Is short-form video content effective for corporate learning solutions?

What do I mean by ‘short-form video content’?

I’m sure most people by now are very aware of the short-form video content that has almost taken over social media platforms. These short, 10-30 second videos cover almost any topic you can imagine and are highly addictive. To confirm a couple of points first, this article is not intended for giving my opinion on the use of the format for entertainment purposes, or for going into detail about why this format is so addictive, especially for younger audiences. Other places have gone into that in far more detail than I can.

I only intend on commenting on the rising trend of learning & development practitioners to try to utilise this format in a corporate learning environment.

Where does this question come from?

The trigger that convinced me to put my thoughts into words was a post I recently saw on LinkedIn making a very bold statement. I will paraphrase slightly, but the message remains accurate: "If short-form video content can successfully capture and deliver a complex meal recipe in 20-30 seconds, and our target audience is likely to consume this, then there is no reason why the learning solutions we create shouldn't be in the same format and be as effective."

This isn't an isolated opinion. Over the past few years (as of 2025), I have noticed a growing trend of people insisting that L&D should jump on the bandwagon of short-form content. "This is what our learners are now used to.", "People's attention spans are shrinking and our content should reflect this". I'm sure you've noticed it.

I was in a position where an executive requested that an L&D team I was a part of insisted we should utilise this format in our work. No justification. No mention that they had spoken to the end customers and they had indicated it would be useful. No clarity on whether this should be across the board, or for specific projects. They had likely heard the buzz around short-form content and assumed we should follow. And because it was an executive who made the request, a large number of our man-hours were put to creating this content. In my opinion, a waste of both time and money.

Arguing that because meal recipes (and many other topics) are found in 20 second short videos, then we should adjust our learning solutions to match that, is dangerous advice for people in our 

industry prone to jumping on trends. 

What is the data behind short-form video content?

Let’s take a moment to look at some analytics on short-form video consumption behaviours.

Data from Firework and Vindico suggest that the average time people are watching short-form content across platforms like TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram is between 40-80minutes per day, with anywhere from 150-300 (or higher) individual videos per day.

Anecdotally, I’m sure many people would notice that among some people this number is likely much higher.

Why do I think this is a bad format for a learning solution?

As mentioned above, the average person watches a vast number of these videos per day or per week. Think back to the last couple of weeks, have you retained much of the information you consumed in them? If you watched an instructional video mixed in there, could you repeat the steps? Retention and relevance are essential for a learning solution to be effective.

Let’s go back to the meal recipe example. The claim was that if a meal recipe could be captured and delivered in a 20-30 second short, then other topics in the corporate world should follow suit. While I can see that this format may produce a satisfying, entertaining, video (which there are some fantastic meal recipe short videos out there) could you honestly say that after watching that video once, you could then go away and recreate that recipe, without any further watches,  information, or resources?

I find it hard to believe that anybody could without any extra effort on the learners part, whether that is multiple re-watches to write down the steps, looking in the comments for guidance, or perhaps in the video description. This shows that the video format itself is an ineffective delivery method to actual learning.

In my experience, the topics I have created learning solutions for are rarely so simple that they can be fully delivered in a 20-30 second format, whether video or otherwise. With any skill or process there is nuance involved. Things rarely go exactly the way they are supposed to go. Processes go wrong. Errors occur in systems. Events happen in different orders. These nuances need to be outlined and explained in an effective learning solution, or the learner is not really being prepared for the realities of the event. Only an idealised, best-case scenario version of it. 

Imagine you create a short video of the steps involved in a particular process. You may be able to capture the full process in 20-30 seconds, but will you also be able to cover what to do when common errors occur? What the learner needs to resolve them? Who needs to be involved? If the process involves a customer, what if the customer doesn’t have the information you ask for straight away? Are there work arounds you can utilise? Processes are rarely linear with no variables. Learners need to be prepared for these variables.

Where do I think it can be utilised effectively?

Having said all of this, I do think this format can have its place in what we do. There is vast amounts of data showing that short-form video content is king for capturing attention, and delivering value fast. 

A place learning & development is notoriously lax in, is marketing our work. We spend a lot of time creating the perfect solution, release it… and nothing. If people don’t know about the learning that is available to them, what value it can provide them, and why they should complete it, it will most likely never get the eyeballs you are hoping for.

Another potential joint purpose for short-form content is in summaries and hooks. If you are running a larger learning intervention with multiple parts, a series of well produced summaries may help learners who take breaks between learnings.