10-minute video on TikTok from the Hilton group sees 86X more views than the average brand

On platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, where viewers scroll from one 20-30 second video to the next, creating a 10-minute video seems like a radical move.

Wanting to take on the challenge, Hilton Worldwide hotel group launched the campaign Hilton Stay for 10.

Two days before the launch, Paris Hilton teased fans and viewers worldwide about the upcoming video and asked viewers to join her for the launch. She hinted that top content creators were involved, and viewers would have a chance to win prizes. She built up anticipation in the lead-up to launch and utilized her fan base of 8M followers on TikTok to drive views and engagements to the video.¹ Paris Hilton's preview video generated over 5.3M views.²

@parishilton The countdown starts NOW! @hilton and I made a 10-minute TikTok that drops in ✨2 DAYS✨ Follow @Hilton to watch it on 2/15 to see me and lots of other creators. You can even enter for a chance to win up to 1M Hilton Honors Points, experiences, swag + more! Will you stay with us? #ThatsHot #HiltonForTheStay #ParisForTheSlay ♬ original sound - ParisHilton

On February 15, 2023, Hilton launched the video itself through in-feed video ads and published the video to its TikTok account @hilton. If the question this campaign raised was what type of content could sustain a short-format audience for a prolonged period, the answer was: highly interactive, with prize draws and a celebrity factor. The play on “what is an ad, what is content” and “will TikTok viewers tolerate “ads” in their feed”, was also handled with levity in a way that felt very native to the platform.

At the start of the video, Paris Hilton challenged viewers to watch the ad for the full 10 minutes. She promised they would be eligible to win Hilton Honors Points, experiences, swags, and more if they stayed for the whole duration...

The Take Outs

As average attention spans on social media platforms appear to dwindle (time per visit went from 4 mins to 2 mins from Jan 2020-Jan 2023)³, Hilton bucked the trend, by skillfully incorporating popular TikTok trends and witty jabs at the viewer, such as acknowledging their interest in reward points and prizes. More pointedly it tackled the key challenge head on- the unwillingness many have to commit to a long viewing duration. A 10-minute video? Challenge accepted.

The mash-up of different trending content in the post, such as food commentary and hacks, and spotlighting creators like Chris Olsen and Bomanizer, made it feel as though the viewer was watching multiple videos over the course of 10 minutes versus one. The strength of this video was that it mimicked the way TikTok users are viewing content on the platform - minus the scrolling. It was a scroll free journey through a quick succession of different pieces of content weaved together. For the scroll weary it was an effort free experience.

As of March 23, 2023, the video amassed 35.6M views and 517K likes, with multiple comments praising the cleverness of the advertisement and how engaging it was.⁴

Of the top 5,000 TikToks from US brands so far this year, only 1% reached the numbers of views Hilton drove. The video also drove 86X more views compared to the average video views this quarter across all US brands on TikTok and drove over 877X more views compared to the average video views across all US brands within the Travel & Leisure- Hotel & Resorts category.⁵

@hilton Unexpected & amazing things can happen when you stay, and we want you to stay with us for 10 minutes. Yup, we made a 10-minute TikTok AND we're giving away 10M Hilton Honors Points + more. #HiltonStayFor10 #HiltonForTheStay ♬ Hilton's 10-Minute Stay - Hilton

Proving yet again that successful social content flows through to brand properties, as seen on our recent post covering a beauty brand, the HiltonHonors.com site saw over 2.1M unique visitors in the month of Feb 2023, up +15% year-over-year⁶ and we will continue to monitor the impact for March traffic visitation, as the virality of this video continues to grow.

While the common wisdom is that viewers on platforms famous for short-form video, like TikTok, are scrolling at speed and advertisers have only seconds to capture their attention, Hilton's successful 10-minute video campaign offers a valuable lesson for advertisers.

It demonstrates that long-form content can work well with any audience, provided it feels organic, authentic, and respectful of the kind of content experience users expect from the platform they are on. In that sense, the prerequisite to generating strong engagement, regardless of the format, platform or duration, has not changed one bit – this also gives additional context to some of TikTok's 2022 commentary focusing on being an "entertainment platform".⁷

If you’re interested in learning more about best practices for your video content or the latest news in what’s trending in your vertical, please get in touch!

Sources:

1. Comscore Social Powered by Shareablee, Data Explorer, Metrics & Trends, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Feb 1, 2023- Feb 28, 2023
2. Comscore Social Powered by Shareablee, Content Pulse, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, content mentioning “Hiltonstayfor10” or “Hilton Stay For 10” or “Hiltonforthestay”. Feb 1, 2023- Mar 19,2023
3. Comscore, MMX, Media Trend, Multi-platform, Total Audience 18+, Social Networking Rollup, Jan 2020-Jan 2023
4. Views and engagements data reflects total lifetime numbers on the video. Data is sourced from the TikTok App
5. Comscore Social Powered by Shareablee, Data Explorer, Metrics & Trends, US*All, US** Travel & Leisure- Hotel & Resorts, TikTok, Jan 1, 2023- Mar 22, 2023
6. Comscore, MMX, Media Trend, Multi-platform, Total Audience 18+, Hiltonhonors.com, Jan 2022-Feb 2023
7. Honigman, Brian. “How TikTok isn’t a social media platform, according to TikTok”. Fast Company. 29 April 2022. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/90746981/tiktok-social-video