Keep videos short

I suggested to a client that his video footage would be most effective if he parcelled up into smaller 3min packages.

Now, that very same client has asked me to cut his video footage to less than 2 minutes…or even as close as possible to 1 minute.

And all this prompts me to ask myself the question: What’s the maximum length of a video clip someone will watch when it’s posted to a social media platform like YouTube, Facebook or a blog?

• People have told me in discussions: Less than 4 mins
• Clients have told me: Less than 3 mins
• Customers of clients have told me: About 2 mins

But it’s really not that simple.

If the content is really niche, or contains value within a broader niche such as tech, web, football…and other such male-oriented interests, then the content can be longer.

But this is not the preserve of male interests. Look at TED. It has some very long videos, many up to 20 minutes. But this again is a niche product: high quality, intellectual stimulation.

Generally, the longer content is, ie. the longer it takes to watch or listen to it, then the less likely it is that it will be read at work, but at home instead. This is when people follow their hobbies. (or, this is when men indulge their narrowly-focused brainpower on a really narrow subject).

Often, if it’s a time-based piece, meaning if its value, measured in the relevance of its content over time, is low then short is better: ie. 2 mins, no more than 3 mins. This is almost universally accepted.

If the video content has some value which people might wish to experience over a longer period of time, then people might accept something longer, ie. 3 mins +.

There are highly successful 8 minute lolcat videos out there, though 30 seconds is probably the average.

This little list shows that it is very difficult to pin down hard and fast rules.

The message should be: Keep it Short. Imagine you’re the viewer – how long would you sit through?