Mobile web contents are getting ever shorter

YouTube on April 26 released a six-second ad format called "Bumper" that doesn't allow skipping and people have to watch it for six seconds. These ads are shorter than existing ads, which ad producers call "the beauty of 15 seconds," but face new tasks of having to make more attractive ads. YouTube Product Manager Zach Lupei said Bumper is an idealistic ad format optimized for the mobile environment where users consume short length content.

Web dramas have become the icon of "snack culture" as they shortened sixty-minute TV dramas into 10 minutes. Last year, 2- to 4-minute ultra-short web dramas made by web content producer "72 Seconds TV" gained huge popularity. Short dialogues that resemble a rap and episodes that have clear and well-organized story were one of the merits of this web drama.

"We have linked music video format to cater to mobile device users who favor short length content," an official of 72 Seconds TV said.

"These ultra-short web dramas are really good," an office worker who enjoys web dramas said. "I can watch web dramas without being interfered by phone calls, text messages and emails."

Pharmacist Goh Toi-gyeong has become popular in social media through word of mouth exposure for his 1:30 minute comic videos on Facebook. The "three line summary," which had been regarded a culture in some communities when posting long stories, have become a sort of an etiquette.

Businesses are also competing to search for a "golden time," or the video streaming length that users favor the most. YouTube has released an analysis that many viewers quit watching a video longer than four minutes when a minute passes. Facebook has also released its study results that popular video's average viewing time is around 1 minute and 30 seconds. Instagram in March obligated the length of user created videos from least 15 seconds to at least one minute.

"With people ever more living in a mobile environment, their thinking time and language are shortening," said Bae Yeong, professor of information sociology at Soongsil University. "Such extreme trend in contents will continue."