as a result of the platform’s monetization structure. (The longer the video, the more ads that could be played during said video.) A Twitter thread from 2015 about a road trip to Florida was eventually adapted into the feature film “Zola,” directed by Janicza Bravo. In the 2010s, the self-publishing platform Wattpad offered amateur writers a space to tell tales in installments. (Some of Wattpad’s biggest success stories even got the Hollywood treatment; among them, One Direction fan fiction by Anna Todd was adapted into five Netflix movies.)
With each new platform, users reinvent the same storytelling style, often with an eye toward potential profits. The state of the attention economy means every millisecond counts. TikTok creators who meet certain criteria — like age and minimum follower count — are eligible to earn commission from the platform’s creator rewards program. And even for those creators whose videos are not eligible for monetization, getting more viewers is still a good thing: Each view increases the chance that the platform’s opaque and powerful algorithm will prioritize their content.
Your attention time has value, and these creators know it.
