How AI is Driving Vertical Streaming Boom

Remember when we used to read a newspaper from front to back? Those days are gone. Now, we scroll, skim, and swipe through content at lightning speed – a habit of modern generations. Many shrewd companies have noticed this and are using it to their advantage. The phenomenal rise and domination of short-form vertical video content like TikTok videos, Instagram’s Reels, and YouTube Shorts perfectly leverages and accelerates this trend.

To win in this high-speed short-attention economy, companies must create more content, personalize it for countless audience segments, and deliver it instantly across multiple platforms – all tasks that are beyond traditional human capacity. This is precisely why artificial intelligence has become indispensable.

As co-founder and CEO of entertainment tech company Storyby and our flagship product DramaShorts –  a mobile streaming app for vertical drama films, I can see the benefits and challenges of AI adoption in content production, starting with its role in human creativity and ending with the ROI issues of investing in AI.

How is AI changing short content production?

The influence of AI on the short video app industry is significant. Meta, the owner of Insta Reels, reports a 24% increase in the average user’s time on the platform following the introduction of AI-driven recommendations. In the same way, TikTok’s phenomenal growth is largely due to its AI personalization algorithms.

Thanks to AI, mundane tasks that once consumed creative energy—transcriptions, basic research, formatting, localization—can now be delegated to AI partners. This frees human minds from the work that machines still can't master: true innovation, emotional resonance, and cultural context.

AI as a creative partner

At DramaShorts, we think of AI as a creative buddy. It helps us develop script ideas faster, makes visual effects much easier to create, and makes editing on the fly much more doable. This teamwork between human brains and AI tools allows creators to make more videos that connect with viewers. The human touch stays front and center, but AI helps get the work done without all of the usual headaches and delays.

Consider the film industry. Remember those werewolf transformation scenes from the Twilight Saga? The first film cost $37 million, and its sequel, “New Moon,” had a $50 million budget. A significant portion of these costs went to complex VFX work requiring specialized teams, extensive CGI modeling, and weeks of rendering. Today, that process looks radically different. A creator can write a prompt in Midjourney, extract the generated character, combine it with footage, and use Kling AI or a similar tool to create professional VFX in 30 minutes, all for less than a penny – transforming what once required massive budgets into an accessible, near-instant process.

AI as a quality guard

AI is also transforming quality control in unexpected ways. When adapting novels to screenplays, AI can double-check continuity, catching that character who mysteriously disappeared in chapter 4 only to reappear without explanation in chapter 45. These subtle errors, which once required meticulous human attention, can now be flagged automatically.

In the world of short-form content creation, it is crucial that AI tools not only assist in production but also enhance creativity and connection with the audience. The key characteristics of successful short-form content are brevity, high engagement, and emotional resonance. AI must help amplify rather than diminish these elements.

AI as a voice track assistant

AI alleviates localization challenges through automated dubbing technology. What once required hiring voice actors, booking studios, and syncing audio can now be accomplished using the original actor's voice profile.

“The Brutalist”, the 2024 drama film by Brady Corbet that recently won Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Score at the Oscars, suggests another example of how AI can enhance voice tracks in movies. During production, the creators utilized AI technology to refine Adrien Brody's Hungarian accent for his role as a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor. While this raised heated debates about the purity of actors’ performances, it demonstrates AI's potential to bring art closer to reality. The remaining question is: to what extent should we use it?

ROI Reality: Is AI worthy of investment?

The primary advice about implementing AI into your content production process is to add it to everything, where optimizing, accelerating, or easing the process seems reasonable. While AI does not necessarily increase revenue, it improves ROI. The distinction is crucial.

The real value proposition is dramatically improved efficiency and significantly reduced costs. According to McKinsey, AI agents will replace approximately 80% of support functions, while OpenAI suggests that 50% of content-writing roles will be affected by AI.

The most successful content implementations don't view AI as a unique project or isolated initiative. They integrate it into every workflow, from ideation to distribution.

In a short-attention economy where every second counts, efficiency isn't just about cost savings—it's about survival. Content must move faster, adapt more fluidly, and connect with the audience immediately.

What’s next for AI in short-format content?

The AI market is experiencing exponential growth. Thus, in 2025, Big Tech companies, with Amazon leading the way, are expected to collectively spend over $300 billion on AI infrastructure, a 30% surge from $230 billion in 2024.

This competition drives innovation in AI development's “Thinking” and “Agent” phases. We've already mastered generating human-like images with realistic features and emotions and can create brief videos without context.

Content-wise, the next frontier is contextual video sequences with authentic human motion. Within 1-2 years, it will be possible to create compelling short films with narratives that emotionally engage viewers. While this will mark a breaking point in short-form video production, it in no case eliminates the need for human touch and creativity.

As our attention continues to fragment, AI will become the bridge between creators and audiences – not by replacing human creativity, but by amplifying it and delivering content that fits our new cognitive reality.

The question isn't whether AI will transform content creation for short-attention audiences; it already has. The real question is whether we'll use these tools thoughtfully and efficiently.

In this attention-starved world, the most successful content won't be what captures attention the longest – it will be what delivers meaning in the briefest moments and leads to business results. AI gives us the tools to achieve this. What we do with them remains up to us.