The “Battle Royale” That Supercharged Our Shorts!

We decided to toss the rulebook out the window. Instead of our usual routine, we dove into something that turned out to be one of the most productive and fun experiments we’ve done in a while, and it’s completely changed how we approach editing short-form content. It started earlier this week. We were reviewing the shorts going out and realized: __ They were good… but they could be so much better.__

Sure, we could have taken the slow route, giving feedback here and there, nudging our editors toward improvement. But instead, we went all in and created what’s now being called The Shorts Editor Battle Royale.

The Rules Were Simple (and Brutal)

The team.

One clip.

Everyone edits the exact same short. Only the best version survives in the feed. “It’s like the Hunger Games, if your edit sucked, you die. (not literally) Every day, the team sits down and spends the first part of the morning focused on one thing: Primary goal: Nail the hook.

Secondary goal: Keep retention high through the rest of the video.

By doing this daily, we were able to get immediate feedback, swap ideas, and push each other to raise the bar, fast.

Why It Worked So Well

In just two to three days of doing this, the difference in quality was jaw-dropping. We took average, even “rubbish” clips and turned them into engaging, watch-worthy shorts. Here’s why: Peer Pressure (in a good way) – Nobody wants to show their friends a bad edit, so everyone put in their A-game.

• Live Feedback – We sat together, reviewed each edit, and gave direct, actionable advice.
• Idea Stealing – If someone tried something clever, others could take inspiration and adapt it for their own style.
• Multiple Outcomes from One Clip – Surprisingly, the same raw video led to three completely different reels, each telling a different story. That’s triple the content from one shoot.

The Ripple Effect

What’s even more exciting is how these rapid-fire editing drills are improving everything, not just shorts. We’re seeing better hooks in long-form content too, simply because the team now has “hook-first thinking” baked into their process. It’s also becoming a team culture-builder. New editors could jump into these sprints as a way to shadow and learn the “flavor” of our brand quickly.

The Business Side

Yes, this approach is more expensive than the traditional method, after all, multiple editors are working on the same piece of content. But the trade-off is huge: More variety from the same shoot

• Faster upskilling
• Sharper storytelling
• Stronger team cohesion

And given the potential for 2x, 5x, even 10x better performance on social platforms, the ROI could be massive.

The Takeaway

If you want to supercharge your content quality: Pick one piece of content.

Have multiple people edit it individually.

Share, review, and learn from each other daily (or weekly).

The competitive spirit combined with collaboration creates rapid growth, better content, and a stronger team. Who knew turning content editing into a “battle royale” would become one of our best creative hacks yet?