Quickplay’s new AI tool aims to help streamers capitalize on short-form content demand, engagement

Gen Z consumers are watching gobs of short-form video on platforms including YouTube and TikTok, a dynamic isn’t likely to change anytime soon with the emergence of generative AI creator tools.

At CES in Las Vegas this week, Toronto-based video tech company Quickplay is following this wave and hoping to help major streamers get in on the action and better compete by creating and incorporating short-form video content into their own platforms. The company introduced its own short-form tool for operators and streaming providers, appropriately named “Shorts,” (although not to be confused with YouTube’s short-form video effort by the same name) that uses AI to help them create and syndicate vertical short-form content from live and VOD long-form content assets, while urging on a potential client base of big media companies and major streaming platforms to integrate short-form video into their content mixes.

Citing data from GenZ Insights LLC, Quickplay said that 81% of Gen Z consumers watch video in either vertical or portrait format weekly, and 79% of those consumers claim the addition of a shorts feature on premium streaming services, like Max or Disney+ for example, would increase their weekly streamer app usage.  

According to Paul Pastor, co-founder and chief business officer for Quickplay, the big media conglomerates, as well as the major streaming companies and sports rights holders, need to “rapidly invest” in content and product strategy that targets demand for short-form content, or risk losing engagement from younger consumers.

Pastor, in a guest blog column, recommended a free, ungated destination within these company’s streaming apps that would serve as a “front porch” to drive awareness and interest in actual subscriptions, as well as monetization possibilities via “Shopify-like” experiences.

Enter the Quickplay Shorts creator and syndicator tool, which is available via AWS and Google Cloud marketplaces. Quickplay said the tool is built to accelerate streaming companies’ roadmaps to delivering short-form content experiences. Through generative AI, Shorts enables OTT providers to identify, create and distribute “bite-sized,” vertical-format content derived from traditional-format live streams and VOD content. For example, using genAI, it can create clips of key moments in content based on elements like moods, topics, or events – such as a short-form clip of all birdie putts from a live golf event or homeruns during a baseball game.

The platform includes plug-in extensions to existing AV pipelines and workflows, with custom iterations built for different types of content (sports vs. entertainment, for example). The tool also includes automated conversion of aspect ratios to vertical format, as well as syndication features to various owned, third-party and social video platforms.

The Shorts Frontend Plug-In, meanwhile, is designed to create a “social-like” consumer experience — including a vertical infinite scroll, and the ability to like, comment and repost — that can be easily integrated into existing consumer streaming apps. The Frontend plug-in is initially available as a mobile-only offering, but Quickplay expressed plans to expand it to the connected TV realm in the second quarter.

“Quickplay Shorts brings to market a solution that Tier 1 operators and streamers can quickly implement to captivate this evolving audience, while driving strategic promotion of long-form content and subscriptions, and unlocking new revenue streams within their ecosystems,” Pastor added.

Competing with genAI creator content

A research note released by the equity analysts of Lightshed Partners last month adds credibility to Pastor’s pitch.

“The lines between professional/premium video content and user-generated content (UGC) will blur rapidly starting in 2025,” Lightshed predicted. “GenAI video creation tools will enable consumers all around the world to create far higher quality content than ever before, without the need for any video creation skills beyond their imagination.”

Lightshed specifically suggested that OpenAI’s release of Sora and Google’s debut of Veo 2, perhaps the two most widely recognized AI shorts creator tools right now, will drive this trend, which the firm said will put competitive pressure on distributors of premium video streaming content.

“While the length of GenAI-created video is still quite short (sub 1 minute today, but we suspect 3-5 minutes will be possible next year), we expect this content will start to flood mobile vertical video platforms such as TikTok, Reels, Shorts and Spotlight over the next 12-24 months. More high-quality content will add to the time-spent pressure facing professional/premium video destinations,” Lightshed noted.