Teesa's success is a lesson in how to strategise TikTok's imminent move towards long-form content as the platform battles with rivals YouTube and Netflix
Her online odyssey detailing an ill-fated love affair has blown up the internet – and Reesa Teesa’s story isn’t over yet. The Atlanta-based creator behind the super-viral series, Who TF Did I Marry, which dissected Teesa’s turbulent marriage to someone she deems a “pathological liar” has amassed more than 200 million views since the first instalment dropped on February 14 and won her more than two million new followers. The most compelling part? The story was told in 52 separate posts, most of which were ten minutes long, meaning users must spend almost eight hours listening to Teesa’s story in its entirety.
How did it break the TikTok mould? Well, perhaps it didn’t. TikTok announced a push towards more long-form content last year, promising more views and financial incentives for creators posting videos over one minute long (reaching up to ten minutes), and introducing a new landscape function. The announcement was, inevitably, met with some resistance – TikTok’s restless, fast-paced interface was once its draw.
“When I go on TikTok, I want to be served videos that are quick,” Noah Jennings, a TikTok creator with more than one million followers, told the Washington Post recently. “I can get my entertainment and brain-rot dosage and move to the next thing. TikTok is losing sight of what made them unique, trying to become everything and I think it’s just going to implode.”
According to TikTok, some elements seem to be working. Way before Reesa Teesa captivated the world with her prodigious saga, in October 2023 the platform reported compelling long-form growth insights at a creator event. In the six months leading up to the event, they said, creators who tried long-form content – videos longer than one minute – gained a fivefold increase in followers. Across TikTok as a whole, users now spend half their time watching videos exceeding the original 60-second limit. The platform, which has grown at an unprecedented rate, is putting together a strong case for rivalling YouTube and even Netflix, its main targets.
Teesa, who is using a pseudonym for the series, stood out for a number of factors – unsurprisingly, the emotional narrative and, much like the ongoing Ultimate World Cruise drama TikTok saga, soap-opera-style storytelling captivated viewers early on and retained attention. It was also appropriately unpolished with Teesa appearing talking to camera in her car, relaxed and bare-faced at home after work; consistently positioned as though speaking to (two million) friends on FaceTime. But what elevated her series was diversifying how we consume TikTok content. Teesa intentionally structured her story into mini-chapters which were compiled into a playlist.
“This series Who TF Did I Marry is not something you have to sit down and watch,” Teesa explains in a ‘public service announcement’ in part 51. “I did it the way I did it so that you can actually listen to it as an audiobook, chapter by chapter, in order.” In fact, the series saw viewers watching on larger screens and even holding watching parties for eagerly-anticipated instalments, which she cleverly teased at the end of most posts.
Smart brands were of course first to wade into the comments section – now a comfortable way for brands to engage with viral posts – to offer free products related to her story, riding a solid wave of support and gaining relevance, salience and recognition from a powerful audience. After Teesa posted “big news”, that she was going on her dream trip to London and Paris, something she spoke about several times in her series, for example Delta Airlines were quick to offer free flights. They are now the top comment on a post with more than one million views.
Obvious? Maybe, but not to be underestimated. TikTok’s comment section is now a powerful mediator for a Gen Z audience with a razor-sharp awareness of marketing, and commenters often form a tight alliance. BMW almost stepped into the firing line soon after the series dropped, with users calling for the brand to be cancelled if they didn’t respond to Teesa’s story. Of course, they made it right and won back the support of the masses, even joking that their dark blue BMW X5 with cognac interior, which starred in the story, could be renamed the Reesa Teesa. Those who weren’t on the pulse missed out, and were noticed by Teesa’s audience.
The overarching story – Teesa’s incredibly rough 18 months of marriage aside – is that while marketing short-form meme culture isn’t going anywhere fast, a new way to tell brand stories might just be beginning to emerge. Long-form provides a broader space for more detail, niche narratives and higher quality content, rubbing against the warmth of TikTok’s traditionally low-fi aesthetic. While short-form is easier to consume, says the Drum, long-form storytelling drives higher conversion rates and develops a strong connection between brand and consumer.
There are no guarantees of user-engagement, but Reesa Teesa’s unique creation feels like a pivotal point and maybe even a brand new direction for the app. Now all we have to do is find the right story to tell – hopefully one considerably less traumatic.