Short-form Content Startups Offering 'Compensation' Rise

DotSlashDash Over 1 Million Won Reward Cases Emerging
Short-Form Platforms in Travel and Entertainment Also Popular

Startups are gaining attention in the 'short-form' market. Short-form, which refers to short-length video content, has become a lifestyle for the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) as global tech companies’ services like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts lead the market. In this market, domestic startups are attracting users with distinctive services in daily life, travel, entertainment, and more. A notable feature is their active efforts to secure users by establishing reward systems for high-quality content.

The short-form platform DotSlashDash announced on the 24th that as of last month, it recorded 250,000 cumulative short-form videos, 300,000 downloads, and 150,000 cumulative subscribers. Founded in 2021 by CEO Changwoo Lee, who led 29CM and 10x10 (Tenbyten), this startup combines social networking services (SNS) and commerce using short-form videos. Individuals can record short daily videos, and companies can use the content needed for marketing. When a video taken by an individual is selected for a brand’s advertising campaign, the creator receives a reward. DotSlashDash explained that since introducing the reward system in September, the short-form platform has become more active, with cases where one person has accumulated rewards exceeding 1 million KRW. In a recent marketing campaign conducted by the cosmetics brand Innisfree within the DotSlashDash app, over 2,300 short-form videos were uploaded, resulting in 40 million KRW in rewards paid out, with one person receiving 4 million KRW.

Changwoo Lee, CEO of DotSlashDash

Tripbitoz, a short-form-based accommodation booking travel platform, also returns a portion of the transaction amount as rewards when users share travel videos they personally recorded. On the Tripbitoz app, users can explore travel destinations or book preferred accommodations in real time through these short-form video reviews. The effectiveness of short-form content is evident. Comparing data from the first and second quarters, total video watch time increased about 15 times, and watch time for videos featuring people increased about 20 times. Short-form videos serve not only as content but also as data. They provide specific insights into places or moments travelers want to remember. Tripbitoz explained that based on video data, they created a virtuous cycle to improve service quality, achieving steady growth in hotel bookings and transaction amounts even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sellerbee Korea’s short-form platform 'Sellerbee' officially launched the 'Watch To Earn' program last year. Not only creators but all Sellerbee users earn points based on activities such as logging in, watching, and reacting. Users can enjoy short-form content according to their preferences and use the points earned to trade NFT content or exchange virtual currency. Sellerbee is leveraging this reward program to expand as a global platform. The Asian version, released in India and the Philippines, surpassed 1 million Google downloads within a month and a half, reaching 10 million downloads last month. The total global downloads amount to 6 million.

An industry insider said, "The rise of reward-based short-form platforms in Korea is linked to companies achieving marketing effects by utilizing short-form content," adding, "In the future, content created in collaboration with influencers and ordinary people will become the trend over company-produced short-form advertisements."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.