Creative Tip | How Long Should My Video Be?
Did you know that the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds?
“Whoa! That is such a short attention span!”
The average attention span of a human is 8 seconds. 8 seconds!? 1 second less than that of a goldfish.
Being in the video world we get to create brand and business stories, we have the difficult task of making sure that the length of video is met with purpose and intention. It is important to understand that every video is unique in it’s own sense, including the perfect length for it.
This question comes up a lot. “Is long form video dead?”
Absolutely not!
The style and the message of your video will determine not only the ideal length, but also where it should be posted when complete.
A brand story video that tells your companies “Why” should be between 2-3 minutes in length. Anything above that should be considered as a separate video with a separate message. This can be an animated explainer video or a live-action story form video.
A social media short form video and TV spots can range from :15 to :60 seconds The beautiful thing about video is the ability to re-purpose longer content into shorter content. You can take the 2-3 minute brand story video and cut it down to shorter 15 to 60 second segments to post on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
A webinar or LIVE video that teaches an in-depth topic should be 10-45 minutes in length. If you have your ideal clients or even fans tune in to watch you teach something that you are a subject matter expert on, they may be mildly upset if you only go LIVE or teach for less than 5 minutes. They are there with their undivided attention, and are ready for long form video. They are ready to learn and you should be ready to teach.
Pro Tip: Doing a long form video like a webinar or LIVE video can work itself into re-purposing this content to shorter formats as listed above.