How Long Should a Video Be? (Spoiler - I've changed my answer)
If you are like most, you have two questions when it comes to video:
How much will it cost?
How long should my video be?
Cost is a blog for another time. So how long should your video be?
Blast back to just 2019. Things were a lot different than these weird 2020 times. If you asked me the same question then, I would say 30-45 seconds. Any longer and you’ll lose your audience. People just don’t have the attention span. (I could insert the whole gold fish have a longer attention span than people analogy here but I’m not sure I’m buying that.)
Now that we’re mostly quarantined in our homes, I’ve found myself watching videos much longer than 30-45 seconds. In the past, when I was sent a video, the first thing I did was look at the lower right hand corner to see how long it was going to take me to watch it. Now, I don’t do that.
So what has changed? People have the time now and they crave information. I believe people will now watch video, no matter the length, based on whether they are interested in the content. If the content is good, people will watch. Here’s an example, my financial advisor sends a weekly webinar updating his clients on the latest market news in these stressful times. I was interested, clicked to watch the video and 60-minutes later, I had the information I needed. Yes, the guy who pushed hard for 30-second videos watched a 1-hour video.
But, and there is always a but, make sure your video doesn’t last longer than it needs to. If you can say what you need to say in 60-seconds, then just do 60-seconds. However, if there is good content and your video goes to 90-seconds, do it!
So, what is the answer? How long should my video be? Every video is different but the days of telling clients their videos should only be 30-45 seconds long are over. At least for now. Let the content dictate the length.
(On a side note, obviously if you are doing social media buys or broadcast buys, you are restricted by length.)
This video for Minnehaha Academy inspired this blog. Love the concept, writing, shooting, everything about this video. For four-minutes, I was engaged and inspired by the students at Minnehaha Academy.
So, go ahead and produce those 5,6,10 or even 15 minute videos. I’ll watch them. (Just make sure the content can carry the length of the video.)