People want quick information with entertainment. A study found that 57% of Gen Z prefers short videos for product research. Now, if you want to go viral, short-form content is the key to the jackpot. In India, the short-form video market engages approximately 250 million monthly users. The rise of short-form video content in 2025 is accounting for 82% of all internet traffic.
What are short form videos?
Short-form video content refers to videos ranging from 5 to 59 seconds in length. It's rapidly gaining popularity as it excites audiences, is time-efficient, and offers a feel-good viewing experience.
One great example of how short-form video content can skyrocket brand visibility is Droom.
Droom, India’s pioneering online automobile marketplace, embraced short-form video content as a key strategy to boost engagement and reach. They created relatable, humorous content produced by their own employees—what we can call EGC (Employee-Generated Content)—featuring scenarios like manager-client relationships, meeting targets, and lighthearted workplace moments among colleagues.
This approach helped Droom connect with a broad audience, significantly increasing engagement and content shareability, and contributed to a rapid growth in their follower base.
Their static posts on Instagram usually receive an average of 30 to 50 likes, with little to no shares or comments. However, when they post Instagram Reels, the content gets 100 times more likes, views, and shares. That’s clear proof of how popular short-form content has become on social media. You can check the difference in the image below.
Why is short-form video so popular?
When we talk about the rise of short-form video content in 2025, it’s also important to understand why users are consuming more of it on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and even LinkedIn, where video content is gaining popularity.
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Users can consume short-form videos easily.
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They find Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts less time-consuming.
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Users feel they can quickly gain knowledge or be entertained.
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With shorter attention spans, users find short videos more exciting and less boring.
As stated in a Forbes article: "A significant 91% of Instagram users watch videos on the platform weekly."
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Short-form videos drive higher engagement and are easily shareable.
A study shows: "Short-form videos receive 2.5 times more engagement than long-form videos."
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They are easy to create and cost-effective, which boosts the creator economy.
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Another key reason for the rise of short-form video content in 2025 is that 85% of marketers believe it is the most effective format for high engagement and virality on social platforms.
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Our brain is also playing a huge role in making short-form videos popular. Without even realizing it, we experience dopamine hits — the brain's reward system — every time we watch short-form videos. This is another key reason why 73% of consumers use short-form videos when searching for new products or services. These videos are designed to trigger dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter. As a result, short-form videos continue to rise in popularity.
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Did you know the activation of the DMN (Default Mode Network) is another reason behind the rise of short-form video content?
Yes, you heard it right — our human brains constantly crave novelty. Platforms like Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, and YouTube Shorts provide an endless scroll of unique, bite-sized content that keeps our Default Mode Network stimulated, making short-form videos irresistibly engaging.
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Not only are 29.18% of marketers identifying short-form video as the most used format, but 21.02% also cite it as delivering the highest ROI. In our recent survey on influencer marketing, 62% of respondents stated that short-form video content performs best for brand collaborations.
CONCLUSION
So, if you want to go viral in the era of digital marketing, choosing the right content format for promoting your brand and collaborations on social media platforms is crucial. When it comes to brand promotion in India in 2025, a LinkedIn report from November 2024 revealed that 66% of B2B buyers in India consider video content instrumental in informing their purchasing decisions. Additionally, the short-form video market in India is projected to reach $12 billion by 2030.
It's high time to create content in the right format for higher engagement, reach, and virality.
A report by ShareChat and Moj also indicated that nearly 47% of Indian shoppers are influenced by short-form videos when making purchasing decisions.
If you're looking to choose the right content format for influencer marketing campaigns, Sociopuff is a well-known influencer marketing agency that can help you lead the way.It’s your time to go viral in 2025.
