TED App Introduces Short-Form Video Feature Amid TikTok Potential Ban

With TikTok still facing the opportunity of a ban in the U.S., the popularity of short-form video content continues to develop.

The latest company to enter this area is TED, the non-profit great recognized for its TED Talks providing outstanding figures like invoice Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the late Pope Francis.

On Wednesday, the business enterprise announced its new short-form video feature, aptly named “TED Shorts.” The characteristic has step by step rolled out to customers because the beginning of can also.Available on both iOS and Android gadgets, TED Shorts can be located inside the middle of the navigation bar.

By tapping the button, users are taken to a swipeable vertical feed proposing short snippets of TED Talks and different unique content. users can like films, leave remarks, and proportion with friends. TED teamed up with Genuin, a no-code platform for generative video reviews, to power the TikTok-like feature. As Genuin explained to TechCrunch, TED’s new feed will be customized with AI, curating a ramification of motion pictures based totally on elements like private pursuits, trending subjects, and different indicators to floor the maximum applicable content for each viewer.

TED Shorts is one of the greater extraordinary additions to the app, which hasn’t seen a enormous replace in its 15-yr records.

On account that its release in 2010, the app has broadly speaking served as a destination for customers to get entry to TED Talks and different content through their mobile gadgets, including instructional animations and 26 podcasts spanning diverse subjects like business, weather, and fitness. The brand new feature gives a manner for users to discover highlights in their favorite audio system earlier than committing to a full-period video.

This is additionally the primary time customers can have interaction with each other within the TED app, fostering a feel of community which can have been previously missing.

TED already has a good sized following on YouTube (26.1 million), TikTok (2.8 million), Instagram (8.1 million), and different social media channels, indicating a demand for brief video content. The launch of TED Shorts comes at a crucial time as the app seeks to reinforce its growth.

Head of Product Tricia Maia tells TechCrunch that the app had been deprioritized “for numerous years,” which impacted its month-to-month lively users and annual increase metrics. consistent with Appfigures, the app was downloaded 1 million instances in 2024, a 17% decline compared to at least one.2 million installs in 2023. To date, the company boasts greater than one hundred million app downloads globally.

TED joins a developing variety of companies adopting quick-form video content as systems compete for users’ attention. in advance this month, Netflix discovered that it’s experimenting with a brief video feed for its mobile app. In the meantime, TikTok faces a ability ban in mid-June, even though President Trump plans to extend the cut-off date for a 3rd time as deal negotiations continue.

Need to U.S. users lose get entry to to TikTok, they could are seeking for alternative platforms, and TED hopes they’ll flip to what it believes is higher-satisfactory content material compared to what’s determined on different apps.

“In an era of fragmented attention, people are actively seeking more thoughtful, less overwhelming ways to connect with new ideas, and with each other,” Maia said. “[TED Shorts] is our antidote to set of rules fatigue and doom-scrolling low-fine content material.”

The organization plans to preserve evolving TED Shorts over the years to fulfill user needs even as also exploring new approaches to enhance network constructing.

Maia introduced, “We’ll explore ways to add new community features, and expand community-driven features to other TED platforms, like our website … this could expand beyond video and mobile to a cross-platform community engagement experience where our audience won’t just watch videos, but can participate in truly personalized, topic-driven digital communities on a global scale.”

US TikTok ban — and what is at stake?

The clock is ticking on social media massive TikTok, which faces a national ban inside the united states except its determine corporation, ByteDance, sells it by January 19.

Social media theorist Clay Shirky unpacks why america is trying to ban TikTok, what it approach for the app’s users and creators and the consequences for national safety, freedom of speech, US-China relations and greater. (This interview, hosted by using TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers, turned into recorded on January 8, 2025.)