Content Repurposing

Repurpose blog posts, podcasts, and long-form video into avatar-led short clips with the HeyGen API. One source, dozens of platform-ready outputs.

The Problem

You invest hours writing a great blog post. It reaches your readers — but misses the much larger audience that consumes content through video. Manually converting articles to video takes almost as long as writing them.

How It Works

Written content → LLM extracts key points → Video Agent renders → Distribute on video platforms

An LLM reads your content and writes a production-quality video prompt — extracting the most compelling points and restructuring them for video. The same article can become a 90-second YouTube explainer, a 30-second TikTok, and a 60-second LinkedIn post.

Build It

1. Fetch your content

   Pull the article from your CMS, a URL, or a local file.

   # From a file
   with open("article.md") as f:
       article = f.read()
   
   # Or from a URL (use a proper extraction library for production)
   import requests
   article = requests.get("https://yourblog.com/posts/your-article").text
   
2. Generate a video prompt with an LLM

   The LLM acts as a producer — extracting the most engaging points and structuring them for video.

   import anthropic
   
   client = anthropic.Anthropic()
   
   message = client.messages.create(
       model="claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
       max_tokens=1024,
       messages=[{
           "role": "user",
           "content": f"""You are a video producer converting a written article
   into a HeyGen Video Agent prompt.
   
   Read this article and create a 60-second video prompt that:
   1. Opens with the most compelling insight or stat (hook)
   2. Covers the 3 most important points — not everything, the best bits
   3. Uses specific visual descriptions — what the viewer sees on screen
   4. Ends with a CTA to read the full article
   5. Matches the tone of the original
   
   Article:
   {article}
   
   Output ONLY the Video Agent prompt."""
       }],
   )
   video_prompt = message.content[0].text
   

   Don’t summarize — adapt. The LLM shouldn’t just compress the article. It should identify the most visual and engaging points and restructure them for video. A great blog point might be boring on video, and vice versa.

3. Generate the video

   Submit the prompt. Attach any images or charts from the article as file inputs.

   resp = requests.post(
       "https://api.heygen.com/v3/video-agents",
       headers={
           "X-Api-Key": HEYGEN_API_KEY,
           "Content-Type": "application/json",
       },
       json={
           "prompt": video_prompt,
           "files": [
               {"type": "url", "url": "https://yourblog.com/images/chart.png"},
           ],
       },
   )
   video_id = resp.json()["data"]["video_id"]
   

   Then poll for completion — see Video Agent docs.

4. Generate multiple formats

   One article can become multiple videos for different platforms:

   formats = [
       {"platform": "YouTube", "duration": "90s", "orientation": "landscape", "style": "in-depth"},
       {"platform": "TikTok/Reels", "duration": "30s", "orientation": "portrait", "style": "hook-driven"},
       {"platform": "LinkedIn", "duration": "60s", "orientation": "landscape", "style": "professional"},
   ]
   
   for fmt in formats:
       # Regenerate the LLM prompt with platform-specific instructions
       platform_prompt = generate_prompt_for(article, fmt)
       # Submit to Video Agent with the right orientation
       submit_video(platform_prompt, orientation=fmt["orientation"])
   

Content Types That Convert Well

Content type	Video style	Tips
How-to articles	Tutorial walkthrough	Step-by-step with text overlays
Listicles	Quick tips	One point every 5–7 seconds, great for short-form
Opinion/analysis	Thought leadership	Presenter-driven, conversational
Case studies	Story-driven	Before/after structure, stats as highlights
Newsletters	Weekly digest	Cover 3–5 highlights, keep it breezy

Automating the Pipeline

Blog CMS webhook → "New post published"
       ↓
  Fetch article content
       ↓
  LLM generates video prompt
       ↓
  Video Agent renders
       ↓
  Upload to YouTube / post to social
       ↓
  Add video embed to original article

Trigger from a CMS webhook, cron job, or CI/CD. See Automated Broadcast for scheduling and distribution patterns.

Variations

• Teaser + full: 15-second teaser for social, 90-second deep dive for YouTube
• Multi-language: Generate in English, then translate for global audiences
• Podcast-to-video: Extract audio highlights → write visual prompt → avatar presents the key takeaways

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Next Steps

Social Media Pipeline

Generate original social content, not just repurposed articles.

Automated Broadcast

Automate the entire content → video → distribute pipeline.