Before going to sleep, Marc G., a 31-year-old journalist, has the habit of putting on The Simpsons. He doesn't watch it on television, but with his mobile phone. Today he has the chapter in which Springfield establishes a monorail, one of the most iconic of cartoonist Matt Groening. He saw it several times when he was a child, but today he does it differently. And TikTok offers you the possibility of seeing it in a fragmented way. A chapter is divided into several parts and he is not required to watch it in one sitting. A trend that is increasingly common among millennials and generation Z.
"It's as simple as scrolling every time the video ends to be able to continue with the next chapter. Since at the end it suggests what you like, it's addictive," says this user. A habit that he shares with the Chilean engineer Diego Romero, who highlights above all "the immediacy" of the tool. "It reinforces the desire to watch an old movie or series, like House, which at the time could be seen on public television. I watch an episode on TikTok and, if I like it, I look for the entire series on the official platform that is available" . Other consumers, like Cristina. P, 28, use it to "kill time while I wait at the airport or the doctor."
Not so long ago, watching a new series or movie that wasn't on television or in a movie theater was something totally unthinkable. With the emergence of the pandemic and the rise of platforms, there is more and more content that we consume at home at the click of a button. Cinemas and the small screen are no longer those sacred temples of yesteryear. It is true that the public is recovering after the drought left by Covid, but we are still far from the pre-pandemic numbers.
Times are changing and the same thing happens with the way audiovisuals are consumed today. Young people opt for social networks to watch audiovisuals. If before YouTube was the ideal place to watch movies without having to pay, now TikTok, the seven-year-old Chinese vertical network, has taken the baton among the public. Mobile phones and tablets are the most convenient and used devices to view tapes in this way. And it doesn't stop gaining followers.
Barbie, this summer's box office phenomenon based on the famous Mattel doll, is an example of how a blockbuster can land sooner on social networks than on streaming. There are several accounts where you can watch the film in pieces - there are clips of up to 10 minutes - although most are older films, such as Corpse Bride and Edward Scissorhands, or television series, such as the popular Friends. This dynamic encourages the viewer to engage with other videos and enter a loop.
In sociological terms, the tendency to watch fragmented audiovisual content responds to "the fact that these young people were born in a time of frenetic pace and worry about the time they dedicate to a certain content, while avoiding longer works," he points out. the sociologist and professor at the UOC, Alba Colombo.
An opinion shared by director Pau Teixidor (Purgatorio, Cunetas), who will release his new film Alumbramiento next year: "On the one hand, this trend has to do with the speed with which we are used to consuming the famous content right now: every Maybe we need to see more and see it faster. However, I am sure that if young people are provided with high-quality productions, with interesting stimuli in the development of the story, as the Javis have done with the Messiah series, there are possibilities to enjoy them as they were intended.
One of the questions that immediately arises is to what extent uploading this content is a legal practice. "The platform itself in its community standards reminds users that creativity is TikTok's strong point, so you should only publish your own works," Elisenda Perelló, senior associate attorney for intellectual and industrial property, responds to La Vanguardia. by Roca Junyent. The lawyer also emphasizes that on TikTok "they do not allow content to be published that violates the intellectual property rights of other people. In addition, they warn that if they are made aware that a certain content constitutes a violation of this type, they will proceed to eliminate it , unless there is authorization from the owners of the rights to the audiovisual work, including the rights of the producer." Fragmenting the content "would also be an infringement of intellectual property rights."
Some of the users who upload content often distort the material with sound, music or watermarks, with the aim of going more unnoticed. Far from avoiding infringement, "a work would be transformed without the relevant authorization of its owner," recalls the lawyer. La Vanguardia has tried to communicate with some of them, but they have preferred to stay away.
What has expressed itself is the platform itself, which corroborates this dynamic: "On our website we inform about the Intellectual Property Policy and we make tools available to users so that they can report a copyright infringement" and if they do not want their works are available, they can request it. And they also offer "the possibility of authorizing TikTok to make your copyrighted works available on the platform."
Aware of this trend, some production companies and distributors opt for this platform as a way to relaunch classics. This is the case of Mean Girls, a 2004 film starring Lindsay Lohan that Paramount posted in its entirety (divided into 23 fragments) on October 3 on its TikTok profile to celebrate 'Mean Girls Day'. A remake of this youth comedy in a musical version is expected on January 12, 2024.
The new habit of consuming more and more fast content contrasts with the current trend in the cinematographic panorama of shooting longer films (up to three and a half hours) such as The Moon Killers, by Scorsese, Close Your Eyes, by Víctor Erice or Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan.
In practice, covering all the material and eliminating it is complicated, as recognized by Héctor Barrionuevo, content consultant on TikTok. "Different artificial intelligences are responsible for making a first screening to detect if someone has infringed copyright, but there should be many more people working to be able to cover all the contents, which are innumerable."
According to Barrionuevo, TikTok is succeeding now because "it is where the attention is, it is reigning at a cultural level and any trend that emerges starts here." And he cites its role as a prominent partner of the San Sebastián festival or sponsor of the Cannes festival, to bring more people closer to cinema. "There are many initiatives that adapt fragments of famous films like The Godfather to the vertical. I see it more as a possibility to reuse that material creatively and not so much as to monetize it," says the consultant, who assures that the average age of users on TikTok has increased in the age group of 25 to 34.
Figures that are reflected in the study The Power of TikTok, prepared by Kantar, which stipulates that 67% of the platform's global consumers are over 25 years old. It is clear that TikTok has become "a great speaker" for both advertising and consumption. An accessible and enjoyable dissemination tool for everyone who could invest more resources to fully apply their own rules. "You shouldn't upload other people's content, but you can, the thing is to see how long it will last," concludes the expert.
