What TikTok can teach legacy media about attention

TikTok’s reputation in traditional media circles often veers between disdain and anxiety. It’s seen as ephemeral, unserious, and algorithmically engineered to erode attention spans. But while debates rage about its broader cultural and political impact, one fact is harder to dismiss: TikTok holds people’s attention better than almost any platform in the history of digital media.

The average session length on TikTok dwarfs that of Facebook or Instagram. Its users don’t just scroll—they stay. They return. They watch for longer than conventional wisdom says they should. This is not just a triumph of engineering. It is a signal—one that legacy media would do well to study more carefully.

TikTok isn’t winning because it’s superficial. It’s winning because it understands how attention works in the digital age—and how content must be designed, delivered, and surfaced to match that reality. For publishers worried about shrinking dwell time, high bounce rates, and vanishing loyalty, this is not an app to dismiss. It’s a system to learn from.

Attention is engineered—not assumed

Legacy media often operates on the assumption that audience attention is a given. Publish something good, and people will read it. Offer deep reporting, and readers will stay with it. The problem, increasingly, is not quality. It’s accessibility of experience.

TikTok engineers attention through frictionless design. Content loads instantly. Videos auto-play. There are no thumbnails, no titles, no decisions to make. The user simply watches, and the algorithm adapts. What follows is not always perfect—but it’s almost always something, and usually something relevant.

Compare this to the typical news website: loading delays, cookie banners, ad interruptions, confusing layouts, and editorial structures that demand patience the audience no longer has. The experience asks too much—and delivers too little, too late.

TikTok starts by asking: how easy is it to start paying attention? Legacy media still too often asks: how hard are you willing to work to get to the content?

The power of immediate value

What TikTok excels at is front-loading value. The first few seconds of a video are designed to hook. There is no time wasted on preamble. Visuals, tone, and narrative stakes are established instantly. In an environment of infinite choice, this is not a gimmick. It’s a necessity.

Legacy media can learn from this—not by abandoning complexity, but by rethinking how quickly value is delivered. Many articles bury the lead. Many podcasts take minutes to establish pace or topic. Many newsletters open with generic greetings rather than a reason to keep reading.

The challenge isn’t to simplify content—it’s to clarify purpose. The audience needs to know, almost immediately, why this piece matters. Not eventually. Now.

Personalisation without fragmentation

One of TikTok’s greatest strengths—and most controversial features—is its personalisation engine. It learns quickly and adapts relentlessly. Every swipe refines the feed. Every signal matters. The result is a sense of discovery that feels tailored, even if it’s engineered.

Legacy media, by contrast, tends to offer static experiences. Homepages rarely change based on user interest. Newsletters are one-size-fits-all. Recommendations are based on broad categories, not granular signals. The experience feels impersonal, even when the content is strong.

This doesn’t mean publishers should turn their sites into infinite scrolls. But it does mean rethinking how content is surfaced. Are readers seeing stories that reflect their interests, habits, and histories? Are newsletters adapting over time? Is there a feedback loop, or just a broadcast?

TikTok’s success lies in the feeling of being seen. For media brands, offering that doesn’t require AI at scale—it requires listening, segmenting, and iterating with intent.

Narrative over format

TikTok proves that narrative trumps format. Thirty seconds can hold just as much meaning as thirty minutes if the story is well told. What matters is not length, but engagement structure—hooks, stakes, payoffs, emotion.

Legacy media often defaults to format-led thinking: article, podcast, video, infographic. But audiences engage with stories, not containers. The publishers who perform best across platforms are those who understand how to reshape narrative structure to fit medium-specific behaviours—without diluting the core message.

TikTok creators master pacing. They understand rhythm, visual cues, narrative tension. These aren’t tricks—they’re craft. And it’s a craft many newsrooms still underinvest in.

The deeper lesson: user experience is editorial strategy

What TikTok teaches, above all, is that user experience is editorial strategy. How content is packaged, presented, and prioritised determines whether it gets consumed—regardless of how good it is.

This doesn’t mean serious publishers need to chase trends or adopt TikTok’s tone. But it does mean recognising that holding attention is no longer about demanding loyalty. It’s about earning ease.

The question for legacy media is no longer whether audiences value good journalism. It’s whether the experience of finding, accessing, and consuming it is designed with the same precision as the journalism itself.

Until that changes, TikTok—and whatever comes next—will continue to set the pace.