How creator culture inspired the rise of short-form content in OTT

If you think back even five or six years, the streaming world felt almost set in stone. Platforms were doubling down on long-form storytelling, slick originals, multi-season arcs, and budgets that sometimes rivalled those of films. And viewers were committed. We were bingeing for hours without hesitation.

But our industry has a funny way of evolving sideways.

And that shift came from an entirely different medium. Creators began reshaping audience behaviour from the ground up, in ways traditional media didn’t anticipate. They weren’t trying to compete with OTT platforms, nor were they following legacy content playbooks. They were simply responding to shifting human behaviour, our shrinking attention spans, our appetite for authenticity, and our preference for content that feels immediate. What started as spontaneous 15-second clips and handheld storytelling became a global force strong enough to influence the strategies of billion-dollar streaming platforms.

Today, short-form is at the heart of content consumption. And its rise has been deeply intertwined with creator culture.

Creator culture: The engine behind a new trust economy

If there’s one factor that explains why creators have shaped consumption so dramatically, it’s trust.

Industry numbers put the creator economy at $250 billion, but I find a different statistic more telling: 61% of consumers trust creators, compared to just 38% who trust branded content. That’s not a marginal gap; it’s an entirely different kind of relationship that has redefined the rules of attention.

Creators built this trust by doing something traditional entertainment rarely could:

• They showed up consistently.

• They spoke directly, without a script.

• They let their real lives and journeys become the story.

The India Digital Landscape 2025 report echoes this as well, highlighting that influencer-led videos are the most effective format for driving awareness in India, often outperforming ads and brand films in upper-funnel impact. Trust has become the scarcest currency, and creators have become the most credible narrators. This shift undoubtedly shaped what audiences expect from all content, including OTT.

Why younger audiences drifted toward short-form first

One of the most significant behavioural insights is that nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials now prefer creator-driven short-form feeds over streaming platforms. Ironically, these are the same generations paying for the most OTT subscriptions.

I don’t think this is a random contradiction. The disconnect, I believe, lies in the user experience itself. Younger audiences have grown up in ecosystems where content finds them, not the other way around. Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and other platforms operate on deeply personalised feeds informed by thousands of micro-interactions. OTT, by comparison, can feel almost analog, cluttered thumbnails, endless scrolling, and decision fatigue. Their world moves at swipe speed, meaning short form inherently feels like home, it’s personalised, effortless, and almost always immediate.  

Creators understood this instinctively long before OTT platforms reacted. The first few seconds decide everything, and they built formats that embraced speed without sacrificing storytelling.

The OTT pivot: When short-form became strategic 

For a while, OTT platforms watched the short-form boom from a distance. But as the numbers grew louder, and the watchtime patterns shifted, a clear realisation hit the industry: audiences weren’t simply experimenting with short-form, they were redefining entertainment through it.

What came next was a series of pivotal moves:

• Netflix introduced “Fast Laughs,” turning its catalog into snackable clips
  

• Amazon MiniTV leaned into creator-first short series
  

• Disney+ experimented with micro-content formats
  
  

These shifts were structural corrections, not side projects. A recognition that OTT platforms needed to participate in the cultural formats that creators had already perfected.

Short-form became a gateway: viewers discovered genres, characters, and moods through 30–60 second clips before committing to a full episode. It became the new discovery architecture. And nowhere has this convergence been more accelerated than in India. 

India: A mobile-first market tailor-made for short-form + OTT synergy

India’s digital maturity has always followed a mobile-first, creator-led trajectory, and our India Digital Landscape 2025 report underlines why the country became a magnet for short-form innovation:

1. Mobile as the primary screen 

Mass smartphone adoption and rising digital penetration mean vertical video isn’t a trend in India, but the default mode of entertainment.

2. Creator-led discovery as primary engine of awareness 

Influencer-led videos consistently outperform all other formats, showing how creator culture impacts both awareness and consideration. 

3. Fragmented attention windows dominate consumption

Engagement peaks during post-work hours (5–8 PM) and during short breaks, aligning perfectly with bite-sized formats designed for quick consumption.

4. Higher engagement for immersive short formats

In-game ads, a cousin of short-form content, capture 43% user attention, showing how short bursts of media can outperform traditional placements.

Against this backdrop, it’s no surprise that India is experiencing a surge of short dramas, creator-led or platform-funded vertical mini-series, with 30–90 second episodes. They’re fast, addictive, emotionally satisfying, and built for mobile behaviour patterns.

OTT platforms in India are now commissioning creators directly, adapting interfaces for vertical video, and building pipelines for short-form content that acts as both a product and a discovery layer.

Where creators need OTT, and OTT needs creators

Despite their reach, creators face a monetisation challenge. Virality doesn’t guarantee sustainable income.

OTT platforms, on the other hand, have:

• Subscription revenue

• Premium ad inventory

• Established monetisation systems

But they lack what creators have naturally: cultural relevance, credibility, and built-in communities.

This sets the stage for perhaps the most powerful synergy of the decade. Creators bring engagement; OTT platforms bring economics. Together, they reimagine distribution, monetisation, and even content development.

We’ve seen this behavioural pattern consistently across Asia-Pacific. Short-form has become the top end of the funnel, shaping how people discover, evaluate, and eventually commit to long-form content.

The road ahead: What the future of OTT will look like

We’re moving toward an entertainment model where formats don’t compete; they coexist and amplify each other. A few emerging truths are becoming hard to ignore, leading to inevitable trends:

• Short-form will be the default discovery layer for every major OTT platform
  

• Creators will be commissioned like independent studios, bringing their audiences with them
  

• Vertical video will influence narrative design, not just marketing cuts
  

• AI will personalise OTT feeds (a few of which already do) using behavioural signals from short-form
  

• Commerce will weave into entertainment, from shoppable scenes to interactive overlays

Creator culture didn’t transform OTT because creators made short videos. It transformed OTT because creators understood, far earlier than the rest of us, that audiences crave authenticity, immediacy, and participation.

Short-form content isn’t an alternative to long-form. It’s the connective tissue that guides discovery, deepens engagement, and accelerates monetisation.

OTT platforms that embrace this shift won’t just stay relevant, they’ll define what the next era of entertainment looks like, especially in markets as dynamic and mobile-native as India. 

This article is penned by  Maha Mahdy, Business Head - Content, Creator & IM Businesses, MENA/India/Emerging Markets, AnyMind Group

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.